The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1888-08-01
PLEA FOR INDIVIDUALITY.
NECESSITY FOR IT'S DEVELOPMENT
MART.
THE ARTIST SHOULD TnY TO DISCOVER
WHETHER lin HIMSELF HAS ANT GENIUS;
HE SHOULD SoT InIrATB-vALUK or
ART sCHooIA
HRT isa word Of natural ambiguity {
" l and around which loose Gu

HRT Is . word Of natural ambiguity Of
- 1 and around which loose GUS
toms OF speech have placed perfect fog Of
unmeaningness. The painter, the engrayer,
the singer, the one In short who uses the
refinement of physical labor, especially
manual, 10 produce what IL particularly
aimed at delighting the aesthetic nature OF
man, Is by use entitled TO call himself an
artist; and yet the shoemaker has his art,
and the very word artisan is reflection
upon those who would arrogate 10 their
particular vocation the exclusive use OF
that most elusive word, srtl When a word
Is thus generally used II might be sup
posed that beneath its expansive covering
there might be room for entire freedom Of
action, that the nom do pays OF Bohemia
should indicate no realm OF slaves but one
where each should work out HIS own
destiny. unfettered by the necessity for q
strict observance OF rules and dogmas laid
down by dead aud gone Journalists who
had been chiefs In the land. That this 10
not the case Is certainly true, and II 10
equally patent that the progress Of art
and berg pictorial art is generally though
not exclusively meant--is hampered by
the clannishness OF artists themselves and
crippled by the ignorant subseryience to
misunderstood rules on the part OF those
who would foster what they really fetter.
Charles Lamb rejoiced and was exceed
ing glad because he had no ancestors In
particular 20 whose formal paths OF dis
tinction he felt himselfconfned, and 20 he
felt free TO develop his own individ-
uality and do HIS work In his own way
so far as circumstances permitted, and
without the CALLING thought that what
he was accomplishing was being placed
In comparison with the deeds OF some
illustrious grandfather. What is wanted
In the art world is emphatically fewer
grandfathers. The man who conceiyes
himself an artist descendant OF Claude boz
cause he also paints landscapes. labors
under tremendous disadvantage to
begin with; he Is constantly trying TO
initiate his progenitor instead OF discover
ing whether he himself has any genius
and in what direction II lies. The result
Is here Journalist, an art slave, when had
the great landscape painter been studied
for what his work taught and the
knowledge gained used TO work out the
students own individuality, there might
have been developed an equal OF Claude
instead OF an imitator. Not even n great
painter paints well at all times, and sthe
art slave, who takes him for a master, be
sides losing his own individuality and
throwing away all chance OF great fame,
actually viii contract a great many artist
vices that he might have escaped had he
accepted only the good points Of the
master.
An artist n he win accomplish anything
must be individual. He must examine his
own powers until he find the direction OF
their greatest strength and then work on
and on In that course. To work effectively
no must have been, and must remain, a
student OF the masters OF HIS art. He
must study them as much, or rather more,
for their faults than for their merits, but
he must not initiate their good points even
II he has tho genius 10 create any for him
SELF II he feels the power within him to
dispute the supremacy OF an old master on
his own grounds let him try II. Defeat
will be honorable, while Imitation would
be merely servile. The artist who turns
away from the preliminary study OF his art
saying, "There Is nothing TO accomplish,
no new fields to occupy. Loi will paint
a 'pot-boiiing' picture after the style OF
such and such a master''-that man will
make failure as an artist, though he may
make money. But She man who turns
from the study OF the masters, assured In
his own mind wherein his strength lies
and determined to mark out field for
hlmself--that man win be heard from II
ne have the spark of genius. No matter
whether he chooses man, the lower forms
OF animate nature, the sweep OF waters,
the swelling crests OF mountains browning
smiling wales, or the vast stretches of
sandy desert scorching under Eastern
suns, the artist Of today VIII everywhere
find that there is no new thing under the
sun for him TO depict. He viii find all
races OF men gazing at him from the can
vases Of the galleries He will find the
mountain, field and desert already pre-
scented as II struck the eye Of some
painter. But-and here is the point
he will nowhere find man or
or nature painted as they appear TO him.
lie would choose to present his subject In
a different way and TO do so successfully
his own individuality must be developed
in is sense OF artistic proportions and 1t
ness 90 that he knows that n his skill
will but enable him 10 present his subject
as he conceives or sees II be will have
done II justice and painted sgreat picture.
What has been said concerning the
painter Is equally applicable to the work
ers IN every branch OF art, and not the
workers only but to all who conceive that
genuine culture implies an intelligent
admiration OF the grand and beautiful as
well as OF the true and good. No art can
flourish without patronage, nor will II In
any branch be much ahead OF the general
culture OF the people who must eft IN
Judgment II is certainly true, however.
that knowledge OF the excellencles OF A
certain branch OF art may be widely off
ffusd among people generally un-
cultured, and for that very req
son, that culture In any form
ends to the elevation OF a people In the
scale OF civilization, II is wise and hitting
that art schools be made abundant, that
museums be opened TO the people, that
good literature be made cheap, aud that
our churches aud public buildings be
made educators of the people. IL Is q
matter OF common notoriety that Par
isian artisan is often better judge OF a
painting than the vast majority OF Ameri-
can so-called "connoIsseurs," aud tho
reason Is that he has studied pictures BY
the differentiation process and has taken
no ones word for what was good or bad
unless he found q reason 10 go with Il.
In such q man artistic perceptions are
aroused BY what he sees In one form OF
-. - "A .....lH n. .fraoua fndaad AZ In