BIB_ID
282144
Accession number
MA 7258.10
Creator
Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900.
Display Date
[1891].
Credit line
Gift of Lucia Moreira Salles, 2008.
Description
1 item (4 p.), bound ; 16.6 cm
Notes
Written from "16, Tite Street, / Chelsea, S.W."
Provenance
Gift of Lucia Moreira Salles in 2008; from the collection of Francis, 11th Marquess of Queensberry; sold at auction in London in 1951; offered by Maggs, 1953; location unknown from 1953 until its acquisition by Walter and Lucia Moreira Salles (year of acquisition unknown).
Summary
Stating that "Art is useless because its aim is simply to create a mood. It is not meant to instruct, or to influence action in any way. It is superbly sterile, and the note of its pleasure is sterility. If the contemplation of a work of art is followed by activity of any kind, the work is either of a very second rate order, or the spectator has failed to realize the complete artistic impression;" comparing a work of art to a flower; this letter is in response to Clegg's letter (MA 7258.9) asking Wilde to elucidate on his assertion that "Art is useless" as put forth in the preface to "The Picture of Dorian Gray."
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