DOI article:
S. H. [Sadakichi Hartmann],, That Toulouse-Lautrec Print!
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31080#0044
A manually made transcription or edition is also available for this page. Please change to the tab "transrciption" or "edition."
climbed to a higher level of culture than heretofore, the art of the day would
already have soared far beyond their horizon. Genius walks with seven league
boots. Its plumed hat waves and beckons in the wind. Its broad cloak bal-
loons as its gaunt figure stalks away from the multitude and is lost in solitary
distances. Only a few can keep in seeing distance. The others straggle far
behind.
And well that it is so. For appreciation is dearly gained by fanatic
devotion and constant self sacrifice. That Toulouse-Lautrec print!—I have
roughed life sufficiently to feel some sympathy with the ways of “vulgur
endearment/’ of gilded lust and infamous barter, particularly if recorded
with such beautiful irony and subtle skill. Should a pale seamstress or a
fatted tradesman feel the same joy in contemplating it ? Preposterous! No,
it is one of my conquests. It would lose its subtlest, most intimate charm, if
it were shared by the diffident crowd. This implies no contempt for the pro-
letarian. To the masses belong millionaires as well as laborers, washerwomen
as well as slim aristocratic girls. Nor does art wear the mask of apathy. Art
may be wooed by everybody, but successfully only by those who court her
exclusively.
S. H.
already have soared far beyond their horizon. Genius walks with seven league
boots. Its plumed hat waves and beckons in the wind. Its broad cloak bal-
loons as its gaunt figure stalks away from the multitude and is lost in solitary
distances. Only a few can keep in seeing distance. The others straggle far
behind.
And well that it is so. For appreciation is dearly gained by fanatic
devotion and constant self sacrifice. That Toulouse-Lautrec print!—I have
roughed life sufficiently to feel some sympathy with the ways of “vulgur
endearment/’ of gilded lust and infamous barter, particularly if recorded
with such beautiful irony and subtle skill. Should a pale seamstress or a
fatted tradesman feel the same joy in contemplating it ? Preposterous! No,
it is one of my conquests. It would lose its subtlest, most intimate charm, if
it were shared by the diffident crowd. This implies no contempt for the pro-
letarian. To the masses belong millionaires as well as laborers, washerwomen
as well as slim aristocratic girls. Nor does art wear the mask of apathy. Art
may be wooed by everybody, but successfully only by those who court her
exclusively.
S. H.
