International studio (45.1912)

The lay figure :
NARROW MIND
“ I wish it were possible to induce people
to discuss artistic questions with calmness of
judgment and reasonable breadth of mind,” sighed
the Art Critic. “ It always seems to me such a pity
that the matters which vitally affect the interests
of art should be debated intemperately and in a
fanatical spirit.”
“ But all artists are fanatics,” cried the Man
with the Red Tie. “They must have vehement
beliefs and violent convictions if they are going to
do work that counts at all. The broad-minded
man will never make a success in art.”
“ That is rather a sweeping assertion,” returned
the Critic, “ and one which, I think, is very much
open to argument. But still, if I admit that the in-
dividual is justified in following fanatically the
direction he has chosen in art, I do not see why he
need have no toleration for the opinions of other
people.”
“ Why should I be expected to tolerate opinions
that I know to be absolutely wrong ? ” broke in
the Young Painter. “Surely I ought to be con-
sistent in my convictions.”
“ How do you know that the opinions of other
people are wrong?” asked the Critic. “What
special revelation has been vouchsafed to you
that you should presume to regard yourself as
infallible ? The people with whom you quarrel
say you are wrong; why should not their esti-
mate of you and your convictions be the correct
one ? ”
“ Hush ! Do not venture to dispute the verdict
of the oracle,” laughed the Man with the Red Tie.
“ Our young friend has, I am sure, convinced him-
self that he is on the right track.”
“ Of course I have,” returned the Young Painter.
“ I have studied artistic questions very seriously, and
I have investigated very closely the relative merits
of the different schools of practice. As a result of
this study I have chosen deliberately and con-
scientiously the path I am pursuing and which I
feel leads most surely to the highest type of
accomplishment.”
“ Oh 1 I am not casting any doubts upon your
conscientiousness,” said the Critic. “ I am only
suggesting that you are not the only serious student
of the problems of art, and that plenty of other
careful investigators have chosen quite as de-
liberately as you have the paths which they have
followed in pursuit of the highest kind of attain-
ment. Do you deny to them any right to con-
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sideration simply because they are not going in
your direction ? ”
“ Well, naturally I do not think they are entitled
to serious attention,” replied the Young Painter.
“ They seem to me to have gone utterly astray and
I do not count their work as in any way Important
or as possessing any artistic value. How would
you expect me to like things which have none of
the qualities that I am accustomed to look for in
a work of art ? ”
“ Here, I say 1 ” exclaimed the Man with the
Red Tie. “ Do you really think that all the
things you do not like must necessarily be bad
art ? What a sublime belief you must have in
yourself! ”
“ That is just the point,” said the Critic. “ The
unduly fanatical artist has such a vast idea of the
rightness of his own judgment that he will not
allow any one else a hearing. What would you
think of the critic who based his own standard of
taste upon his personal likes and dislikes, and who
dismissed as of no account everything that he had
not taken the trouble to understand? You would
call him, I am quite sure, a narrow-minded and
ignorant person who was presuming to follow a
profession for which he was obviously unfit. Then
what are you to say of the artist who shows himself
to be equally incapable of forming an opinion
about the value of any work which does not follow
the particular fashion in which he happens to
believe ? ”
“ I should say that he has a good deal to learn,
laughed the Man with the Red Tie.
“Quite so,” agreed the Critic. “He has to
learn to be tolerant, to be catholic, to be a broad-
minded student of aesthetic principles, and to ap-
preciate that there are in art endless possibilities of
expression each one of which has its own claim to
consideration. He has to realise that the way in
which he elects to work is by no means the only
one that is available, and that the men who do
not take that way are not necessarily fools or
knaves who are striving malignantly to subvert
artistic truths and lead art lovers away from the
path of righteousness. He has to acquire just
that measure of common sense that will allow him
to perceive how many directions there are in which
the artist can use his personality wisely and with
nobleness of purpose.”
“ And suppose he does not want to learn all
these things,” said the Young Painter, “and that
he is satisfied with his carefully formed convictions.”
“Then I should say he is past praying for,”
replied the Critic. The Lay Figure.

The Lay Figure
ON THE