Since ancient times, the discussion of artistic ability, value, or accomplishment has tended to migrate towards, and in many instances rely upon, the extent to which an artist has faithfully reproduced nature in a work of art. But, historically, the simple imitation of nature is often seen as falling short of true genius, which is only achieved when the artist seeks a plane of reality (truth?) beyond nature, and reaches towards the spiritual, the realm of the gods.

The Roman author and historian Pliny tells us of a rivalry between the Greek painters Zeuxis and Parrhasios, who sought to best each other with the realism of their paintings. As the story goes, Zeuxis had painted an image of grapes, so realistic that sparrows flew down and tried to each them. Upon seeing this Parrhasios asked Zeuxis to accompany him back to his studio to view one of his latest works. Upon entering the studio, Zeuxis asked Parrhasios to remove the curtain that was covering the new painting, only to discover that in reality the curtain was the painting – “I took in the sparrows”, responded Zeuxis, “ but you took me in” (Kris and Kurz p. 62). To the ancient Greeks, as with many cultures throughout history, to be an accomplished artist meant that you could faithfully imitate nature, fooling the eye of the viewer with the illusion of reality, and in fact art was in many sense defined simply as the imitation of nature.

This imitation, however, falls short. In many cultures, and in many times, artists have been raised up as geniuses and masters, contributing importantly to their societies. Nature is already in front of the public every day, there for all to see. Where is the value or genius in showing people what they can already see for themselves? Why is the artist needed, important, or valued? The answer, perhaps, lies in a Platonic view of art’s purpose. In Plato’s view, all nature is merely a lesser copy of a universal ideal, existing on a spiritual plane and embodying the essence of all particular things. Nature points towards this pure, true, actual reality. Art, then, in the service of truth and beauty, must look beyond particular nature to the world of the ideal which nature alludes to but is merely a shadow of; perhaps a divine vision of the world as the gods intended it, or framed in a Judeo-Christian sense, a world untainted, as God created it before the original sin of Adam. This framing of art, as expressing a truth which lies beyond the physical, temporal world, opens to door to the consideration of art as a spiritual activity, and an endeavor with spiritual value.

In many ancient myths, the artist is seen as bestowing life upon cold materials, a good-like activity of creation, oftentimes angering the gods who disapprove of mortal’s rivaling their creative power (Kris and Kurz p. 85). While the actual creation of life is usually left in the realm of the gods, such as with the story of Pygmalion where his creation only comes to life through his prayer to Aphrodite, artists are praised for their ability to bestow the allusion of life, animating their works so that they appear as if they could move, speak, or breathe. The word “animate”, which is often used to describe especially lifelike works of art, is derived from the Latin “anima”, which means “soul”. The link between an artistic representation of a person and their spiritual existence can be seen in many cultures’ attitudes towards depictions of human beings.

In Greek, as well as Eastern myths, works of art are often seen as a residence for a person’s soul after death has taken away their physical body. Also, many cultures believe in the power of manipulating or harming a person’s effigy as a way of manipulating or punishing their actual being (Kris and Kurz p. 75-76). In either case, the artistic representation of a person is seen as linked to the actual existence of existence of that person, and is seen as a portal to the world of the spiritual.

The link to a sense of the intangible world of the spirit removes some of the weight of importance given to naturalistic detail and imitation in a work of art. In a spiritual context, the work of art is a symbol of something, and symbols are rarely literal, but embody characteristics or iconography that lead the viewer to consider things beyond the literal physicality of the symbol itself. This is also true of works which attempt to express emotion or the meaning on a human psychological level of a place, event, or person. An object may be physical, and thus visible, however the experience of that object by a person involves many things that cannot be seen. But are these unseen elements any less real than the seen ones simply because they are spiritual and not physical? To truly represent “reality,” can an artist limit himself to expressions of physical appearance alone? In an unconventional use of the term, perhaps true “realism” lies beyond simple imitation of nature, and in a holistic sense must also include a sense of spirit or spiritual meaning, engaging the viewer to feel, not just see.

Standing contrary to the philosophy of art which judges a work based only on physical resemblance to a model, this approach looks beyond the simple objection many people have to certain works – “But, that isn’t what it looks like!” “No,” the artist can respond, “but that is what is like.” In attempting to transcribe into a visual language elements which are by nature not visible, whether the artist is expressing an ideal of beauty which exists in a realm above the temporal, or the human emotions and feelings intertwined in a place, event, or person, the resulting work will naturally depart from a simple faithful representation of what the eye sees in nature. Artistic genius, seen in this light, is thus not the ability to imitate what the eye can see (what every eye can see), but the ability to see and grasp a truth beyond it and through the craft of art make others see it as well. This elevates the artist to the level of a teacher, visionary, and as Kris and Kurz’s book terms it, a magician, making a contribution to society which rises above the common.