DOI article:
The editor's room
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17190#0216
The Lay Figure at Home
THE LAY FIGURE AT HOME.
It was the evening of Show Sunday,
and everybody felt depressed as they
sat in the studio in the twilight, dis-
cussing the future of Art, or rather of artists.
"The days of pictures are doomed," said the
man with a Liberty tie, solemnly. " Of course we
may hope that a few great artists will always survive
to keep up the tradition; but I think pictures
painted to sell—manufactured works, turned out
deftly and cleverly—will soon be as unsaleable as
colossal statues or epic poems."
" That is flat heresy," said the journalist; " where
is all your Ruskin and your elevation of the masses
theory ? Surely you have not revoked your opinion
of the moral power of Art."
"I think," said the man with a Liberty tie, "the
most respectful attitude is first to separate works
of art from oil paintings generally. The trade of
mere picture-making is ancient and honourable ;
but because here and there the great artist has
given genuine triumphs to the world, it does not
alter the fact that the average painting is merely a
sample of more or less accomplished craft, dis-
played with more or less taste."
" You would abolish pictures, then ? " said the
Lay Figure.
"Certainly not!" he replied; "but I would
have them properly treated. If good—very few
private rooms are sufficiently well-lighted to do
them justice; nor is a dining-room or a drawing-
room the right place for a great work of art. Great
paintings should be bought at their intrinsic value
—not as speculative investments—and housed
properly in galleries."
" What would you call a great painting ? " said
the journalist.
" As well ask me to define a great poem," he
rejoined. "Yet we all agree that great poems
exist, and that they are to be distinguished from
mere verses."
" But what of those who could not afford your
ultra-precious masterpieces ? " said the journalist.
" They could see them in public galleries," he
responded. " Possession is a vulgar passion, a
selfish pleasure in preventing all the world from
sharing one's delight."
" Then you would have bare walls in the houses
of all but millionaires ? " said the journalist.
" Certainly not! but I see no reason for second-
rate paintings. Better a good etching, or even a
photograph of a good picture, than the average
gallery landscape or genre subject—made purely
vi
for sale, just like any other object of commerce."
" And the artists—what of them ? They must
exist," the Lay Figure said in a tone of alarm.
" Don't be frightened. My fears are not pro-
phecies ; besides, there is always decorative work
to spend their talent upon."
" Then, after all, you do recognise that decora-
tion is quite secondary to painting or sculpture ? "
said the journalist, with a chuckle.
" Not a bit! any more than I would say music
was secondary to poetry; but the one can be
multiplied and the other cannot. You may print
a great song, but you cannot duplicate the great
singer. You can multiply a poem, or a pattern,
so that each owner has what is practically the
original work, and not a soulless copy."
" Possibly; but that does not prove that a
painter in oils can design, any more than a com-
poser could become a rhymer by mere advice that
it would pay better," said the Lay Figure.
" It would be folly to suppose things could be
changed suddenly," replied the man with a Liberty
tie ; " but a great responsibility rests upon foolish
parents and others, who suppose a liking for
pictures and a certain facility of sketching show
sufficient warranty for sending another recruit to
the great army of artists."
" But if they all became pen-draughtsmen—or
pattern-makers—it would merely swamp the market
for illustrations and designs," said the Lay Figure ;
" nobody would be bettered."
" Yes, that is obvious enough to require re-
iteration," said the Liberty-tie man ; " but all the
same, is not the conceit that deludes a second-
rate student into thinking he can create pictures a
thing to avoid ? Teach all these lads and lasses a
craft; let their trained hands and eyes be devoted
to making things, not painting pictures of them."
" The old story, I see," said the journalist;
" salvation by artistic handicraft, and a world
re-edified by bric-a-brac and art furniture."
" You may sneer," said the man with a Liberty
tie, " but you all agree that the income of a painter
is, in nine cases out of a ten, a minus quantity ;
that far too many fairly creditable pictures are
painted, to say nothing of the perfectly superfluous
crowd of mediocre works; and the true friend of
Art is one who would give the best men room to
live; for the natural enemies of sheep, as a philo-
sopher shows, are not beasts of prey, but the other
sheep who, unchecked, would soon increase so
greatly that the flock would starve for want of
pasturage. Art will be starved by its most ardent
disciples unless some change occurs soon."
