DOI Heft:
No. 298 (January 1918)
DOI Artikel:The lay figure: on cultivating the faculty of observation
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21264#0186
The Lay Figure
THE LAY FIGURE: ON CULTIVATING
THE FACULTY OF OBSERVATION.
1 NEVER can understand why in our
system of art education so little attention
is given to memory training/' said the
Critic. “ We hear a great deal about
its value and importance and yet it seems to be
much neglected by teachers.”
“ But surely all art education is mainly a
matter of memory training,” objected the Young
Artist. “ The student learns at school the
things that he has to use in his work in
after-life—what do you call that but training
his memory ? ”
‘ I should be more inclined to call it filling
up his mind with a lot of stuff that is of
precious little use to him in after-life,” laughed
the Man with the Red Tie. “ Learning to
remember is not at all the same thing as train-
ing the memory.”
“ Yes, that is true enough,” agreed the Critic.
" The student can learn a great deal at school
that he will remember for the rest of his life
and yet have a perfectly untrained memory.
He will know all about the theory of art, he will
be thoroughly up in art history, he will have a
list of rules and regulations by heart, he will
remember all the precepts and dogmas of his
teachers, and with it all he will never have
been taught how to exercise and apply his
memory.”
" You are pleased to express yourself in para-
doxes," sneered the Young Artist; “ would you
kindly explain what you mean.”
“ Well, what I mean is that under our present
system of art education too much stress is laid
upon mere book-learning and too much attention
is given to the perpetuation of more or less
obsolete formulas,” returned the Critic ; “ and
too few opportunities are allowed to the student
for cultivating that faculty of observation
through which alone the memory can be properly
trained. To know what has been done in the
past is, no doubt, of value to the artist because
the guidance of fine tradition will be helpful to
him, but he will profit far more by acute and
intelligent observation of the present.”
“ And, I take it, only memory training will
enable him to use the results of his observation
in the right way,” commented the Man with the
Red Tie.
“ I would go even further than that,” declared
170
the Critic. “ Only memory training will enable
him to develop the faculty of observation. The
two things act and react. If the memory is not
trained, observation becomes careless and
superficial and useless for the acquisition of
knowledge; if observation is careless the
memory is only incompletely exercised and
does not retain anything which would be of
service to the artist in his work.”
“ But is he not being taught all through his
school course how and what to observe ? ”
asked the Young Artist. “ Is not learning to
see the same as learning to observe ? ”
“ No, not quite,” answered the Critic. “ A
man may acquire a very accurate judgment of
subtleties of tone relation or refinements of
draughtsmanship, and may develop a most
delicate perception of colour gradations without
knowing how to look at the world about him ;
and if he does not know how to look about
him he certainly cannot be said to possess the
capacity to observe.”
“ Oh, at last I am beginning to realize what
you are driving at,” cried the Young Artist.
“You mean that the ordinary school training
tends to make the student see only what is put
before him and not to look at things in general
with a really independent vision.”
" Just so, you have got my meaning exactly,”
replied the Critic. “ I say that through want
of proper training in wide and varied observation
the student’s vision is narrowed and his thoughts
are directed into a groove ; and I say that
because no attempt is made to induce him to
memorize what he sees, the inclination to
observe remains undeveloped in him. In both
ways his efficiency is diminished.”
“ His efficiency not only as an artist but as
a member of the community as well,” broke in
the Man with the Red Tie.
“ Certainly, that follows as a matter of
course,” said the Critic. “ The faculty of
observation is of vast importance to everyone
whatever may be his walk in life. How im-
portant it is has been proved, I think, by the
way in which certain artists who have developed
this faculty have distinguished themselves in
their war service and have done work admirably
which demanded peculiar acuteness of ob-
servation. But what they have done many
others could do if their education were rightly
directed."
The Lay Figure
THE LAY FIGURE: ON CULTIVATING
THE FACULTY OF OBSERVATION.
1 NEVER can understand why in our
system of art education so little attention
is given to memory training/' said the
Critic. “ We hear a great deal about
its value and importance and yet it seems to be
much neglected by teachers.”
“ But surely all art education is mainly a
matter of memory training,” objected the Young
Artist. “ The student learns at school the
things that he has to use in his work in
after-life—what do you call that but training
his memory ? ”
‘ I should be more inclined to call it filling
up his mind with a lot of stuff that is of
precious little use to him in after-life,” laughed
the Man with the Red Tie. “ Learning to
remember is not at all the same thing as train-
ing the memory.”
“ Yes, that is true enough,” agreed the Critic.
" The student can learn a great deal at school
that he will remember for the rest of his life
and yet have a perfectly untrained memory.
He will know all about the theory of art, he will
be thoroughly up in art history, he will have a
list of rules and regulations by heart, he will
remember all the precepts and dogmas of his
teachers, and with it all he will never have
been taught how to exercise and apply his
memory.”
" You are pleased to express yourself in para-
doxes," sneered the Young Artist; “ would you
kindly explain what you mean.”
“ Well, what I mean is that under our present
system of art education too much stress is laid
upon mere book-learning and too much attention
is given to the perpetuation of more or less
obsolete formulas,” returned the Critic ; “ and
too few opportunities are allowed to the student
for cultivating that faculty of observation
through which alone the memory can be properly
trained. To know what has been done in the
past is, no doubt, of value to the artist because
the guidance of fine tradition will be helpful to
him, but he will profit far more by acute and
intelligent observation of the present.”
“ And, I take it, only memory training will
enable him to use the results of his observation
in the right way,” commented the Man with the
Red Tie.
“ I would go even further than that,” declared
170
the Critic. “ Only memory training will enable
him to develop the faculty of observation. The
two things act and react. If the memory is not
trained, observation becomes careless and
superficial and useless for the acquisition of
knowledge; if observation is careless the
memory is only incompletely exercised and
does not retain anything which would be of
service to the artist in his work.”
“ But is he not being taught all through his
school course how and what to observe ? ”
asked the Young Artist. “ Is not learning to
see the same as learning to observe ? ”
“ No, not quite,” answered the Critic. “ A
man may acquire a very accurate judgment of
subtleties of tone relation or refinements of
draughtsmanship, and may develop a most
delicate perception of colour gradations without
knowing how to look at the world about him ;
and if he does not know how to look about
him he certainly cannot be said to possess the
capacity to observe.”
“ Oh, at last I am beginning to realize what
you are driving at,” cried the Young Artist.
“You mean that the ordinary school training
tends to make the student see only what is put
before him and not to look at things in general
with a really independent vision.”
" Just so, you have got my meaning exactly,”
replied the Critic. “ I say that through want
of proper training in wide and varied observation
the student’s vision is narrowed and his thoughts
are directed into a groove ; and I say that
because no attempt is made to induce him to
memorize what he sees, the inclination to
observe remains undeveloped in him. In both
ways his efficiency is diminished.”
“ His efficiency not only as an artist but as
a member of the community as well,” broke in
the Man with the Red Tie.
“ Certainly, that follows as a matter of
course,” said the Critic. “ The faculty of
observation is of vast importance to everyone
whatever may be his walk in life. How im-
portant it is has been proved, I think, by the
way in which certain artists who have developed
this faculty have distinguished themselves in
their war service and have done work admirably
which demanded peculiar acuteness of ob-
servation. But what they have done many
others could do if their education were rightly
directed."
The Lay Figure