All credit goes to Angie Miller for this one! You were so right. http://tribaljade.wordpress.com/
Great works of art, be they visual or aural, draw in the observer, like a spider reeling in a juicy catch on a line of sticky silken thread. It's an inexorable pull which is unnoticeable but irresistible, and this pull is not easily escaped, if impossible altogether. When the hold it has finally, begrudgingly, lets go, it leaves the observer altered, often in no small way. Sometimes this effect is so directly omnipotent as to change lives forever.
This psychic visegrip has never earned a name in the many times I've encountered it in discussions, essays, documentaries or other such paths of deeper-than-usual discussion, but one need only look in a dictionary to find the right word.
Seduction.
It's a word with several distinct definitions, but one stands out as a perfect encapsulation of what exceptional and extraordinary works of art do: "to attract powerfully".
It is for good reason that the oceans and seas of the world have been called by such names as "mistress", "woman", and "lover". The world's waters are almost eternally vast and infinitely mysterious. Unlike land or fellow people who can be conquered, brought to bear and subjugated, the the mighty blue expanses of the world are wild, fickle and even dangerous to the naive. But why do those who ply their living upon the waves return daily to fish, mine and explore, despite the risk to life and limb?
The answer is the same as the question: people are attracted to the wildness of the oceans precisely because they are so wild. It strikes some primitive, barbaric chord deep within our being, reminding us, deep within our genes, of a time when it was necessary to choose between risking grave injury to take down a wild animal with our bare hands or starving to death. It jolts us back in time to when the most enjoyable and rewarding activity was not eating sweets, listening to music or enjoying a baseball game, but making love. This base creature, wrapped up and subdued in layers of sophisticated brain matter and individual personality, is ensnared in the attraction of the similarly brutish natural phenomenon, which takes on a personality not unlike that of a lover.
The same can be said of the great mountain peaks of the world. Extreme mountaineers who ascend peaks like Everest, K2, Cho Oyu and Dhaulagiri can never hope to conquer these massive slabs of stone and ice, but by standing on top, they gain some greater understanding. Hearing the clarion call of the dome of heaven, they propel their aching, exhausted and ravaged bodies up miles and miles of lethal climbing routes, in the hopes that by attaining their goal, they come to understand why they desired this goal above all others, and, by correlation, achieve a higher level of understanding about the universe and their place in it.
These are just a couple of examples of the seduction of nature, of how the natural world works on humankind in mysterious ways, dictating patterns of action and holding sway over one's beliefs. Nature effortlessly and unknowingly smites those who are subject to its alluring charms. Humanity, however, does not have this same natural influence over others. It is an acquired skill, and not everyone has the ability.
Writers, musicians, painters, sculptors and filmmakers have struggled for countless lifetimes to create an engrossing, consuming experience, but only a select handful have discovered the secret. Shakespeare had the gift. As a writer and actor for a financially strapped theatre company with a meager set, he created universes with words, molded with monologue and dialogue characters who have gloriously withstood the test of time, and manifested an enduring legacy of the English language which has never and will never be surpassed.
Beethoven was blessed with the gift of music but cursed with failing hearing. Constantly despairing and often suicidal, after a soul-rending midlife crisis he resolved to do his best despite his affliction. The result was a boundlessly rich musical life whose works are a harmonic crystallization of the human condition. In his symphonies, concertos, quartets, sonatas and other works he captures the essence of despair, glory, fury, peace and love, often all in the same piece of music. His works touch upon every color of the emotional spectrum; indeed, his 9th Symphony is his own musical life reduced to four movements of heart-rending melody and harmony, ending with the most earnest prayer one can make: for universal peace, brotherhood and love throughout mankind.
Bernini captured the human form in stone with fantastic attention to detail and tender affection for his subjects. His many sculptures are often in movement: he has chiseled running nymphs, David about to hurl his stone at Goliath, an angel moments away from piercing St. Teresa's body with a fiery arrow, and Prosperina struggling in the arms of her attacker. His sculptures are so lifelike, so alive with movement and perfection in the portrayal of the human body that viewers of his works almost imagine that the stone bodies have sprung to life, performing a play before their very eyes.
All three artists had (and continue to have) the same power through creation: seduction. The audience is completely immersed and engrossed in the drama and passion of the work. Viewers are swept up in the warmth, heroism and patriotism of King Henry V just before the decisive battle of Agincourt. Listeners forget the concert hall or the headphones clamped over their ears and instead glimpse the tortured, magnificent soul of Beethoven. Art lovers are swept up in the panic of Daphne and the lustful passion of Apollo upon viewing Bernini's Apollo and Daphne, struck with wonder and Daphne throws her arms and hands to the sky as they transform into branches and leaves.
Artists with the skill create a personal relationship between the individual and the work itself. There is an emotional and even physiological pull exerted by the music, or the literature or the visual beauty of the artwork. It is this magnetism, this seductive, almost romantic allure, this quality which cannot fully or duly be explained, that makes an artistic creation a true masterpiece which soars above the mundane rabble.
