excerpt from Art and the Handicraftsman
By Oscar Wilde

People often talk as if there was an opposition between what is beautiful and what is useful. There is no opposition to beauty except ugliness. All things are either beautiful or ugly. Utility will always be on the side of the beautiful thing, because beautiful decoration is always an expression of the use you put a thing to and the value placed on it.

No workman will beautifully decorate bad work, nor can you possibly get good handicraftsmen or workmen without having beautiful designs. You should be quite sure of that. If you have poor and worthless designs in any craft or trade, you will get poor and worthless workmen only. However, the minute you have noble and beautiful designs, then you get men of power and intellect and feeling to work for you. By having good designs, you will have workmen who work not merely with their hands but with their hearts and heads, too.


Which statement best expresses how the author connects art and craftsmanship in this text?

A.
The author suggests that functional craftsmanship requires beautiful artwork.
B.
The author demonstrates how craftsmanship can be useful without being beautiful.
C.
The author describes why it is important that artists make mistakes when learning craftsmanship.
D.
The author insists that craftsmanship, and not beauty, is most significant in life.