The Fine Arts in Higher Education

Abstract

This paper attempts a definitive analysis of the function in liberal education of the study of the fine arts, i.e., the arts of free expression, including literature, painting and sculpture, the theatre arts, music, and dance. It is concerned not with the specific content or subject matter of these studies, but with the qualities of character and personality which are encouraged by the study of the fine arts, in contrast to those developed by science and technology. It demonstrates that liberal education is incomplete when the fine arts are omitted, and that the personality of the student is then correspondingly impoverished in several ways.