Studio: international art (53.1911)

The Lay Figure

THE LAY FIGURE : ON AC-
QUIRING A HABIT.

"£It always seems to me to be a great pity
that an artist should get into any fixed habit of
expression," said the Art Critic. " Surely there is
much merit in variety and in reasonably frequent
change of subject-matter; it cannot be good for a
man who calls himself an artist to work always
along the same lines ? "

"You have evidently been doing a round of
exhibitions," laughed the Man with the Red Tie,
"and they have got on your nerves. I know quite
well what you are referring to; you object to
the unblushing way in which the modern artist
habitually repeats himself."

" Precisely ! That is what troubles me," replied
the Critic. "When you go to an exhibition
nowadays you can identify at a glance the con-
tributions of all the better-known men; not so
much by the excellence of these contributions,
unfortunately, as by their close resemblance to
most of the other works which these same artists
have exhibited year after year. Directly a painter
makes a success with one particular type of picture
or with one particular class of subject he seems to
settle down as a matter of course to produce varia-
tions on it for the rest of his life."

" Is he to blame for that, or is it the fault of the
public?" asked the Man with the Red Tie. "Don't
you think he is often forced into a groove by his
popularity? Because he does one sort of thing
rather better than any one else, every collector is
anxious to acquire a sample of his production in
that special line and no one will encourage him to
attempt any departure from it."

"But he must have been working on that line
for years to have established a reputation as a
specialist in it," protested the Critic. "The habit
of repeating himself must have been acquired
before he became popular. He creates the demand
by manufacturing and advertising a certain article,
not by impressing the public by his originality and
versatility."

" May I say a word ? " broke in the Plain Man.
"Do I understand that you object to an artist
doing what people expect him to do ? If there is
a demand for a certain kind of work which he can
do exceptionally well ought he not to supply it ? "

"I do not think he ought to sell himself to the
public," answered the Man with the Red Tie,
"whatever the demand may be; but I do admit
that a great many temptations to forget the duty he
owes to his art are put in his way."
86

"And I think that he is usually too much
inclined to yield to these temptations and to try
and create a demand by undesirable means," com-
mented the Critic. " He sets to work to repeat
himself because he gets the idea into his head that
if he says the same thing over and over again
with as little variation as possible it will ultimately
secure attention."

"Like the patent medicine man," laughed the
Man with the Red Tie, "who knows that if he
advertises his wares long enough and often enough
he will be quite certain to persuade the public to
buy them."

"Why should not the artist, who is, after all,
a business man in the sense that he produces
things which are for sale, adopt the methods which
are successful in other forms of business ? " asked
the Plain Man. " He must repeat himself if he is
to become known to the public. How should we
ever recognise his work if he was always chopping
and changing about? It is only the men who
adopt a line and follow it out consistently that can
be sure of gaining positions as popular favourites,
because it is only those men who stand out from
the rest. Personally, I like an artist who has a
definite style ; it makes it so much easier for one to
find his work in an exhibition, and it is such a
blessing to be able to recognise at once the things
that one wants to see."

" A definite style ! " cried the Critic. " Is that
what you call it? My dear friend, style is the
expression of an artist's personality not the conse-
quence of his harping persistently on a single note.
A man may have a perfect style and yet be the
most versatile and original person you could
possibly imagine. I am asking artists to allow
personality a better chance in their work and to
give up the merely mechanical trick of repetition,
the habit of copying themselves which prevents
them from developing anything like style. And as
for your admission that you could not recognise
any man's work unless it was just a reproduction of
what he has done so often before that every
sensible being loathes the sight of it, all that I can
say is that you ought to be ashamed of being so
lamentably ignorant. It is people like you who
drive clever men into a rut and force them to stay
there."

"I am very sorry," said the Plain Man, "but,
you see, I know what I like, and if I like the
work of a particular man I do not want him to
do things that would probably not suit me at
all."

The Lay Figure.