And furthermore, Jim lent out works from his collection to students to hang in their rooms. For a term I had a Gaudier-Brzeska drawing on my wall. I was hooked and decided that the visual arts should be my field. It may also provoke joy, laughter, anger or pain. But for many people it remains hard to see how similar qualities can be found in the art of our own time.
Much modern art is, at first sight, unnerving.
Personally, I rather welcome this. In the contemporary world we have come to expect instant response and immediate understanding. The very fact that a painting or sculpture can be taken in at a glance encourages the belief that everything should be immediately comprehended. However, new art, like old repays prolonged attention as layers of meaning slowing disclose themselves.