issue144 toheart zhangheng1020

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TOPIC：ISSUE 144 - "It is the artist, not the critic,* who gives society something of lasting value."

*a person who evaluates works of art, such as novels, films, music, paintings, etc.
WORDS：402          TIME：0:45:00          DATE：2006-2-10

In this issue, the writer claimed that some artist rather than critic gave some of the lasting social values. However, I believe, both of them can give our society worthwhile fortune. And my reasons are as follows:

Firstly, we have to admit that there are lots of human heritages made by artist. In history, the Great wall in China is the record of ancient artisans. Pyramid is the honor of Egyptian architects. In sculpture “kiss” we remember the sensitivity of Rodin and in his “thinker”, we see his sense. “the gate of hell” impressed us by its amazing fear and it is the impressive work that shock our mind, knock our heart, force us to think and help us to recognize the existent and changing. In that second we were touched by the secret of life. Artists with their artificial works recorded instant desire to eternity. Something were recorded and valued by their hard work. And that art, as the lasting value, tell the appreciator how eagerly the creator was to express its peak desire. That desire is the value of human inspiration.   

Secondly, we also have to recognize lots of legacies made by critics are there. A typical example is "comments on irrigation" a milestone for ancient irrigation technology in Yuan dynasty China. That is a comments-muster on "Irrigation", a book that recorded the ancient water distribution 200 years earlier. The former one is hided in history, however, after carefully correcting, the critic added one times more information inside. And that comment is much more useful and famous than its original.

Furthermore, some of great artists are good critics also. There is no clearly identification to divide those two careers. Take Da. Fenvhie for example, that great artist are known as his muti-gifts. Not only in painting, he is the royal supervisor for Italian government. His comments on the Italian castle design map is so impressive that some military professors today even match that correcting with his "mystery smile".  

In sum, we appreciated things by their content. Those regarded as lasting value in our society are valued by the rather than its maker. It is the content inside, rather than the formation that attracts our attention. And artists, as the creator of maturations are much easier to be memorized for their individual expression. However, from critics, great works can also be seen as the golden thoughts are recorded in their comments.