Evening star., 1900-01-27
SECRET OF THEIR ART
Japanese Strive Constantly After Truth and
Conciseness.
Their sense of the Beautiful is So
Marked That They Leave
Nothing Vague.



White much-veTy much-of japanese art
is suggestive impress onsm, it is invariably
marked by being concise. The japanese
rsopI. are the most poetic people in the
world. but their sense of the beautiful is
80 marked that they leave nothing vague.
They ieal with mysticism. to be sure. but
III on. may put it this way) they make
even their mysticism definite. Their art Is
the expression of their training in abso-
luteueSs. Tradition governs the mind OF
the japanese artist to such an extent that,
until he had given himself up to a long
and artluous apprenticeship to study. he
would not dream of exhibiting his work
Eu- for his masters criticism, nor would
his Goul.sty-for the Japanese are an honest
I,,Op!e-permit him 10 consider himself an
artist. much less TO be called one.
OHr western conditions are not 50 severe,
and consequently our ART is loosely con-
Strurted as far as art as Il system is con-
Corus1 This is quite right and il is not 20
he believed that japanese art IS everything
Giui perhaps il is not broaD, yet let the
statement stand that there IS much in Japan
rSc art and art methods that we need in our
art We of the occident undoubtedly have
the only field which may be improved hy
such combination of the art idea. for our
art is always seeking any honest means of
expression, and is absolutely unhampcred
by any sense of obligation those tradi-
tions we may have. On the other hand if
one may judge by exhibitions of such work
iu Toxic and the work of panese students
III occidental ateliers, the attempts of GER
tain progressive Japanese artists from time
I" time to apply the occidental good to
their oriental good have eliminated in hope
less failures.
creations with occidental pigments in an
occidental manner they fail. Our artists
studying in Japan do the opposite thing:
to sum the whole business, YOU can
SplIl into Dafnt
paint into soul 50 well. We have yet to
learn oriental dfrectness in the technique
81 appncauon. and one cannot do direct
things without positive knowledge. Hence
we can well avail ourselves of their system
of training This system, cOnciSely, is this
Observe and perpetuate the best of what
You have observed Gmpressionistic SCHOOL,
the shumOr you have observed (caricature),
The evil You have observed (groteSquel,
er"rythinS you have observed it affects
you trealism), as It actually is. unimpeded
hy your feeling (absolute realisml. These
degrees may be combined and propOrtioned
hut it IS the system of Japanese tradition
tine readily sees that our methods and our
tri'keTE IN instances are not founded all
ways on the positive knowledge which OBJ
s"rvdtion begets- because where results
often Just as aStOniShingly beautiful as
they are accidentaI-cannot be explained
hy the one arriving at them. more positive
kl'Wir'iSe need not and would not narrow
10" sphere Of the artist. II is not knOwI-
edge which has kept Japanese art as mar
row IN one way as il is. No; spontaneity
beauty and all that the most ambftin11s
strive for is TO be had through more truth
W e merely lack some Of the truth which
the Japanese have in sllDerabundance: they
lack Some-and much-uf the truth that
was our foundation, and to whose store
We hhve added from Leonardo da Vinci to
Whl~tlCr.
As ore demonstration of what we might
avail ourselves let us take for instance the
mrth"T-d genuine japanese one-which
Mr. chase Is said to employ in teaching his
pupiS The technique Of art The pupil is
taught first Of all the use of everything
placed near him to use: then he is shown
how To- use it. JUST how he himself will us..
u depends upoa MS progress. and marks
his individuality and style. While Mr.. Ar
thug Dow las his pupils use everything
Japan Sc. this other method does not re-
GuIr@ it, although japanese inks and
BRUSHES and IapeTs are always useful and
c'rrrt-evsn these materials are time-s5v-
rs Fhe next thing the pupil does is TO
Keep his vyrs opcn. directing his attention
:" "-E thing one set of things. For
such training Of observation a tray bearing
s"v-rt objects is placed near him for a
short time and is then withdrawn He now
tells What he saw thereon As these exer-
discs "f the acUtsress Of vision progress
Tho trty Is left for shorter periods of time,
and TsHaliy hastily passed before the pupil.
MI this IS gone through with many times.
until iHe person has acquired such facil-
ity that he can remember every object that
WAS before him. IL is surprising how short
time it takes Tor such training. and jap
su->e children of six are often able to
rnumerate as many as thirty-six objects
put before them. The next step IS to
member the location Of these things. At
this point the drawings are commenced.
These probably vii b- little more than
iTdications- After one has acquired such
facility. form is memOTized and applied
To the positions n the objects remembered;
the EeXt thing is color, and the last de-
tail