Studio: international art (71.1917)

The Lay Figure

THE LAY FIGURE: ON THE BRO-
THERHOOD OF BRITISH ART

" *1 O you not think that there is a

■ tendency to subdivide art a great
I deal too much, to split it up into
—^ small groups and to separate it
into minute sections ? " asked the Critic. " I
would like to see more cohesion among artists
and more community of feeling."

" But I suppose there must be some sub-
divisions," said the Man with the Red Tie.
" Universal brotherhood in art is an impossi-
bility, I think, and absolute community of
feeling among artists, even if it were a thing
worth striving for, an ideal that can never be
realised."

" Perhaps so," agreed the Critic ; " but at
least there might be some sort of brotherhood
among the artists of each nation. Surely they
are all working to express the national sentiment
even if they are doing it in different ways, and
that fact should be sufficient to prevent too much
divergence."

" How is it possible for all the artists in a
nation like ours to have a common national
sentiment ? " broke in the Plain Man. " They
are scattered all over the world and each one
must as a matter of course be affected by local
influences."

" Yet they are all British artists and think
and work as members of the British race,"
argued the Critic. " Local influences may
affect the manner of their expression, but the
fundamental principles of British art will still
guide their work."

" And British art, you think, will be British
art, wherever it is produced," commented the
Plain Man. " I am not sure that I agree with
you, but there is, I admit, something big in the
idea of a kind of artistic unity throughout the
whole Empire."

" Yes, and it is an idea worth developing,"
said the Man with the Red Tie. " It is an idea,
too, which could be developed effectively
without any interference with artistic liberty
of opinion."

" But how is the process of development to
be carried out ? " asked the Plain Man. " It is
one thing to have ideals and quite another to
make them practical."

" That is true enough," assented the Critic;
" but people who believe sufficiently in their
168

ideals can find the way to make them workable.
The first step, I think, would be to bring the
British artists in all parts of the world into
closer contact."

" Certainly that would be a good beginning,"
agreed the Plain Man. " Closer contact would
lead to better understanding, and from better
understanding would come fuller sympathy.
But by what means is this closer contact to be
secured ? "

" By freer interchange of art work between
the Home Country and the Overseas Domi-
nions," replied the Critic. "As it is, a good
deal of the work done in the British Isles has
been exhibited in other parts of the Empire ;
let us respond by showing here freely and
amply what the artists in the Dominions have
achieved."

" You mean that you want representative
exhibitions of overseas work to be held in this
country," commented the Man with the Red
Tie.

" Exactly ; that is what we want first of all,"
declared the Critic. " We want the overseas
art to be as well known to artists and art lovers
in this country as is the work of our own men.
We want each Dominion to show to us fully
and regularly what its artists can do and how
they are maintaining the British spirit under
local conditions. We want to be always in
close touch with them and to acquire in full
measure that understanding of them and their
aims which fosters sympathy."

" And where do you suggest that these repre-
sentative exhibitions should be held ? " inquired
the Plain Man.

"I do not care much where they are held
so long as they are given a proper setting,
and are accorded the right kind of at-
tention," answered the Critic. " The Royal
Academy might very well take the matter in
hand and devote its galleries to periodical ex-
hibitions of overseas art—and in this way it
would be fulfilling its official mission as a
directing influence in British art more com-
pletely than it ever has before. All I ask is
that each Dominion, after having properly
organized its artistic resources, should select
and send us its best, and that every artist out-
side the shores of the British Isles should strive
to be a worthy member of the brotherhood of
British art. That is the only way to establish
the unity of our school." The Lay Figure