"If we wish to understand and appreciate formal beauty we must learn to see in a detailed way. We must concentrate on the details, on the form of the roof of a tree, on the way in which a leaf is connected to its stalk, on the structure of the bark, on the lines made by the turbid spray on the shores of a lake. Also we must not just glance carelessly at the form. Our eye must trace, minutely, every curve, every twist, every thickening, every contraction, in short we must experience every nuance in the form. For there is only one point in our field of vision which we can see exactly, and it is only that which is clearly seen, which can hold some meaning for us. If we see in this way, an immensely rich new world is revealed to us, full of totally new experience. A thousand sensations are awakened within us. New feeling and shades of feeling, continual unexpected transformations. Nature seems to live and we begin to understand that there really are sorrowing trees and wicked treacherous branches, virginal grasses and terrible, gruesome flowers. Of course, not everything is going to affect us in this way, there are also things which are boring, meaningless and ineffectual, but the alert eye will everywhere observe forms of superb, soul-shattering magnificence.

This is the power of form upon the mind, a direct immidiate influence without any intermediary stage, by no means an anthropomorphic effect, but one of direct empathy. If we speak of a sorrowing tree, we do not at all think of the tree as a living being which sorrows, but mean only that it awakens the feeling of sorrow within us. (...) We are employing nothing more than a verbal aid to make up for an inadequate vocabulary and to produce a living concept more quickly."

- August Endell (1871-1925) in "The Beauty of Form and Decorative Art" .

Source: Endell, August. 1897-8. "The Beauty of Form and Decorative Art", in Dekorative Kunst, I, Munich, 1897-8, pp. 75-7, 119-25; Translation by T. and C. Benton and D. Sharp (eds.), Form and Function, London, 1975. Printed in: Harrison & Wood (ed). Art in Theory. 1900-2000. An Anthology Of Changing Ideas. pp. 59-61. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. Also available from URL: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SWu4SB92fHMC&q=collingwood#v=snippet&q=endell&f=false

"Appreciation of visual form is also something that must be aquired. We must learn to see it and really immerse ourselves in form. We must discover how to use our eyes"

- August Endell (1871-1925) in "The Beauty of Form and Decorative Art" .

Source: Endell, August. 1897-8. "The Beauty of Form and Decorative Art", in Dekorative Kunst, I, Munich, 1897-8, pp. 75-7, 119-25; Translation by T. and C. Benton and D. Sharp (eds.), Form and Function, London, 1975. Printed in: Harrison & Wood (ed). Art in Theory. 1900-2000. An Anthology Of Changing Ideas. pp. 59-61. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. Also available from URL: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SWu4SB92fHMC&q=collingwood#v=snippet&q=endell&f=false

"(...) the dissonant warning voices of the cautious can be heard. From the dizzy heights of their experience, they smile down sypathetically upon the foolish exploits of their juniors and still remain ready to show to the general public the only path of truth. They teach us that there can be no new form, that all possibilities have been exhausted in the styles of the past, and that all art lies in an individually modified use of old forms."

- August Endell (1871-1925) in "The Beauty of Form and Decorative Art" .

Source: Endell, August. 1897-8. "The Beauty of Form and Decorative Art", in Dekorative Kunst, I, Munich, 1897-8, pp. 75-7, 119-25; Translation by T. and C. Benton and D. Sharp (eds.), Form and Function, London, 1975. Printed in: Harrison & Wood (ed). Art in Theory. 1900-2000. An Anthology Of Changing Ideas. pp. 59-61. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. Also available from URL: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SWu4SB92fHMC&q=collingwood#v=snippet&q=endell&f=false