Tuesday, August 26, 2003

t.g.r.v. cont. as has already been pointed out, the cheap, and therefore indecorous, articles of daily consumption in modern industrial communities are commonly machine products; and the generic feature of the physiognomy of machine-goods as compared with the hand-wrought article is their greater perfection in workmanship and greater accuracy in detail execution of the design. Hence it comes about that the visible imperfections of the hand-wrought goods, being honorific, are accounted marks of superiority in point of beauty, or serviceability, or both. Hence has arisen that exaltation of the defective, of which John Ruskin and William Morris were such eager spokesmen in their time... Hence has arisen that exaltation of the defective.... of which John Ruskin and William Morris were such.... eager spokesmen.... in their time.... And hence also the propaganda for a return to handicraft and household industry.... 2:03:54 PM    comment []

t.g.r.v. cont. the appreciation of those evidences of honorific crudeness to which hand-wrought goods owe their superior worth and charm in the eyes of well-bred people is a matter of nice discrimination. it requires training and the formation of the right habits of thought with respect to what may be called the physiognomy of goods. machine-made goods of daily use are often admired and preferred precisely on account of their excessive perfection by the vulgar and the underbred who have not given due thought to the punctillios of elegant consumption. the ceremonial inferiority of machine products goes to show that the perfection of skill and workmanship embodied in any costly innovations in the finish of goods is not sufficient of itself to secure them acceptance and permanent favor. the innovation must have the support of the canon of conspicuous waste. any feature in the physiognomy of goods, however pleasing in itself, and however well it may approve itself to the taste for effective work, will not be tolerated if it proves obnoxious to this norm of pecuniary reputability. 12:51:01 PM    comment []