DOI Heft:
No. 389 (August 1925)
DOI Artikel:The lay figure: a holiday interlude
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21403#0142
THE LAY FIGURE: A HOLIDAY
INTERLUDE. 0000
" The window of the railway carriage/'
said the Critic, " stimulates search for the
consolations of philosophy/' The talk
had, as is natural at this time of year,
begun with the question of holidays, and
had gone on to some of the sights which
the holiday-maker sees when he is travel-
ling towards his chosen resort. This
aspect of the matter had been suggested
by the Critic's friend on leave from India,
who had commented on the increase of
big advertisement hoardings in certain
areas which he had noticed since his last
visit home. 00000
" It is a consolation to me," observed
the Young Highbrow, " to know that there
are so many places I need not visit—every
town advertised is a town avoided, so to
speak." 00000
" I wish," said the Young Artist thought-
fully, " that they'd turn us loose on some
of those hoardings. A canvas twenty
feet by ten would give scope, wouldn't
it ^ " ^ 0 0 0 0 0
" But you'd have a tough proposition
with some of your subjects," the Plain
Man pointed out. ** I don't see what
art could do with a lot of the things which
people advertise. Take cigarettes, for
instance. I'm hanged if there's any
scope with cigarettes themselves. A
'fag' is just a little straight thing which
you stick in your face. And it's no
easier with heaps of other objects which
they mention on the hoardings—tin-
tacks, linoleum, planks, and what not.
They are the goods the public buys as a
matter of course, and they don't lend
themselves to poetic or picturesque
treatment." 00000
" I'm not so sure of that," put in the
Critic. " When you come to look into
what has already been done in the develop-
ment of advertising, you find that there
has really been an amazing advance in
the last few years. And some problems
have been solved which would have seemed
almost insuperable when we were young.
Don't you agree i " 000
The Old Artist nodded assent. " The
greatest successes, of course, have been
where it has been possible to take a broad
136
view of a thing. But the improvement
all round is marked, and there are plenty
of minor advertisements on view now
which are proof enough that art has it's
definite functions in regard to publicity.
And it ought to pay, too. It's a way of
making a living which should help. There
was precious little scope on hoardings and
so on when I was young." 0 0
" Yes, but how are you going to get
over those difficulties i " the Plain Man
insisted. " I'd defy a committee of
Old Masters to make a tin-tack impres-
sive." 0 0 0 0 0 0
** I don't know," said the Critic, smiling.
" If the tin-tack were big enough, and
there were a mysterious background, I
think I could write a screed about it,
showing some morals to be deduced—
the influence of the infinitely little on the
infinitely great, the subtle way in which
our civilisation is tacked together, and
so on. But, for practical purposes, I
think the modern tendency to treat dim-
cult problems with humour is the right
method." 00000
** What has humour got to do with
arts'" asked the Young Highbrow. 0
" Not nearly enough," returned the
Critic. " But I fancy things are changing
in that respect, and you younger fellows
would do well to note it. It seems to
me that there is a big future for the men
who can give humour a place in painting
similar to that which it has long possessed
in literature. It is not the least precious
of human emotions, but it seems to
develop more slowly than the others in
each recurring civilisation. You remem-
ber the famous old category of human
interests, votum, timor, ira, voluptas—
those are the primitive things. Laughter
may attend the earlier ages, but it is not
till civilisation is far advanced that man
has leisure and ability to smile. That is
a subtle form of enjoyment, and it implies
a definite phase of human existence.
Though a late one, I do not see why it
should be less esteemed than other
faculties which we possess, and it ought
to inspire great art as well as great litera-
ture. And it could solve many problems
such as that which we have been dis-
cussing." 00000
The Lay Figure.
INTERLUDE. 0000
" The window of the railway carriage/'
said the Critic, " stimulates search for the
consolations of philosophy/' The talk
had, as is natural at this time of year,
begun with the question of holidays, and
had gone on to some of the sights which
the holiday-maker sees when he is travel-
ling towards his chosen resort. This
aspect of the matter had been suggested
by the Critic's friend on leave from India,
who had commented on the increase of
big advertisement hoardings in certain
areas which he had noticed since his last
visit home. 00000
" It is a consolation to me," observed
the Young Highbrow, " to know that there
are so many places I need not visit—every
town advertised is a town avoided, so to
speak." 00000
" I wish," said the Young Artist thought-
fully, " that they'd turn us loose on some
of those hoardings. A canvas twenty
feet by ten would give scope, wouldn't
it ^ " ^ 0 0 0 0 0
" But you'd have a tough proposition
with some of your subjects," the Plain
Man pointed out. ** I don't see what
art could do with a lot of the things which
people advertise. Take cigarettes, for
instance. I'm hanged if there's any
scope with cigarettes themselves. A
'fag' is just a little straight thing which
you stick in your face. And it's no
easier with heaps of other objects which
they mention on the hoardings—tin-
tacks, linoleum, planks, and what not.
They are the goods the public buys as a
matter of course, and they don't lend
themselves to poetic or picturesque
treatment." 00000
" I'm not so sure of that," put in the
Critic. " When you come to look into
what has already been done in the develop-
ment of advertising, you find that there
has really been an amazing advance in
the last few years. And some problems
have been solved which would have seemed
almost insuperable when we were young.
Don't you agree i " 000
The Old Artist nodded assent. " The
greatest successes, of course, have been
where it has been possible to take a broad
136
view of a thing. But the improvement
all round is marked, and there are plenty
of minor advertisements on view now
which are proof enough that art has it's
definite functions in regard to publicity.
And it ought to pay, too. It's a way of
making a living which should help. There
was precious little scope on hoardings and
so on when I was young." 0 0
" Yes, but how are you going to get
over those difficulties i " the Plain Man
insisted. " I'd defy a committee of
Old Masters to make a tin-tack impres-
sive." 0 0 0 0 0 0
** I don't know," said the Critic, smiling.
" If the tin-tack were big enough, and
there were a mysterious background, I
think I could write a screed about it,
showing some morals to be deduced—
the influence of the infinitely little on the
infinitely great, the subtle way in which
our civilisation is tacked together, and
so on. But, for practical purposes, I
think the modern tendency to treat dim-
cult problems with humour is the right
method." 00000
** What has humour got to do with
arts'" asked the Young Highbrow. 0
" Not nearly enough," returned the
Critic. " But I fancy things are changing
in that respect, and you younger fellows
would do well to note it. It seems to
me that there is a big future for the men
who can give humour a place in painting
similar to that which it has long possessed
in literature. It is not the least precious
of human emotions, but it seems to
develop more slowly than the others in
each recurring civilisation. You remem-
ber the famous old category of human
interests, votum, timor, ira, voluptas—
those are the primitive things. Laughter
may attend the earlier ages, but it is not
till civilisation is far advanced that man
has leisure and ability to smile. That is
a subtle form of enjoyment, and it implies
a definite phase of human existence.
Though a late one, I do not see why it
should be less esteemed than other
faculties which we possess, and it ought
to inspire great art as well as great litera-
ture. And it could solve many problems
such as that which we have been dis-
cussing." 00000
The Lay Figure.