Studio: international art (53.1911)

The Lay Figure

THE LAY FIGURE : ON USING
THE MEMORY.

" I have been thinking over that question
of memory training," said the Art Master, "and I
am quite inclined to agree with you that the student
whose memory has been properly developed has
the best chance of success in after-life. But tell
me how you think he ought to use in his regular
work the faculty of systematic memorising that he
has acquired."

"He ought to use it, I should say, to guide him
in selecting from the material which nature provides
for his use just what he needs most for the expression
of his own artistic conviction," said the Art Critic.
" If his memory serves him properly it will make
his powers of observation doubly efficient and as a
natural consequence will greatly increase his mental
range."

" Don't you think that there is some danger of
his becoming conventional in his work if he trusts
too much to his memory ? " broke in the Man with
the Red Tie. " If an artist is not constantly re-
ferring to nature, and constantly receiving new im-
pressions, he is apt to get into a rather hopeless
groove."

" He is more likely to become conventional if
his memory has not been trained," retorted the
Critic. "Conventionality is the result of imperfect
knowledge, not of thorough study."

" You mean that a man who does not know much
often adopts a mannerism as a way out of the
difficulties caused by his ignorance," suggested the
Art Master.

"Yes, that is so," agreed the Critic; "and, on
the other hand, the man who knows a great deal
avoids mannerisms because he can always draw
upon his stock of knowledge for new ways of ex-
pressing himself."

" That is all very well," cried the Man with the
Red Tie, "but if he depends upon accumulated
knowledge, upon his memory, in fact, will he keep
touch with nature and will he sufficiently retain his
receptivity ? "

"Why, of course he will," answered the Critic.
" If he accumulates knowledge it is because he is
keen to observe and able to remember his observa-
tions ; because he has developed his receptivity and
trained his memory to record the impressions made
upon him by nature."

" But are you not afraid that sooner or later he
will be content merely to use his memory and that
he will cease to add to his store of knowledge ? "
asked the Man with the Red Tie. " Is there no
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danger of his coming to the conclusion that he
knows enough ? "

" Even if he did, I should say he would be better
off than the man with an untrained memory who
had to depend upon chance impressions for his
inspiration," laughed the Critic. "But I think
that when the memorising habit has once been
acquired, and it can only be acquired by special
education, it will remain as an active influence for
good throughout the student's life. He would
never yield to the temptation to believe that he
knew enough."

"No, he would never leave off learning," said
the Art Master, "for the memorising habit would
have a tendency to become automatic and he
would be constantly adding to his knowledge
unconsciously."

"Just so; he would be very unlikely to cease
observing," returned the Critic, "and he could not
help remembering what he had observed, because
to remember would be to him a matter of instinct.
It follows naturally that his knowledge will always
be widening and his mental equipment will be
steadily becoming more efficient year by year and
more to be depended upon in his professional
practice."

" Until at last he will be omniscient, I suppose,
and absolutely sure of everything?" inquired the
Man with the Red Tie. "You wish me to believe
that memory training will make an artist quite
infallible and endow him with almost superhuman
capacities."

"No, I do not," cried the Critic. "I only con-
tend that he will be able to use all the knowledge
he has stored up to help him to make his work
more complete, more expressive, and more signifi-
cant than that of the man who has to be struggling
all the time to discover whether he is on the right
track. The man who has trained his memory, and
who knows how to use the faculties that this
training has developed, will be in a position to profit
to the utmost by his experiences. He will remember
what is helpful and what will serve him best in his
effort to realise his intentions. His mind will be
clear, his methods confident and direct; he will not
be hampered in his work by irritating doubts
whether or not he is doing in the right way the
particular things he wants to do. He will, in a word,
be sure of himself."

"And that is certainly the best thing at which
an artist can aim," said the Art Master. " There is
nothing which will help him more definitely to
reach the highest level of achievement."

The Lay Figure.