DOI issue:
Nr. 233 (July, 1916)
DOI article:The universal appeal / A municipal flag for Austin, Texas
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43462#0024
The Universal Appeal
The universal appeal
“But Robinson paints popular pic-
tures!” exclaimed the Earnest Seeker.
“And I sell them for him,” retorted
the Picture Dealer quickly. “What then?”
“You are both violating the sacredness of art—
making a market-place of the holy of holies,”
answered the Earnest Seeker. •
“Do you mean to say,” demanded the Pic-
ture Dealer, “that a picture gains in value as a
work of art in exact ratio to its unsalability? Is
a picture that the public likes always a bad pic-
ture, and vice versa?”
“It’s more likely to be bad than good,” an-
swered the Earnest Seeker.
“It’s more likely to be good,” said the Picture
Dealer promptly. “My experience is that the
man who ‘knows what he likes’ will like some-
thing good almost every time. Why? Because
he has the courage of his convictions—and the
man of courage is generally intelligent.”
“Or a blithering idiot,” put in the Earnest
Seeker. “It has been said somewhere by some-
body that fools rush in where angels fear to
tread.”
“Fools and critics,” said the Art Critic, smil-
ing. “After all, as you have both delicately
hinted to me more than once, the professional
critic is no wiser or better informed than the man
who ‘knows what he likes.’ Therefore, though
you haven’t asked me, I shall proceed to step
forward and air my opinions.
“Most assuredly I do not believe that the
painter who is in popular favour is of necessity an
indifferent artist. He may be—he probably is—
a very good one, a top-notcher. Certainly, he
knows his business—and that business is to
preach his message of beauty to as many people
as he can possibly reach. How will he do it?
Not by sacrificing his ideals, not by lowering his
standard of accomplishment, not by painting
what is essentially false and passing it on for
truth.
“This is what he will do: He will make his
art big, simple, direct, choosing a theme of uni-
versal appeal, one that is of interest to the
learned and the unlearned, the proletarian and
the savant. He will paint his picture to the best
of his ability, make it as beautiful as he knows
how, tell as much of nature as he has discovered,
express as much as he has felt (and no more)—
and always try to be understood. This is no easy
task. If you doubt me, try it yourselves. Only
the elect in art are big enough to accomplish it
fully—the Angelos, the Rembrandts, the Shakes-
peares.
“The painters’ painter and the poets’ poet are
something very rare and precious, no doubt, but
they are not for me and the public. We don’t
understand them. We find them rather unbal-.
anced—too much absorbed in the expression of
mere feeling, or the exploitation of mere tech-
nique for its own sake, too much this or too much
that. They haven’t got the right grip on things
—or so, at any rate, it seems to us. Anyhow,
they think we’re all unenlightened nincompoops,
and show their contempt in every stroke of
brush or pen. They do their best to bewilder
us—and we have a wholesome dislike of unneces-
sary mystification. They may be deep—these
painters and poets—but we strongly suspect
them of being merely turbid.
“I hold that art is for the many, not the
few; that the best art, other things being equal,
is that which reaches the greatest number; that
it should choose for its expression the subjects in
which we are all more or less interested, and that
simple and sincere art is not cheap or trite just
because simple and sincere lovers of art care for
it and understand it. I also hold that simple
and sincere art is the art that lives the longest.
“Which reminds me that an artist who is at
once popular with painters and public is about
to hold an exhibition in a down-town gallery. I
am credibly informed, Earnest Seeker, that you
have found much to admire in his paintings, and
that you, Picture Dealer, have handled not a few
of them. I therefore conclude that my belief in
the universal appeal in art is not misplaced.
When doctors of two such opposite schools agree,
there is surely the hope of long and prosperous
life for the patient!”
A MUNICIPAL FLAG FOR AUSTIN,
TEXAS
The city of Austin invites a competition in
design for a flag which shall be simple yet ex-
pressive of some salient characteristics of the
town. Designs to be submitted by October 2.
Information obtainable from the chairman of
the jury, Mr. F. E. Giesecke, School of Archi-
tecture, University of Texas, Austin, Texas.
