Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1907 (Heft 20))

medium, a link between two worlds, and ideas flash through him, not of his
own volition—as an electric current flashes down a wire to the earth. The
problem for the artist, then, seems to be to keep his wire clear. How to
do this in these strenuous and material times is indeed a problem.
Of course, photographers must remember that theirs is after all but a
monochrome art, and that they are shut out from the whole wonderful world
of color. There are other arts, like theirs, without the pale. One might say
that there is no color in sculpture, but it seems extremely likely that the
Greeks, in the golden age of sculpture, colored their statues elaborately, and
used gilding to boot. Nature is all color and I come back constantly to the
conviction that photography must become a broader art, and that the prob-
lem of color must be boldly attacked soon, not merely timidly experimented
with as in the past. Some of the best prints fairly cry out for color, almost
approach it. In other monochrome processes there is no such feeling. In
etching, for instance, there is no more call for color than there is in pen-
and ink-drawing. It is true that color has been used in etching but it has
usually resulted in the production of monstrosities, proving that it is
unnatural.
How color is to be reached I do not know. That is for the workers
to discover; I only know that I feel strongly that the modern photographic
print needs color in order to make it a complete work of art. Another
burden for the pioneer!
J. M. Bowles



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