Every perceivable thing has form.
Form can be neither appearance or behavior.
But since appearance is a result of behavior,
and behavior produces appearance,
every from has meaning.
The shortest formulation is this:
Every thing has form,
every form has meaning.
To understand the meaning of form,
that is conscious seeing of and feeling for form,
is the indispensable preliminary condition for culture.
Culture is ability to select or to distinguish
the better, that is the more meaningful form,
the better appearance, the better behavior.
Therefore culture is a concern with quality.
Culture can be manifested in two ways:
Through recognition of better form
and through producing of better form.
The latter direction is the way of art.
Art as the acting part of culture
is therefore its proof and measurement.
—Josef Albers
