El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-10-31

, lie art OF painting IS just as mucn
| Of a science as chemistry. Because
L chemistry is useful for our ma
terial and physical welfare it is given
more serious consideration than art,
which appeals chiefly 10 our esthetic OF
spiritual pleasure.
There is no royal road to the study
Of chemistry. It is life work to be-
come an expert chemist It is the same
in the study Of art \ painter Is al
ways a student: he never graduates
He must be continually studying and
abserving nature and people The
greater the painter, the deeper the
student The artist does his studying
always first hand, from human beings.
animals. landscapes. marine views or
objects His right 10 be called an
artist is because Of his creative ability,
to express his own individual opinion
of things as they appear TO him / am
continually meeting people who term
themselves artists, and am asked TO
admire their work. when all they do Is
copy what other people have done
They labOriOuSly paint copies OF otner
peoples work, or they do pen and ink
reproductions of Christy and Gibson
and Harrison Fisher heads and think
because they can do these with a fair
resemblance to the original. that they
not artists at all.
II were 10 take 10 my editor a
beautifully typewriter copy OF hip
fug's magnificent Chant Pagan and
say. see what a beautiful copy have
made am I not a splendid poet2' would
he accept that as emitting me TO be
called a poet. or would anyone accept
me as such2 Of course not Neither
does the ability 10 copy pictures make
the one who copied an artist 4 sign
painter is a skilled artisan. because he
can copy other painters designs but
he is not an artist
BE Individualistic.
As have said i'm the preceding talks
on art. the principal thing that justi-
fies the existence Of art, besides It's
esthetic appeal. is the expression OF
the individual and how he sees things
In uaiutiug. the artist has TO do a great
amount of thinking and analysis in the
selection Of the vital things. the elm
inatiOn Of the non essentials, the study
Of tone values and colOrs and the COM
position Of the picture HIS mental de-
cisiou regarding these things is what
gives his individual viewpoint TO MS
work and makes his painting Of she
same person or the same scene differ
from that Of any other painter.
Il is a much easier thing 10 copy an
other persons work than il is to wres-
tie with the problems that the painter
met and have "A little mental exercise
for yourself Time spent in copying
lutely squandered. It is worse than
useless to the cOpyist. because. instead
Of gaining any facility in painting. il
destroys whatever ability he or she
may have in the frs: place, by making
the cOpyist initiative Of other peoples
technique and mannerisms rather than
creative II is also bad because. unless
the copy is made by as good an artist .
as the person who originally produced
IL. the copy is usually bad IN color and
ont Of drawing and construction.
Copying II Mistake
The greatest mistake in the world |
that person. wishing to do art work. /
can make. is TO copy. Another great
mistake is TO think that by taking
a few lessons" on a picture or two
one can learn TO paint and be styled an
artist The sad thing is that this seems
to be general impression. vet If a per
son wants TO become a musician. he
knows that he has TO begin At the
scales and play exercises and 90 up
N-ard through a long course Of study.
He does not go to a teacher and say
4 want TO play a sonata; please give
me a few lessons" Il cant be done. b
People realize IL can't be done in music
because they can hear the discords and
the awkwardly played passages. while
they are not so sensitive to muddy col ,
ors and bad drawings
The only way to learn TO paint Is to .
begin at the very ginning-draw OBJ
jects and people. study proportions. /
llGnt. shade ana colOr values directly +.
from nature Do your own thinking
and selecting and then study. study.
study The student may not produce
a picture that is worth framing for a
good many years. but eventually he
may produce something that is worth
while. where by copying IL is a dead
certainty that his stuff viii always be +
worthless
Some Copies Worth While.
The only copies that / have ever 2
seen that were justified in their exist !
snce are in the Nelson collection which