A Plea For Individuality

TTT RT is a word of natural ambiguity of ¦¦ and around whicb. loose cusomi of speech have placed a perfect fot; of unmeaningncss. The painter, the engraver, he sinser, the one in short who uses tha efinenient of physical labor, especially nauual, to produce what is particularly imcd at delightlug the aesthetic nature of man, is by use entitled to cali hlmself an artist; and yet the shoemaker has lus art, and the yery word artisan is a reflection upon those who would arróbate to thelr particular vocation the exclusive use of that most elusive word, art. Wlien a word is thus generally used it mlght be supposed that beneath its cxpansive eWWlBg thero might be room for entire freedom of action, that the nom de pays of Bohemia shoulil indícate no realm of elares but one where eaeh ghould work out his own destiny, unfettered by the necessity for a strict observance of rules and dogmas laid down by dead and gone formalists who had been chiefs in the land. That this is not the case is certainly true, and it ig equally patent that the progresa of art - and here pictorial art is generally though not exclueively meant- is hampered by the clunnishnesB of artists themaelves and erlppled by the iirnorant subssrvience to misunderstood rules on the part of those wfco would foster what they really fetter. Charles Lamb rejoiced and was exceeding glad because he had no ancestors in particular to whose formal paths of disttnction he feit himsclf contined, and so he feit free to develop his own lndividuality and do his work in his own way so far as circumstanccs permitted, and without the galling thought that what be was aceoinpliehlng was being placed in comparison with the deeds of eome illustrious grandfather. What is wanted in the art world ia emphatically fewer grand fat hers. The man who conceive himself an aitist descendant of Claudc because he also paluts landscapes, labors under a tremendous dieadvantage to begin with; he is constantly tryiug to imitate hls progenitor instead of discovering whether he hiinself has any genius and In what direction it lies. The result is here a formalist, an art slave, when had the groat landscape painter been studied for what his work taught and tha knowledge pained used to work out the studeut's own individuality, there might have been developed an equal of Claude instead of an imitator. Not even a great painter paints well at all times, and the art elave, who takes him for a ma6ter, besldes losing his own individuality and throwing away all chance of great fame, actually will contract a great many artist vices that he might have escaped had he accepted ouly tüe good poinU oí the mas ter. An artist if he will aceomplish anything must be individual. He must examine his own powers until he find the direction of their greatest strength and then work on and on in that conree. To work effectively he must have been, and must reinain, a student of the masters of his art. He must study. them as much, or rather more, for their faults than for their merits, but he must not imitate their good points even if he has the genius to créate any for himEelf . If he feels the power within him to dispute the supremacy of anold masteron his own grounds let him try it. Defeat wiU be honorable, whila imitation would be merely servile. The artist who turna away from the preliminary study of his art saying, "There is notulpg to accompli6h, no new fields to occupy. Lol I will paint a 'pot-boiling' picture after the style of ¦ucli and such a master" - that man wlll make a failure as an artist, thougb he may make money. But the man who turn from the etudy of the masters, assured in his own mimi whereiu his strength lies and determined to mark out a field for himself- that man will be heard from if fie have the 6park of genius. No matter whether he chooses man, the lower formi of anímate nature, the sweep of waters, the swelling crests of mountains crowning emiling vales, or the vast stretches of sandy desert scorching under Eastern suns, the artist of today will everywhere find that there is no new thing under the gun for him to depict. He will find all races of men gaziug at him from the canvasses of the galleries. He will fiud the mountain, field and desert already presented as it gtruck the eye oí some painter. But- and here is the point- be will nuwhere find man or or Dature painted as they appear to him. lle would choose to present liis subject in a different way and to do so successfully hls own individuality must be developed in its sense oí artistic proportion and fitness so tbat he knows tliat if his skill will but euable him to present his subject as he conceives or see it he will have done it justice and painted a great picture. What ha been said coucerning the paiuter is equally applicable to the workrs in every branch of art, and not the workers only but to all who conceive that gennlna culture implies an intelligent admiration of the grand and beautiful as well as of the true and good. No art can fiourUh without patronage, nor will It in any braneh be much ahead of the general culture of the people who must sit in nt. It is certainly true, however, that a knowledfio of the excellencie of a certain branch of art may be widely difffusd among a pcople goneially uncultured, and for that very reason, that culture in any form end3 to the elev;ition of a people in the scale of civüization, it is wise and Üttiiig tliat art 6chools be mado abundant, that museums be opcned to the people, that good literature be made cheap, and that our churches and public buildings be made educators of the people. It is a matter of common notoriety that a Pari6ian artison is oíten a bettcr jurtge of a 1 íinting tlinn the vast majority of American Bo-culled 'vonnoisseurs," and the reason is that he has studíed plctures by the differuntiation procesa and has taken no one'8 word for what was good or bad unless he found a reason to go with it. In such a man artistic percoptions are aroused by what he sees in one form of art, and it would be strange Indeed if in his own art he did not bccome a better workman. So-called art schools may and generally do gradúate a vory small percentage of artists, but they imbue their s with a love for art, nd thus indirectly a whole communlty, and in time a whole natioa is advanced one degree higher, in Om amenitles, at least of civüization. But to attain genuine art culture, the development of Individuality, a lias been sald, is as nccessary to the dilettante as to the artist. The admircr must lenow how to critioise and know opoa what to base hl critlcism, if he wouH li'.irn anytliing or havo his judgment received witU respect. Crtticism bóglnnlog with one's own work and cxteniling to the works of others is indeed the foundation of alï art HM of all ireuuice auorecíatiun oí art. ïet 1' te found, nlne times out of ten, in this country, that the eritlc of paJntlngs, statuary, architecture, music and literatura praises whut lie likes and condemns what he dlshkes, basina: his judgment solely on the standard of histastes, being himself often entirely uncultivated and unable to give a single intelligible reason for bis praise or rondemnation. Study thoroiighly what you vould oritIcize, be able to give a reason for the faitli that is in you, and if you venture on comparison show as great a kaowledg of what is conrtemued as of what is praiscd if you would be considerad a critic, and if you would convince others that you have individuality in trt culture. The worst tendency that art culture hns to meet in thls country is the intense selfcomplacency with whieh those absolutcly ignorantof what is artistic contémplalo thelr own iguorance. It seems vciv curious that a people coustantly striving to advance itself in material prosperity should be so willing to be the slaves of ignorancc and prejtidice. Yet so it is, and this faillng lias made the fortunes particularly of architects, a certain class of whom have their artietlc horizon bounded by line'of dwellings and stores solidlyenough built perhaps, but hidcous to the eye, and having a large percentage oí their absolute utility sacrificed to the ignorance and prejudlce of their owners and designers. Butt his obstacle is gradually being eliminated in the art world. Our rii-h men are being educatod into the oenstruction of better business buildings and are perceiving to their chagrín that their nelghbor aro living in more bcautiful houses, more handeomely decorated and adorned with botter works of art than they themselves had secured at a tremendous ezpenditure of money, and all because the youuger generation were content to believe that a knowledgo of art was worth acquiring and that to cultívate their individual artistic perceptlons was to make the world seem more ui'autiful, to eurround themselvea with works of art f rom the kltchen tothe drawng-room, and generally to emancípate themselve from the elavery of prejudice and to make Ufe more worth living.