DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.69711#0145
HOW TO APPRECIATE ART
127
It takes true training of the eye to learn to observe and
to feel. It is a great mistake to think that one who sees
has the power of observation which is closely bound to-
gether with the sense of feeling. Those who stand before
a picture and know the subject well, will be able to tell
whether the artist saw merely that which he tried to paint,
or whether he truly observed his subject. . One can best
illustrate a point by relating an incident pertaining to it,
and this point was clearly brought out by two sailors looking
at a big canvas of the ocean which hangs in the Contem-
porary Art section of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York. “Gee,” said the first, “is that meant to be
the ocean? I never saw it look like that!” A nearby spec-
tator interested in the remark asked why he could not see
the beauty in that painting. Nothing daunted, the sailor
replied, “Because there ain’t no motion in them waves, and
when a sea is high like that, gee, but you get the motion!”
That sailor was right and gave a true criticism. Knowing
the ocean through observation, he knew the ocean and felt
it. The picture did not respond to any feeling, because
the artist had painted arrested motion, and arrested motion
leaves one cold, no matter how dexterously it is done.
This incident brings out another important point, which
is that many people spoil their power of observation in con-
nection with art, through a lack of unity in looking at art.
The average student of art while looking at a painting be-
comes so engrossed with the technical side, that if the pic-
ture is dexterously executed he will be carried away by it,
instead of considering whether the artist caught the spirit
as well. This is especially true if the picture is painted in
the latest technical fashion in vogue for the moment, which
also explains why many of our museums are littered with an
art of no permanent value. If the student or buyer of art
would apply his entire self, mind and soul, in looking at
a work of art, he would soon learn to discriminate. It is
because we glorified dexterity to such dizzy heights, that
127
It takes true training of the eye to learn to observe and
to feel. It is a great mistake to think that one who sees
has the power of observation which is closely bound to-
gether with the sense of feeling. Those who stand before
a picture and know the subject well, will be able to tell
whether the artist saw merely that which he tried to paint,
or whether he truly observed his subject. . One can best
illustrate a point by relating an incident pertaining to it,
and this point was clearly brought out by two sailors looking
at a big canvas of the ocean which hangs in the Contem-
porary Art section of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York. “Gee,” said the first, “is that meant to be
the ocean? I never saw it look like that!” A nearby spec-
tator interested in the remark asked why he could not see
the beauty in that painting. Nothing daunted, the sailor
replied, “Because there ain’t no motion in them waves, and
when a sea is high like that, gee, but you get the motion!”
That sailor was right and gave a true criticism. Knowing
the ocean through observation, he knew the ocean and felt
it. The picture did not respond to any feeling, because
the artist had painted arrested motion, and arrested motion
leaves one cold, no matter how dexterously it is done.
This incident brings out another important point, which
is that many people spoil their power of observation in con-
nection with art, through a lack of unity in looking at art.
The average student of art while looking at a painting be-
comes so engrossed with the technical side, that if the pic-
ture is dexterously executed he will be carried away by it,
instead of considering whether the artist caught the spirit
as well. This is especially true if the picture is painted in
the latest technical fashion in vogue for the moment, which
also explains why many of our museums are littered with an
art of no permanent value. If the student or buyer of art
would apply his entire self, mind and soul, in looking at
a work of art, he would soon learn to discriminate. It is
because we glorified dexterity to such dizzy heights, that