DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.69711#0076
58 WESTERN ART AND THE NEW ERA
rival of art. There was a time when it naively thought the
lens more accurate than the trained eye, not realizing that
it never was able to place the middle distance in the proper
relation to the foreground. This thought had so permeated
the public, that there were artists actually trying to prove
this theory to be true, forgetting as well, that one of the
chief functions of art is selection, and that selection contains
within itself the elements of reserve. No lens has as yet been
invented which will at command emphasize certain forms or
Fig. 31. Ingres. Odalisque
eliminate others, or which can give even accurate reproduc-
tions of the proper proportions of one given object to another.
In contrast to Ingres, is Menzel (German School 1815—
1890), virile and inexhaustible, giving us pictures of his
period which show a vitality few artists have surpassed.
It was he who with Turner was the first to attempt to ex-
press the power of steam, to express his age in all its phases,
wherein lies his value.
It is important to draw attention here to another painter
who has left his mark on the coming era, Whistler (American
School 1834-1903), who was the first to object definitely to
titles for his pictures. Instead he laid emphasis on what he
rival of art. There was a time when it naively thought the
lens more accurate than the trained eye, not realizing that
it never was able to place the middle distance in the proper
relation to the foreground. This thought had so permeated
the public, that there were artists actually trying to prove
this theory to be true, forgetting as well, that one of the
chief functions of art is selection, and that selection contains
within itself the elements of reserve. No lens has as yet been
invented which will at command emphasize certain forms or
Fig. 31. Ingres. Odalisque
eliminate others, or which can give even accurate reproduc-
tions of the proper proportions of one given object to another.
In contrast to Ingres, is Menzel (German School 1815—
1890), virile and inexhaustible, giving us pictures of his
period which show a vitality few artists have surpassed.
It was he who with Turner was the first to attempt to ex-
press the power of steam, to express his age in all its phases,
wherein lies his value.
It is important to draw attention here to another painter
who has left his mark on the coming era, Whistler (American
School 1834-1903), who was the first to object definitely to
titles for his pictures. Instead he laid emphasis on what he