| This study examines the role of artistic education in shaping artistic beliefs and personal philosophy. Its central focus is the origins of a common belief among artists that artmaking or aesthetic response to art can be a form of spiritual activity or experience leading to spiritual insight. The primary data for this study is a series of in-depth oral history interviews with seven painters who studied with Henry Hensche at The Cape School of Art in Provincetown, MA, a school of American plein air painting that is linked with Impressionism. Charles W. Hawthorne, a painter who was a protege of American Impressionist William Merritt Chase, founded the school in 1899. Each painter provided a life narrative of artistic education and development, discussed personal philosophy of art, shared views on the role of the artist in society, and related personal experiences of understanding and creating art. Spirituality in art is examined from perspectives of social and cultural traditions, personal spiritual orientations, and artistic education and practices. |
