Studio: international art (86.1923)

The lay figure : on the first

CAUSES OF ART. a 0 0

“ Has anyone ever evolved a satisfactory
definition of art i ” asked the Plain Man.
“ Has anyone, I mean, decided what art is
and how it began i ”

“ What is art i ” sighed the Critic.
“ That old, old question which has been
asked in every generation since anthropoid
apes elected to grow into men.” 0 0

“ Oh, surely the problem is not as
ancient as that,” protested the Plain Man.
“ Art is a product of civilisation and the
apes did not become civilised directly they
jumped from their trees—a long period
must have elapsed before civilisation had
its first beginnings.” 0000
“ And during that period you think
there could have been no art,” retorted
the Critic. “Yet primitive man—little
better than an animal—had an art of his
own, and a very sound art, too. Was that
a product of civilisation i ” 0 0 0

“ I cannot count as art the scrawlings of
a savage,” the Plain Man objected. “ They
are too aimless and incoherent to be digni-
fied by such a title. Art demands intelli-
gence and cultivation, and those come only
when man has finally emerged from the
savage state.” 00000
“ You can be as contemptuous as you
please about what you call the scrawlings
of the savage, but that does not alter the
fact that the savage scrawled to good pur-
pose and had intelligence enough to find
out ways of expressing his artistic sense,”
argued the Critic. “ I contend that there
has been art ever since the human race
came into being.” 0000
“ Just a moment,” broke in the Man of
Science. “ What our friend wanted to
know was what art is and how it began.
To answer that you must explain why even
the savage has an artistic sense, and you
must seek out the first causes of which that
sense is the result. Why do you attribute it
so particularly to humanity i ” 0 0

“ Because it involves powers of imagin-
ation and reasoning which only human
beings possess,” answered the Critic. “ The
mind of the primitive was, of course, of
very limited capacity, but it was a human
mind and, therefore, capable of artistic
perception.” 00000
362

" In the matter of conscious and de-
liberate artistic production that is probably
correct,” agreed the Man of Science ; “ but
if you want to trace the origin of the artistic
sense in man you must first of all study the
. evidence of its possession by animals.” 0
“ Animals possessed of an artistic sense !
Surely you do not believe that,” cried the
Plain Man. 00000
“ Certainly I do,” replied the Man of
Science, “ I take it that what is known as
the artistic sense is a dual emotion com-
pounded of the desire to create—or, in
other words, to reproduce—and the love of
beauty, which is the motive force in natural
selection. Both these are wholly animal in-
stincts and shared by man with the birds
and beasts. But man, having a greater
reasoning power than animals, has built
upon his instincts an imaginative structure
which we call art, and the growth of this
building has kept pace with the growth of
his mind. He cannot, however, claim as his
alone the sense by which art is inspired.”
“ Then, according to your argument, art
is inevitable,” said the Critic. “ Man,
whether savage or civilised, is driven by
instincts from which he cannot escape. In
fact, creation, with him, is in its origin
involuntary.” 00000
“ I think that is so,” agreed the Man of
Science. “ He can vary the character and
form of his creation in accordance with the
degree of his intelligence, but the impulse
to create is instinctive, and, therefore, irre-
sistible.” 0 0 0 0 0

“ Well, I am surprised ! ” said the Plain
Man. The Lay Figure.

PROFESSOR JIRO HARADA.

THE many friends of Professor Jiro
Harada, our Corresponding Editor for
the Far East, will share our extreme
gratification in the news which comes
to hand as we go to press, that he and his
family have passed uninjured through the
earthquake. Professor Harada writes that
the actual shock left his house intact,
except for some damage to household
appurtenances. Subsequently there was
danger from the proximity of burning
buildings, but happily the fire was extin-
guished before it reached the house. We
feel sure that our readers will receive with
great pleasure these very good tidings. 0