Evening star., 1924-10-09
The North Window
BY LEILA MECHLIN

easier to find fault than to do. It
! looks so easy and it Is so hard.
All who make use from time to
time OF a camera know full we'll the
Importance of finding ready made
compositions and of regarding the
question of light, but few, perhaps.
realize that it is quite as essential for
the landscape painter to be set in the
midst of paintable material and to be
alert to the effects of light. One ar
tiSt told the writer that he had been
charmed by a certain view that he
had found in Nova Scotia this Sum
| mer. and stopped on a motor trip to
paint it, but behold, not once again
| in the two weeks that he patiently
| waited did even an approximate OF
the same effect appear That artist
, was in quest of subjects, things out
| of the ordinary, things which had
| not been done to death. and somehow
| he did not find them. In Nova Scotia
! and in Maine nature to him seemed
TO repeat herself endlessly. Yet
! Rembrandt SO PAINTED one time the
carcass of a steer that he created "A
masterpiece. Is it subjects or in
| Spiration that is wanting?
X *
But to go back to the practice Of
painting. Only those who have made
| excursions into this field know with
what difficulties it is beset, and sci.
| dom has there been any help to be
had in the way Of written instruction.
! At last, however. Harold Speed, a
| British painter OF distinction, has
written most excellent and enlight-
| ening book, The Science and Prac-
| tice of Oil Painting" published in
this countr! by Charles Scribner's
! Sons. which gives the layman an
insight into this art and the student
! information of q most valuable sort.
outside OF the company of his
j fellows the painter more than any
other professional man. perhaps, finds
! II difficult 10 talk about his art. For
! one reason, as Mr.. Speed himself sue-
| eests. art is like religion. and is
! therefore one of those things no
! sensible fellow talks about: it goes
/ too deep And fAw artists do their
work consciously-that it, the impulse
! and the power are found in some
1 mysterious Subconscious way, i'm
! possible to explain and yet absolu-
/ tely inseparable from the skill gained
through training. Finally. the major
ity are of the belief which Mr.. Speed
! expresses, that in speaking about
art there is little hope Of being un-
| derstood except by those who have
already experienced what one is try
! ing TO talk about. For these rea-
| sons Mr.. Speed confines himself
| frankly to the craft OF the PAINTER
but he writes not only apparently
from full knowledge. but with d full
| heart. Prom first to last his book
J has human interest One artist at
| least has here spoken practically
/ intelligenuy. fcelingly of his art.
and it should lead TO a better under
standing between the laynan and the
artist.
: = j :.
! Refore entering upon the discussion
! of 'terhnicalitics-tonc values, tone
exercises. color. Painting from life.
F.; design. etc, he turns for u single
! chapter to the subject of modern
art, because. he claims. "it is impos-
slhie 10 write on the art of painting
at the present moment without say
ing something about the group of
strange works that have alrogated
/ l" themselves this nanse.- He has
some delightful things to say on this
subject, and again he is definite and
| 10 the point. For instance; he calls
to our attention that for the first
, time IN the history of the world the
masses are articulate." and suggests
; that this creates the demand for
the cruder forms Of expression. Again
I he says: "A sign of the times and
tho dislike OF refined technique is
inc prominence given to primitive
art ana the work of savages as we'll
as the art Of children"
: x ::
The responsibility for lar-e par-t Of
,l'e present state of art among us he
rays al the door of the press and though
lor inc Professional art critic he se,cn,s
TO nave little use. he generously admits
that with exhibitions every week 70 70
coFd and to estimate, il is not etrance
Iilat Inc sensational works are found 10
secure most notice What would han
pen, he exclaims. "if men had to eat
oozen dinners day and had time for
niue ess'e would they really be judges
! OF good cooking?'' The more cl,,rnsv
and imperfect in expression a work of
! art is. he says, 'the more perfectly i.
may serve to generate a symphony OF
t IDEAS in the mind OF the critic" and
/ then he adds. One is naturally d,,,nh
| before fine work Of art" And this is
very true. What is there to say of sucl,
WORKS as the portrait of an old man by
| lGiepurn. in our National Gallerv% Ee-
! lore IL one stands silent, and with un-
| covered head. And, after all. this is the
essence. is it not. of all great art-this
| power TO move to silence to thriuo
1t is IN this that the fine arts differ
! from tho crafts. a craft work, no mat
| ter how beautiful, merely char ms: a
work OF art--a great work of art-eu-
! thralls, humbies, uplifts.
x = = :;
, Il am inclined to think" savs Mr.
| Speed, that every age has the art il
deserves. Adding, What art is s1,f-
ferlng from at the present time is the
Eack OF a proper place in the eocial
! economy and a place in the affections Of
| the people He finds that interest in
! earning living tends to swamp all in
terest in the quality Of what We do or
| make to earn il, with the natural re-
/ suit that there is An all-round detcriora-
/ tion in the quality Of almost all things
! that we make except machines" Which
: brings him to the conclusion that eve
! are gradually substituting the making
| of money for the making of good things
/ TO buy with it. and are fast heading for
! the time when machines and antiques
will be the only things worth buying"
| This Is an impeachment of our times.
! and dolfful outlook II is not, how
! ever. unreasonable
= x x I;
| Oddly enough. the same thought is ex-
| pressed by Joseph Conrad in "The Mir
| ror Of the Sea" when he speaks of the
'hna art of Seamanship. This great
Seaman-author in his latter DAYS saw
| the fine art of sailing deteriorating into
craft (steaIn navigating). and in this
! chapter he tries to differentiate, and
| does, between the craftsman and the ar
| tiSt. He says (and this is equally as
! true of painting, sculpture and alchitec-
ture as it is of seamanship), Efficiency
| of practically flawlcss kind may be
reached naturally in the struggle, for
! bread. but there is something beyond
| higher point, a subtle and unrnstaka-
! bic touch Of love and pride beyond mere
! almost n
! to all work that efficiency which is al
| most art-Xhich is art