The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-18
not bother his head with the study of the
humanity that God has created.

conscious moral purpose. If we are to
draw our analogies from nature and life,
then we must make our art study OF the
various phenomena of our social, racial
and physical existence. We have all the
phenomena of life to select from, but selec-
ton must be made. We cannot fling
heterogeneous mass of experiences, even
though each is part of lie, upon canvas,
or into literature, and call it art. l think
it is this instinct of right selection that
constitutes what we call genius.
Edith White-Isn't the aim of art to ex-
press that which is interesting E? An artist
sees an old brass kettle and few onions
beside it upon table, and not because he
values brass or likes onions does he paint
it, but because the harmony of color inter-
ests him. If he succeeds in expressing
what he sees ne produces work OF art. 1t
is not arts mission to instruct or reform,
though many great works of art have done
both. 1t is not arts mission alone to
please, for disagreeable things have been
written and painted that were yet artistic,
but whether pleasant or unpleasant, all
must possess the element of interest.
Kenneth Malcolm-The true artist is
under no necessity of resorting to didactlc
methods, but neither can he help it when
truth insists, as The Artist has put it,,
in getting itself born through him. Millet
painted a picture of a man trimming a
tree. Just man trimming tree, but so
much of the terrible tragedy, the scream
ing paradox of this human life of ours
read itself into every line of that common
place figure, engaged in a commonplace
occupation, that the directors OF the Dres-
den Gallery refused to let it be hung, be-
cause they said at would stir up discon-
tent among the people"
Heterodoxia - True realism teaches
greater lessons than didacticism ever can.
The realist is the most humble OF artists.
He finds all that God has created so good
that he limits his endeavor to recording it.
The unlovely, the vulgar, the sordid have
their place in art, are the materials OF art,
as well as the dignifed and the noble.
But they should only be the background
against which character is outlined and
developed. Zangwil in his Children of
the Ghetto" paints US pictures OF poverty
of the most sordid, destructive, hateful
and unpicturesque sort, but he humanizes
it all, gives US at the same time sense OF
the ideals, the loyalty to race, the pious
devotion, the real religious earnestness OF
the meaDest and most truculent OF his
characters that brings us into a more in
telligent human sympathy with the whole
Jewish people.
The Artist-Ah, you've got it there. 1t
is the human touch that is the life of all
our art. Nature herself teaches us moth
ing until we humaniZe her. Talk about
Corot and Hayden and all the rest of them
going out and creating pictures by sketch
ing from nature. 1t cannot be done. You
can paint from nature. You can paint
rocks and streams and trees and sky. You
can make them so exact that your work
will be just like colored photograph.
There will be no more satisfaction in it.
To make a picture that will speak to the
soul of man you must put something more
into it than is in the rocks and trees You
have got to put feeling into it. There is
no feeling in nature. And all this talk
about art being the imitation of nature
Why it is all bosh. said that to a scientist
once, and he said to me: do you really
think that you can improve on what God
has NADER" Think OF tnatl Wasn't that
a terrible thing for an intelligent man to
say? 1t isn't a question of improving on
nature. 1t is question of humaniZing it;
OF making people see and love nature,
understand nature. That's what God made
artists for.
humaniZe the materials of his art that the
greatness of the artist lies. 1t seems to me
that everything in life-all the thoughts,
the feelings and experiences of which
human being is capable-are materials for
art; all that we get out of life, all that we
read into it. Ethics and didactics are a
part of life, and are, therefore, a legitimate
part of art. They have their place. There
is no Limitation in art. Whatever your
soul sees that is honest and true, that har-
monies with or comments on the drama
of life, is susceptible of artistic treatment.
Only, whatever we essay we must make
plain. If we cannot do that we must let it
alone.
Kenneth Malcolm-I do not believe that
the artist ever had an idea that he could
not make plain. If he fails to be under
CTR &c hn
understood what he wants to do. What
we call genius is something more than the
instinct OF selection. 1t is the instinct
that knows. Like the scientist who con-
structed a perfect skeleton from seeing
single bone OF an unknown animal, a
single look, gesture, flash OF light In
dark place, will enable creative genius to
build the whole character, whole train of
circumstances. For instance, Henry James
tells of an English novelist, woman Of
genius, who in one of her stories drew
realistic picture of the nature and way OF
life of the French Protestant youth. She
was congratulated upon the truth of her
picture, and asked where she had had such
evident admirable opportunity for study
ing this class of society. Her reply was
that once, in Paris, ascending a staircase,
she passed an open door where in the
apartment of a pastor some of the young
Protestants were sitting at table round a
finished meal. The glimpse made picture.
1t lasted only moment, but it was enough
for her to receive the impression and evolve
the type. She guessed the whole from the
part, and created the whole round of the
life of those students from that glimpse.
Second Babe-in-th Woods = A great
question in my mind is, Has art a right to
be, simply for arts sake, regardless of
what the consequences of the artistic pro-
duction may be?
The Chiel-I think not. We cannot have,
in life, a disregard for consequences, and
yet preserve the unities of life, nor do 1
think that art can disregard consequences
without disaster and final disintegration.
Second Babe-So it seems to me. 1t
must end in self-destruction. Art, if it
means anything, means balance-an
equilibrium. There is no such balance in
immortality use the word in its general
sense. True art must be in accordance
with the laws of nature.
The Chiel-Those who talk about there
being no morality in art lose sight of the
fact that there may be art in morality.
Runnymede-You are wandering from
the subject. The Office of art is to present.
The business of art is to impress. The
purpose of art is to elevate. There is no
work of art that ever lived that has not
some purpose. The theory that work of
art should be simply passing, fanciful
idea in the creators mind is absurd. 1t