ART AND ARTISTS. 795 



2.— POPULAR ERRORS ABOUT ART AND ARTISTS. 



By JULIAN R. ASHTON. 



Perhaps the most serious obstacle in the way of a thorough 

 comprehension of the true value of the Fine Arts lies in the 

 fact that, while all admit that study is necessary in the case 

 of a doctor, an engineer, or a lawyer, there is a general feel- 

 ing that with the painter, the poet, the musician, or the 

 author it is almost superfluous. As a result we see that, while 

 professors of what may be called the exact sciences are obliged 

 to justify their claims to the positions they desire to hold, it 

 is only now beginning to dawn uj)on the ))ublic mind that 

 inability to make a living in any other way is not a sufficient 

 certificate of proficiency either in painting or drawing. As a 

 result, the training of the eye has, until lately, been entirely 

 ignored in our educational systems, and the sense from which 

 man derives perha})s the greatest and most lasting pleasure, 

 left uncultivated. In order to prove this it is only necessary 

 to ask a room full of well educated men or women to draw 

 from memory, full size, the breakfast cup and saucer which 

 they have been in the habit of using for the last twenty yeai's, 

 and it would be safe to assert that not one in a hundred 

 would reproduce tiiese common objects the right size or in 

 the proper perspective. And if this inaccuracy can be proved 

 with definite and common forms, how much more likely is it 

 to be true as regards the intricacies of colour? Drawing is 

 no more a gift born with a few than writing is ; indeed, 

 every boy who learns to write, not only could, but should be 

 taught to draw. If the first object in teaching writing is to 

 give the power of expression to thought, drawing not only is 

 an added power of expression, but in many cases a much 

 simpler and more direct one. The commonest form of Ijox 

 would require a sheet or two of written explanation to produce, 

 in an ordinary carpenter's mind, an image sufficiently vivid 

 for him to make it by. A dozen well-directed lines tells him 

 what you want at a single glance. 



While such an addition to our educational curriculum 

 would result in much greater accuracy in our perception 

 and registration of form and colour, there is no fear that it 

 would produce a too abundant crop of painters. Great poets 

 and authors have not been more plentiful since writing has 

 been made compulsory ; on the other hand, good literary 

 work has, with the spread of education, become better appre- 

 ciated, and has appealed to a larger audience. So, with a 



