DOI Heft:
No. 284 (November 1916)
DOI Artikel:Baldry, Alfred Lys: The paintings of Pilade Bertieri
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24575#0086
The Paintings of Pilade Bertien
their aspirations would deserve the heartiest sym-
pathy and the most generous encouragement;
and if they had this resolve they would surely win
their way—though, perhaps, not so rapidly as they
expected—to the rank which they were seeking
to reach.
But, unhappily, the methods which have latterly
come into fashion are not based upon the resolution
to aim always at the highest. They are inspired,
instead, by the intention to be surprising; and to
realise this intention sacrifice is often made of things
much more important. Superficially brilliant tricks
of handling are substituted for solid and serious
technical quality, eccentricity of subject is preferred
to dignity and nobility of motive, startling ugliness
is chosen instead of the beauty that charms by its
reticence and persuades by its refinement. Taste
is forgotten and a flippant facility of expression
takes the place of thought.
Flippancies of expression and eccentric departures
from good taste would not matter so much if they
were not accompanied by a degeneration in the
executive efficiency of modern art. They might,
indeed, be regarded as merely youthful extrava-
gances which time would correct or as temporary
aberrations caused by lack of experience. But
slovenliness of craftsmanship is in the young artist
a sin which nothing can condone; if in the earlier
years of his career he does not strive to do his best,
if he does not cultivate from the very beginning
the infinite capacity for taking pains, if he does
not labour constantly to acquire certainty rather
than facility, and flexibility rather than superficial
ease, he is preparing no foundation on which his
future achievement can be built up.
The only fashion, indeed, which an artist ought
to follow is the one which prescribes serious en-
deavour and unceasing self-examination. He must
always be trying to add something to what he knows
already, and he must always aim at making his
method of conveying his knowledge to other people
more complete and more convincing. And as,
naturally, he cannot teach others what he does not
know himself, the measure of his value as an edu-
cational influence must be the degree of study
which he gives to his art. The man who is easily
:le japonais A la guitare " ('International Society's Exhibition, Autumn igi6) by pilade bertieri
78
their aspirations would deserve the heartiest sym-
pathy and the most generous encouragement;
and if they had this resolve they would surely win
their way—though, perhaps, not so rapidly as they
expected—to the rank which they were seeking
to reach.
But, unhappily, the methods which have latterly
come into fashion are not based upon the resolution
to aim always at the highest. They are inspired,
instead, by the intention to be surprising; and to
realise this intention sacrifice is often made of things
much more important. Superficially brilliant tricks
of handling are substituted for solid and serious
technical quality, eccentricity of subject is preferred
to dignity and nobility of motive, startling ugliness
is chosen instead of the beauty that charms by its
reticence and persuades by its refinement. Taste
is forgotten and a flippant facility of expression
takes the place of thought.
Flippancies of expression and eccentric departures
from good taste would not matter so much if they
were not accompanied by a degeneration in the
executive efficiency of modern art. They might,
indeed, be regarded as merely youthful extrava-
gances which time would correct or as temporary
aberrations caused by lack of experience. But
slovenliness of craftsmanship is in the young artist
a sin which nothing can condone; if in the earlier
years of his career he does not strive to do his best,
if he does not cultivate from the very beginning
the infinite capacity for taking pains, if he does
not labour constantly to acquire certainty rather
than facility, and flexibility rather than superficial
ease, he is preparing no foundation on which his
future achievement can be built up.
The only fashion, indeed, which an artist ought
to follow is the one which prescribes serious en-
deavour and unceasing self-examination. He must
always be trying to add something to what he knows
already, and he must always aim at making his
method of conveying his knowledge to other people
more complete and more convincing. And as,
naturally, he cannot teach others what he does not
know himself, the measure of his value as an edu-
cational influence must be the degree of study
which he gives to his art. The man who is easily
:le japonais A la guitare " ('International Society's Exhibition, Autumn igi6) by pilade bertieri
78