Selassie's speech on Fine Arts

←

Fine Arts (unknown)
by Haile Selassie, translated by Haile Selassie I Press

→

undated speech

Haile Selassie143111Fine Arts?Haile Selassie I Press

A purely materialistic art would be like a tree which is expected to bear fruit without flowering and to sacrifice grace and beauty for mere utility.

Our admiration for the creator's handiwork should not be limited to those things he has provided us with for our daily needs, but should include all that is good and beautiful.

It is these tender feelings of deep and silent admiration evoked from our hearts by the beauties of creation that should find adequate expression in the fine arts.

Music, drama and the other arts are rooted in the ancient history of our empire, and their development to an even higher peak of perfection will be possible in the atmosphere of a university. Ethiopia possesses an ancient literature and its study can be fostered here so that the Ethiopian youth inspired by this national example, may raise it to yet higher levels of excellence.

The study of the heroic history of our empire will stimulate the imagination of building authors and teachers.

This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.

Original:

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was first published in Ethiopia, which is not a participant in the Berne Convention or any other treaty on copyright with the United States, and was not simultaneously published in another country.

This work is also in the public domain in Ethiopia if it meets one of the following criteria:

It is an anonymous, pseudonymous or posthumous work and 50 years have passed since the date of its publication.
It is a collective or audiovisual work and 50 years have passed since the date of its publication.
It is a photographic work, and 25 years have passed since the date of its creation (or publication, whatever date is the latest).
It is another kind of work, and 50 years have passed since the year of death of the author (or last-surviving author).
It is "any official text of a legislative, administrative or of legal nature, as well as official translations thereof".

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

Translation:

This work is in the public domain worldwide because it has been so released by the copyright holder.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse