354 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



his work to be termed a genius; one possessing a certain sublimity of 

 purpose and accent which brings his work into touch with the eternal. 



As to the artist's technique or means of expression, it must always 

 take a place subordinate to the idea. The idea is always the motive 

 power, the dominant force. So soon as the artist's interest lapses into 

 an active pleasure in his work as such, he loses sight of his aim. And 

 this shows quite conclusively that no amount of skill and special train- 

 ing in expression ever makes an artist and, indeed, explains the artistic 

 puerility of so much work produced by men of splendid technical 

 equipment. The pernicious influence of the ' academic ' training is 

 due to just this, that the artist is led to see the value of his work in 

 such beautiful lines and relationships of form and color as all can 

 imitate, rather than in an individual idea clamoring for artistic ex- 

 pression. Thus it is that much of our greatest work is expressed in 

 crude, unfinished form, at times by men who apparently knew not how 

 to express themselves completely or, at least, would not; for example, 

 Rodin, Michelangelo, Manet, Whitman and Eichard Strauss. Yet 

 the force and dominance of their esthetic ideas justify and lend a 

 value to their work higher than that of any faultless academician faith- 

 ful to his classic traditions. 



The true genius never learns his art. It is intuitive with him. 

 There is but one way of expressing a great thought adequately and 

 that is naturally, therefore intuitively. So soon as the artist begins 

 to reason as to how he shall express himself, he loses sight of that which 

 he has to express. His process is no longer an esthetic one, but be- 

 comes a practical one. Except to introduce a person into the realm 

 of art, to teach him some of its manifold possibilities, art training is 

 a thing of doubtful value. In so far as it attempts to substitute rules 

 and methods for one's natural intuitive ways it is positively detrimental. 

 The artist must be first and foremost an individual; without individ- 

 uality he certainly can never be termed a genius. Still, if he can not 

 be taught as one is taught a trade, he can be taught clearness of thought 

 and perception, and this should be the true function of his training. 



When we interpret things too much in the light of our knowledge 

 concerning their objective natures, we usually interpret them wrongly. 

 It is only when we understand them subjectively as ' experience ' as well 

 as objectively that we know how to represent them adequately. The 

 best means of expression is the intuitive and natural, but a true psycho- 

 logical knowledge may aid one's expression when too much experience 

 and reasoning has interfered with one's natural intuitive bias. 



We find, then, that our true artist is a person of esthetic ideas plus 

 an ability to express them adequately. Now, what are the consequences 

 of this mode of mentality on the life of the man ? 



