“Art for art’s sake.” (“L’art pour l’art.”)

COUSIN’S FAMOUS EARLY USE: “Art for art’s sake.” (“L’art pour l’art”)        Victor Cousin (1792-1867)        French philosopher         Famous phrase first used by Cousin in a lecture at the Sorbonne (University of Paris) in 1818        Cousin is widely credited with either coining or uttering the first notable public use of the phrase “l’art pour l’art,” during his lecture on aesthetics titled “Du Vrai, du Beau, et du Bien” (“Truth, Beauty and Goodness”). In his hifalutin’ remarks on those topics, Cousin said:          “We must have religion for religion’s sake, morality for morality’s sake, as with art for art’s sake...the beautiful cannot be the way to what is useful, or to what is good, or to what is holy; it leads only to itself.”          Cousin’s use gave the concept of “art for art’s sake” it’s initial notoriety. However, credit for popularizing and promoting it to encourage the creation of art that is not limited by realism or social usefulness is generally given to the French writer and art critic Théophile Gautier, who began using it in the mid-1830s. It became a philosophical basis of the so-called Aesthetic Movement in art and literature that developed in the 19th Century.

HUGO’S OBSERVATION: “Art for art’s sake exists in nature more than is believed.”         Victor Hugo (1802-1885)         French novelist, playwright and poet        From his novel L’Homme Qui Rit (The Man Who Laughs), first published in 1869

CAO YU’S OBSERVATION: “Art for art’s sake is a philosophy of the well-fed.”         Cao Yu (1910-1996)        Chinese playwright        Quoted in the London Observer, April 13, 1980

SAND’S VISIONARY VARIATION: “Art for art’s sake is an empty phrase. Art for the sake of the true, art for the sake of the good and the beautiful, that is the faith I am searching for.”         George Sand (pseudonym of Baroness Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin; 1804-1876)        French writer        Comment in a letter to her friend Alexandre Saint-Jean in 1872

FREBERG’S PECUNIARY VARIATION: “ARS GRATIA PECUNIAE.” (“Art for the sake of money.”)        Stan Freberg (b. 1926)        American comic genius and occasional ad man        Motto on the “The Great Seal of Freberg,” which features a a seal with sunglasses. Devised for his advertising agency “Freberg Ltd. (But Not Very).”

ABBEY’S IDEOLOGY VARIATION: “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”        Edward Abbey (1927-1989)        American writer and environmental activist        In his article “Grow and Die,” published in Penthouse magazine, September 1979

THE MOVIE VERSION: “ARS GRATIA ARTIS”        The famed motto of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios        Around 1916, Hollywood publicist Howard Dietz was asked to develop a motto for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios. He came up with “Ars gratia artis,” a Latin version of the phrase “art for art’s sake.”        Through most of the decades since then, the motto has appeared over the image of a roaring lion at the beginning of films produced by MGM.

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Deck the halls with Buddy Holly – and Lady Gaga Gaga Ga, Ga Gaga Ga…

FAMOUS CHRISTMAS QUOTE: “Deck the halls with boughs of holly,       Fa la la la la, la la la la. ‘Tis the season to be jolly      Fa la la la la la, la la la.”           Traditional Christmas song “Deck the Halls”          Original writer unknown

CHRI$TMA$ COUNTERQUOTE: “Deck the halls with advertising,      Fa la la la la, la la la la. ‘Tis the time for merchandising,      Fa la la la la, la la la la. Profit never needs a reason,      Fa la la la la la la la la. Get the money, it’s the season,      Fa la la la la la, la la la.”           Stan Freberg (b. 1926)           American comic genius          His satiric song “Green Chri$tma$” (1958)

ORDINARY GENTLEMAN’S QUOTE: “So, ‘tis the season where we annually get into the inimitable argument over whether people should be saying, ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Holidays’…It’s time for the War on Christmas/Pluralism — depending on your point of view.”        Blogger Scott H. Payne        On The League of Ordinary Gentlemen blog, Dec. 17, 2009

LADY GAGA QUOTE: “Light me up, put me on top Let’s fa la la la la, la la la la.”        Outré musician Lady Gaga        Her XXXmas song “Christmas Tree” (2008)

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Hitler vs. Ad man vs. Stan Freberg

QUOTE:

“Today Germany...tomorrow the world.”
       Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)
       Megalomaniac Nazi dictator
       Mein Kampf (1925)

---> See more about megalomaniac dictators 

 

COUNTERQUOTE:

“The armpit had its moment of glory, and the toes...What's left?...The vagina. Today the vagina, tomorrow the world.”
       Jerry Della Femina (b. 1936) 
       American advertising executive 
       On feminine-hygiene deodorants, Time, June 22, 1970

---> See more stuff about admen

 

PRUNEQUOTE:

“Today the pits, tomorrow the wrinkles.”
       Stan Freberg (b. 1926)
       American comic genius
       Ad for Sunsweet prunes (late 1960s)

---> See more Stan Freberg stuff