William Boyd July 1996 ~
William Boyd is a novelist and screen writer.
His novels include "A Good Man in Africa","The New Confessions", and his most recent "The Blue Afternoon".

Paul Valery, a great poet, from time to time wrote about art. In 1932, in an aside during an essay on Manet, he declared that "The supreme object of art is charme, a term which I use here in all its force". I leave the word in French because 'charm', as we understand it in English, does no justice to the concept in translation. Charme, in contrast, has a gravitas of its own, which I take to mean here a kind of aesthetic thrill or exaltation - genuine, unique and unmistakable. Something felt in the nape of the neck rather than the cerebellum.

This thrill can be major or minor, fortissimo or muted, but I feel sure that is what we seek when we contemplate a picture, any picture, and we recognise it instinctively.

There is another level of engagement beyond this, however. We also appreciate the means by which this end was achieved. Sometimes - rarely - it may be serendipitous, but mostly it is the result of effort, skill and technique - and this applies equally to figurative or abstract art. I will quote Valery again, on Veronese this time: to be a great artist, he says, "extreme virtuosity is indispensable" ("L'extrème de la virtuosité lui est indispensable"). These are the touchstones which should direct our judgment and determine our pleasure.

 

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