Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1904 (Heft 5))

¶In the beginning man went forth each day—some to do battle, some to
¶ This man, who took no joy in the ways of his brethren, who cared not
for conquests and fretted in the field, this designer of quaint patterns, this
deviser of the beautiful, who perceived in Nature about him curious curv-
ings, as faces are seen in the fire, this dreamer apart was the first artist.
by the tents with the women and traced strange devices with a blunt stick
upon a gourd.
¶ And when from the field and from afar there came back the people, they
took the gourd, and drank from out of it.
deviser of the beautiful, who perceived in Nature about him curious curv-
ings, as faces are seen in the fire, this dreamer apart was the first artist.
¶ And presently there came to this man another, and, in time, others, of
like nature chosen by the gods, and so they worked together; and soon
¶And the toilers tilled and were athirst; and the heroes returned from fresh
victories to rejoice and to feast; and all drank alike from the artists’goblets,
fashioned cunningly, taking no note the while of the craftsman's pride, and
understanding not his glory in his work; drinking at the cup, not from
choice, not from a consciousness that it was beautiful, but because, forsooth,
there was none other! And time, with more state, brought more capacity
¶And the people lived in marvels of art, and ate and drank out of mas-
terpieces, for there was nothing else to eat and to drink out of, and no bad
building to live in; no article of daily life, of luxury, or of necessity that had
not been handed down from the design of the Master and made by his
workmen.
there was none other! And time, with more state, brought more capacity
for luxury, and it became well that men should dwell in large houses, and
rest upon couches, and eat at tables; whereupon the artist,with his artificers,
built palaces and filled them with furniture, beautiful in proportion and lovely
to look upon.
¶ And the people questioned not, and had nothing to say in the matter.
terpieces, for there was nothing else to eat and to drink out of, and no bad
building to live in; ilo article of daily life, of luxury, or of necessity that had
not been handed down from the design of the Master and made by his
workmen.
* * * *
¶ Nature contains the elements in color and form of all pictures, as the
¶To say to the painter that Nature is to be taken as she is, is to say to the
player that he may sit on the piano.
and choose, and group with science these elements that the result may be
beautiful, as the musician gathers his notes and forms his chords, until he
bring forth from chaos glorious harmony.
¶ That Nature is always right is an assertion, artistically, as untrue as it is
one whose truth is universally taken for granted. Nature is very rarely
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one whose truth is universally taken for granted. Nature is very rarely

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