THE LAY FIGURE AT HOME.
It was the evening of Show Sunday,
and everybody felt depressed as they
sat in the studio in the twilight, dis-
cussing the future of Art, or rather of artists.
"The days of pictures are doomed," said the
man with a Liberty tie, solemnly. " Of course we
may hope that a few great artists will always survive
to keep up the tradition; but I think pictures
painted to sell—manufactured works, turned out
deftly and cleverly—will soon be as unsaleable as
colossal statues or epic poems."
" That is flat heresy," said the journalist; " where
is all your Ruskin and your elevation of the masses
theory ? Surely you have not revoked your opinion
of the moral power of Art."
"I think," said the man with a Liberty tie, "the
most respectful attitude is first to separate works
of art from oil paintings generally. The trade of
mere picture-making is ancient and honourable ;
but because here and there the great artist has
given genuine triumphs to the world, it does not
alter the fact that the average painting is merely a
sample of more or less accomplished craft, dis-
played with more or less taste."
" You would abolish pictures, then ? " said the
Lay Figure.
"Certainly not!" he replied; "but I would
have them properly treated. If good—very few
private rooms are sufficiently well-lighted to do
them justice; nor is a dining-room or a drawing-
room the right place for a great work of art. Great
paintings should be bought at their intrinsic value
—not as speculative investments—and housed
properly in galleries."
" What would you call a great painting ? " said
the journalist.
" As well ask me to define a great poem," he
rejoined. "Yet we all agree that great poems
exist, and that they are to be distinguished from
mere verses."
" But what of those who could not afford your
ultra-precious masterpieces ? " said the journalist.
" They could see them in public galleries," he
responded. " Possession is a vulgar passion, a
selfish pleasure in preventing all the world from
sharing one's delight."
" Then you would have bare walls in the houses
of all but millionaires ? " said the journalist.
" Certainly not! but I see no reason for second-
rate paintings. Better a good etching, or even a
photograph of a good picture, than the average
gallery landscape or genre subject—made purely
vi
for sale, just like any other object of commerce."
" And the artists—what of them ? They must
exist," the Lay Figure said in a tone of alarm.
" Don't be frightened. My fears are not pro-
phecies ; besides, there is always decorative work
to spend their talent upon."
" Then, after all, you do recognise that decora-
tion is quite secondary to painting or sculpture ? "
said the journalist, with a chuckle.
" Not a bit! any more than I would say music
was secondary to poetry; but the one can be
multiplied and the other cannot. You may print
a great song, but you cannot duplicate the great
singer. You can multiply a poem, or a pattern,
so that each owner has what is practically the
original work, and not a soulless copy."
" Possibly; but that does not prove that a
painter in oils can design, any more than a com-
poser could become a rhymer by mere advice that
it would pay better," said the Lay Figure.
" It would be folly to suppose things could be
changed suddenly," replied the man with a Liberty
tie ; " but a great responsibility rests upon foolish
parents and others, who suppose a liking for
pictures and a certain facility of sketching show
sufficient warranty for sending another recruit to
the great army of artists."
" But if they all became pen-draughtsmen—or
pattern-makers—it would merely swamp the market
for illustrations and designs," said the Lay Figure ;
" nobody would be bettered."
" Yes, that is obvious enough to require re-
iteration," said the Liberty-tie man ; " but all the
same, is not the conceit that deludes a second-
rate student into thinking he can create pictures a
thing to avoid ? Teach all these lads and lasses a
craft; let their trained hands and eyes be devoted
to making things, not painting pictures of them."
" The old story, I see," said the journalist;
" salvation by artistic handicraft, and a world
re-edified by bric-a-brac and art furniture."
" You may sneer," said the man with a Liberty
tie, " but you all agree that the income of a painter
is, in nine cases out of a ten, a minus quantity ;
that far too many fairly creditable pictures are
painted, to say nothing of the perfectly superfluous
crowd of mediocre works; and the true friend of
Art is one who would give the best men room to
live; for the natural enemies of sheep, as a philo-
sopher shows, are not beasts of prey, but the other
sheep who, unchecked, would soon increase so
greatly that the flock would starve for want of
pasturage. Art will be starved by its most ardent
disciples unless some change occurs soon."