Substance and Form in ArtSubstance and Form in ArtSubstance and Form in ArtSubstance and Form in Art
  • Inspirations from Sri Aurobindo
    • Bande Mataram
    • Essays Divine and Human
    • Essays on the Gita
    • Karmayogin
    • Letters on Yoga – I
    • Letters on Yoga – II
    • Letters on Yoga – III
    • Letters on Yoga – IV
    • Savitri
    • The Mother with Letters on The Mother
  • Inspirations from The Mother
    • Prayers and MeditationsA record of the Mother’s early spiritual life, from her diaries. Most entries are from 1912 to 1917
    • Questions and Answers 1929-1931Early conversations on various aspects of spiritual life; and commentaries on the Dhammapada
    • Questions and Answers 1953Conversations based on the Mother’s conversations of 1929.
    • Questions and Answers 1950-1951Conversations based on Sri Aurobindo’s book The Mother, the Mother’s essays on education and her conversations
    • Questions and Answers 1954Conversations based on the Mother’s essays on education and three small books by Sri Aurobindo: Elements of Yoga, Bases of Yoga and The Mother.
    • Questions and Answers 1955Conversations based on three works by Sri Aurobindo: Bases of Yoga, Lights on Yoga and The Synthesis of Yoga.
    • Questions and Answers 1957-1958Conversations based on three works by Sri Aurobindo: Thoughts and Glimpses, The Supramental Manifestation upon Earth and The Life Divine.
    • Some Answers from The MotherCorrespondence with fourteen sadhaks and students
    • Words of The Mother Vol. IShort written statements on Sri Aurobindo, herself, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Auroville, India and nations other than India; and a few conversations.
    • Words of The Mother Vol. IIIShort written statements on various aspects of spiritual life; and thirty conversations.
    • White Roses

Substance and Form in Art

  • Home
  • Uncategorized
  • Substance and Form in Art
The Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram in her room
A man of action and intellect
05/09/2022
The Karana Sharira
05/11/2022
Published by Sri Aurobindo on 05/10/2022
Categories
  • Uncategorized
Tags
  • art
  • form
  • Sri Aurobindo
  • substance
The Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram

Q: Kalelkar says that substance is more important than form in art. He gives the analogy of the vessel and the food in it, and emphasises that the food is the real thing. I don’t understand how in art the two can be separated.

This is something like Tagore’s ambrosia and the earthen vessel. But there can’t be art without form. If substance alone counts, we don’t have art. An artist has to give a body to his vision, which is the soul of his art; but in art you can’t take soul and body as separate things. Those images —food and vessel—can be applied to physical processes, not to any inner process like art creation.

– Sri Aurobindo

Share
0

Related posts

The Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram
06/05/2025

An Assurance


Read more
The Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram
05/20/2025

The Mind


Read more
Sri Aurobindo
05/19/2025

On prophecies


Read more
An offering at the lotus feet of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother by In Search of The Mother