XVIII
The universal appeal
“But Robinson paints popular pic-
tures!” exclaimed the Earnest Seeker.
“And I sell them for him,” retorted
the Picture Dealer quickly. “What then?”
“You are both violating the sacredness of art—
making a market-place of the holy of holies,”
answered the Earnest Seeker. •
“Do you mean to say,” demanded the Pic-
ture Dealer, “that a picture gains in value as a
work of art in exact ratio to its unsalability? Is
a picture that the public likes always a bad pic-
ture, and vice versa?”
“It’s more likely to be bad than good,” an-
swered the Earnest Seeker.
“It’s more likely to be good,” said the Picture
Dealer promptly. “My experience is that the
man who ‘knows what he likes’ will like some-
thing good almost every time. Why? Because
he has the courage of his convictions—and the
man of courage is generally intelligent.”
“Or a blithering idiot,” put in the Earnest
Seeker. “It has been said somewhere by some-
body that fools rush in where angels fear to
tread.”
“Fools and critics,” said the Art Critic, smil-
ing. “After all, as you have both delicately
hinted to me more than once, the professional
critic is no wiser or better informed than the man
who ‘knows what he likes.’ Therefore, though
you haven’t asked me, I shall proceed to step
forward and air my opinions.
“Most assuredly I do not believe that the
painter who is in popular favour is of necessity an
indifferent artist. He may be—he probably is—
a very good one, a top-notcher. Certainly, he
knows his business—and that business is to
preach his message of beauty to as many people
as he can possibly reach. How will he do it?
Not by sacrificing his ideals, not by lowering his
standard of accomplishment, not by painting
what is essentially false and passing it on for
truth.
“This is what he will do: He will make his
art big, simple, direct, choosing a theme of uni-
versal appeal, one that is of interest to the
learned and the unlearned, the proletarian and
the savant. He will paint his picture to the best
of his ability, make it as beautiful as he knows
how, tell as much of nature as he has discovered,
express as much as he has felt (and no more)—
and always try to be understood. This is no easy
task. If you doubt me, try it yourselves. Only
the elect in art are big enough to accomplish it
fully—the Angelos, the Rembrandts, the Shakes-
peares.
“The painters’ painter and the poets’ poet are
something very rare and precious, no doubt, but
they are not for me and the public. We don’t
understand them. We find them rather unbal-.
anced—too much absorbed in the expression of
mere feeling, or the exploitation of mere tech-
nique for its own sake, too much this or too much
that. They haven’t got the right grip on things
—or so, at any rate, it seems to us. Anyhow,
they think we’re all unenlightened nincompoops,
and show their contempt in every stroke of
brush or pen. They do their best to bewilder
us—and we have a wholesome dislike of unneces-
sary mystification. They may be deep—these
painters and poets—but we strongly suspect
them of being merely turbid.
“I hold that art is for the many, not the
few; that the best art, other things being equal,
is that which reaches the greatest number; that
it should choose for its expression the subjects in
which we are all more or less interested, and that
simple and sincere art is not cheap or trite just
because simple and sincere lovers of art care for
it and understand it. I also hold that simple
and sincere art is the art that lives the longest.
“Which reminds me that an artist who is at
once popular with painters and public is about
to hold an exhibition in a down-town gallery. I
am credibly informed, Earnest Seeker, that you
have found much to admire in his paintings, and
that you, Picture Dealer, have handled not a few
of them. I therefore conclude that my belief in
the universal appeal in art is not misplaced.
When doctors of two such opposite schools agree,
there is surely the hope of long and prosperous
life for the patient!”
A MUNICIPAL FLAG FOR AUSTIN,
TEXAS
The city of Austin invites a competition in
design for a flag which shall be simple yet ex-
pressive of some salient characteristics of the
town. Designs to be submitted by October 2.
Information obtainable from the chairman of
the jury, Mr. F. E. Giesecke, School of Archi-
tecture, University of Texas, Austin, Texas.
XVIII