DOI Heft:
No. 373 (April 1924)
DOI Artikel:The lay figure: on an experiment that failed
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21399#0258
The lay figure : on an
EXPERIMENT THAT FAILED.
“ What a fuss some people seem to be
making over the failure of the experiment
in decoration which was made recently in
the County Hall/’ said the Plain Man.
“ It seems to me rather silly.” 0 0
“ It seems to me that the whole thing is
a gross scandal,” cried the Young High-
brow, “ another glaring instance of the
soulless stupidity of the jack-in-office.”
“ According to you, everything that
does not agree with your particular point
of view is a scandal and a disgrace,”
laughed the Plain Man. “ Why do you
claim a monopoly of knowledge and
taste i ” 0 a 0 0 0
“ I do not claim anything of the sort,”
protested the Young Highbrow. “ I am
merely accepting the view of a number of
leading experts who have pronounced this
experiment a success. Who are you that
you should question their opinion''” 0
“ Who am I i ” returned the Plain
Man. “ Well, I take it that I am one of the
people for whose benefit the experiment
was made and that therefore the last word
about its success is with me. You forget
that I have to pay the bill.” 0 0
“ The bill! You sordid materialist! ”
exclaimed the Young Highbrow. “ Would
you haggle with students over the price of
their work i Would you refuse them a
chance because it costs you a few pounds?1”
“ Certainly not,” replied the Plain Man.
“ I am ready to pay a good price for any-
thing that is worth having but I like to
have full value for my money. Is there any-
thing unreasonable in that < ” 0 0
“ But you were asked for so little on this
occasion,” argued the Young Highbrow.
“ You were to give the students a corner
in which to show what they could do. The
whole thing was frankly an experiment;
could you not allow them even that small
measure of encouragement i” 0 0
“ Just a minute,” broke in the Critic.
“ Are you not rather giving away your
case S' You said just now that the success
of this experiment was vouched for by
experts and that their opinion was not to
be questioned. Now you are pleading that
because the matter was one in which
students, no doubt of much promise, were
240
concerned we ought all to be specially
tolerant. Is that quite consistent i ” 0
“ I certainly think that the fact that the
work was done by students ought to be
taken into account,” declared the Young
Highbrow. “ The idea was to test their
powers and the experts were satisfied with
the results of the test. Is not that enough?"'
“ But the people who imposed the test
were not satisfied; you overlook that
fact,” said the Critic. “ Therefore, no
matter what the experts say, the experi-
ment was a failure. You admit, when you
talk about giving students a corner to play
about in, that you did not expect them to
produce anything of commanding import-
ance. Your apologetic attitude seems to me
to be a justification of the position taken
up by the County Council Committee.” 0
“ I am not apologising,” cried the
Young Highbrow. “ I am only saying that
in a vast place like the County Hall some
space might have fairly been allowed to
clever students in which to prove their
capacities.” 00000
“ That is where I join issue with you
entirely,” returned the Plain Man. “You
seem to forget that the County Hall is one
of the most important public buildings in
the country and that when it is decorated,
as I hope it will be, it ought to be treated
with the respect that is due to it. I do not
see why we should put even in its corners
stuff that, as your experts admit, is not
good enough for the chief rooms. Im-
mature work may be very promising
and thoroughly creditable and yet be
out of place in any situation which
demands the full powers of tried artists.”
“ There, I think, you are right,” agreed
the Critic. “ An experiment may be in-
tensely interesting and yet be a failure
because it is made under the wrong con-
ditions .” 00000
“ Quite so,” said the Plain Man;
“ and in this instance it has failed because
we, who were willing to pay for the
experiment if it succeeded, felt quite
sincerely that we were not getting what
we had a right to expect. That is,
surely, reason enough.” 000
“ Always the squalid money test! ”
sighed the Young Highbrow. “ None of
you has a soul.” 0000
The Lay Figure.
EXPERIMENT THAT FAILED.
“ What a fuss some people seem to be
making over the failure of the experiment
in decoration which was made recently in
the County Hall/’ said the Plain Man.
“ It seems to me rather silly.” 0 0
“ It seems to me that the whole thing is
a gross scandal,” cried the Young High-
brow, “ another glaring instance of the
soulless stupidity of the jack-in-office.”
“ According to you, everything that
does not agree with your particular point
of view is a scandal and a disgrace,”
laughed the Plain Man. “ Why do you
claim a monopoly of knowledge and
taste i ” 0 a 0 0 0
“ I do not claim anything of the sort,”
protested the Young Highbrow. “ I am
merely accepting the view of a number of
leading experts who have pronounced this
experiment a success. Who are you that
you should question their opinion''” 0
“ Who am I i ” returned the Plain
Man. “ Well, I take it that I am one of the
people for whose benefit the experiment
was made and that therefore the last word
about its success is with me. You forget
that I have to pay the bill.” 0 0
“ The bill! You sordid materialist! ”
exclaimed the Young Highbrow. “ Would
you haggle with students over the price of
their work i Would you refuse them a
chance because it costs you a few pounds?1”
“ Certainly not,” replied the Plain Man.
“ I am ready to pay a good price for any-
thing that is worth having but I like to
have full value for my money. Is there any-
thing unreasonable in that < ” 0 0
“ But you were asked for so little on this
occasion,” argued the Young Highbrow.
“ You were to give the students a corner
in which to show what they could do. The
whole thing was frankly an experiment;
could you not allow them even that small
measure of encouragement i” 0 0
“ Just a minute,” broke in the Critic.
“ Are you not rather giving away your
case S' You said just now that the success
of this experiment was vouched for by
experts and that their opinion was not to
be questioned. Now you are pleading that
because the matter was one in which
students, no doubt of much promise, were
240
concerned we ought all to be specially
tolerant. Is that quite consistent i ” 0
“ I certainly think that the fact that the
work was done by students ought to be
taken into account,” declared the Young
Highbrow. “ The idea was to test their
powers and the experts were satisfied with
the results of the test. Is not that enough?"'
“ But the people who imposed the test
were not satisfied; you overlook that
fact,” said the Critic. “ Therefore, no
matter what the experts say, the experi-
ment was a failure. You admit, when you
talk about giving students a corner to play
about in, that you did not expect them to
produce anything of commanding import-
ance. Your apologetic attitude seems to me
to be a justification of the position taken
up by the County Council Committee.” 0
“ I am not apologising,” cried the
Young Highbrow. “ I am only saying that
in a vast place like the County Hall some
space might have fairly been allowed to
clever students in which to prove their
capacities.” 00000
“ That is where I join issue with you
entirely,” returned the Plain Man. “You
seem to forget that the County Hall is one
of the most important public buildings in
the country and that when it is decorated,
as I hope it will be, it ought to be treated
with the respect that is due to it. I do not
see why we should put even in its corners
stuff that, as your experts admit, is not
good enough for the chief rooms. Im-
mature work may be very promising
and thoroughly creditable and yet be
out of place in any situation which
demands the full powers of tried artists.”
“ There, I think, you are right,” agreed
the Critic. “ An experiment may be in-
tensely interesting and yet be a failure
because it is made under the wrong con-
ditions .” 00000
“ Quite so,” said the Plain Man;
“ and in this instance it has failed because
we, who were willing to pay for the
experiment if it succeeded, felt quite
sincerely that we were not getting what
we had a right to expect. That is,
surely, reason enough.” 000
“ Always the squalid money test! ”
sighed the Young Highbrow. “ None of
you has a soul.” 0000
The Lay Figure.