Evening star., 1924-10-16
The North Window
BY LEILA MECHLIN


series base ball games was played
in Washington recently more than a
thousand me-i are reported to have
stayed up all night near the entrance
gate in order to secure seats on the
bleachers the next dky, the game be-
ing called at pm. To the person
who knows nothing about base ball
such enthusiasm seems little short
OF insanity. 1t is utterly incompre-
hensible. In like manner, the power
Of art to give pleasure cannot be
understood by those to whom the
subject is still a closed book. Strange
as 1T may seem, there is considerable
similarity between art and base ball.
The thousand who stayed up all
night to see the game between two
winning teams and the tens of thou
sands who paid fabulous sums for
reserved seats were drawn thither by
the skill of the participants. 1t was
not the act of throwing or hitting
the ball. or the swiftness of making
runs; 1t was the way these things
were done, the fact that there was
contest, the conviction that there
would be an exhibition of supreme
ability. Base ball played by the best
players in the United States is
thrilling spectacle.
X y
Art also is a game and a game re-
quiring great skill, and nine-tenths
OF the joy that the art lover finds in
1t is a joy in achievement, superla-
tive achievement. In other words,
1t Is to great extent the process
rather than the result which Gre
ates excitement or delight on the
part of the observer. That man has
achieved this marvel is the basic
cause of enjoyment to man.
This instantly explains why mere
imitation is not the chief end of art
To make something which merely
looks like something else is stopping
short of supreme accomplishment
Take. for example, a portrait by Rem
brandt or by any one of the great
masters. The original of that por-
trait placed in identically that same
light, behind a frame, would not
move the observer in the least to en-
thusiasm, would create no emotion
or joy whatsoever. 1t is the fact
that Rembrandt has interpreted that
person through the medium of pig
ment with such marvellous effect,
with such consummate skill, that the
imagination is touched and the es-
thetic serfse gratifed.
This is the reason, also, why art
to those who have knowledge and
are sensitive gives more pleasure
than nature. There Is beauty, su-
preme beauty, in nature, and it has
the power to uplift and to soothe,
even to excite emotion, but it can
never give the same pleasure, the
keenest pleasure, unalloyed delight,
that art gives when fully appreciated,
or in other words, understood.
The grave question is how to con-
vince people of this truth who do not
know, who are on the outside. What
words could be found to convince the
unimaginative who had never seen a
base ball game of the interest to be
found in one Of the world series?
Likewise, how impossible it seems to
explain to one who has never been
warmed by the fire of art that those
who give a kings ransom for a
painting are not throwing their
money to the winds. In both in
stances seeing is essential to be-
lieving.
The fascination which attaches to
work of art and to a base ball. game
cannot be explained, but they are
very real, they are absolutely tang
ibie; and as Observation-Disclosures is,
the processes of the mind-are more
thrilling than physical achievement,
so the successes of the artist are pro-
portionately more capable of creating
delight and enthusiasm than those of
the athlete. Obviously, a smaller
proportion are capable Of this higher
type of enjoyment, but to those who
are, the reward is tremendous; they
are fortunate, indeed. The steps to-
ward the attainment of this power
OF pleasure are not difficult to ascend
AT first 1t is the obvious which ap-
peals in art as in nature, but as the
eye becomes more sensitive and better
trained subleties are discovered until
gradually the refinements of art are
grasped.
X y
1t is not just winning that brings the
cheers; it Is the way the player wins.
So, also, in art, and as the layman in :
creases his or her knowledge of the
game the way the artist achieves
brings greatest pleasure. This does
not necessarily mean technique-far
from 1t. But without technique and
technique of a very accomplished
sort there would be no great art. Let
us remember that.
The first necessity of acquiring an
appreciation of art we have found to
be seeing. 1t is also necessary, how
ever, that one should eNdsavo to see
correctly, sympathetically; that one
should approach art with a humble
mind, spirit of reverence. For al t
is not only one of the few enduring
things in this world and witnesses to
the culture of nations, but is Of the
substance Of things not yet fully re-
vealed. A great work of art lays
bare a mans soul and awakens in the
soul of the onlooker emotions akin
n nyxyY No ~ ~
be created but for that profound and
inexplicable impulse on the part Of man
to express. not himself, but something
which has spoken to him, and when
the artist finds beautiful expression
it satisfies in the onlooker who lacks
that power a heretofore unsatisfied
yearning.
X r y X
The love of art may be intuitive.
To some 1T is as q God-given gift; but
rare, indeed, are those who cannot ac-
quire it. There are those born tone
deaf, to whom music is an annoy
ance; there are some who are color
| blind and who find no enjoyment in
line or rhythm. But these are the ex-
ceptions, not the rule. In Italy and
| in France the children on the streets,
| the average citizens, have a sensi-
| tiveness to art and power Of enjoy
| ment Of art which come from asso-
| citation with the best-the works of
the great masters.
This power of enjoyment is a great
| enrichment to life, for art is to be
| found on all sides-in the buildings
| we pass on the streets, the parks laid
| out by landscape architects, the sculp-
| ture which adorns our squares: the
| works in various mediums congregat-
| ed in our art galleries, the doors of
which are open to all. A little chap
who could not afford even admission
to the bleachers, but secured a point
| of vantage on a housetop, got more
| pleasure out Of the base ball game