INDIVIDUALISM IN ART. 
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geneons: for the planets to resolve themselves again and 
become part of the original mass would be a backward step. 
For individuals to become Socialists is reversing progress. 
It is a change from the heterogeneous to the homogeneous, 
which cannot but be followed by disaster. In Social Science 
this is true ; in Art it is true also. Institutions of all kinds 
should be watched with the utmost care, for their inevitable 
tendency is to crush individualism. This has become pain¬ 
fully apparent in the Eoyal Academy. Many of our greatest 
modern painters have held entirely aloof from it, and those 
other great men who are now R.A.’s or A.R.A.’s are only so 
because the outcry against the institution has become so 
menacing. The Royal Academy most foolishly, though as 
is generally the case unconsciously, instituted a standard of 
merit to which all artists must attain before they could be 
admitted into its body. This standard has varied according 
to the ideas of the men forming the Academy. That such a 
system was pernicious goes without saying, for artists who 
were struggling for a livelihood would necessarily endeavour 
to attain to this Academy excellence, for it meant money. 
It is only in a few rare but glorious cases that the individuality 
has been so pronounced that it has enabled its possessor to 
struggle on through despair, neglect, and poverty, and make 
for himself that position in the world which it is beyond the 
power of all Academies to give—the position of one of the 
world’s heroes. 
Art schools and the progress of universal Art training, 
too, should be watched very narrowly. That these influences 
will result in the production of mediocrity and uniformity in 
Art work is certain. That their system will nourish and 
develop genius is not so certain. Individuality will assert itself, 
and if it gets into the curriculum of a provincial Art school 
and finds that it is not sufficient, then individuality will have 
its way, either in the alteration of the system pursued at the 
school, or by leaving it. Therefore, where extraordinary 
talent manifests itself, it should be the first duty of the officers 
of the institution to foster it in its own peculiar way ; not to 
adhere strictly and uniformly to the rules and regulations 
of the school. In many instances it is absolutely impossible 
for a man with genius to go through all the petty annoyances, 
tests, and examinations that are so very necessary to the 
ordinary student. 
It is curious to note that although religious institutions 
have in many cases had so pernicious an influence on progress, 
yet in the cases of painting, architecture, and sculpture, 
and in music too, their influence has been good and useful. 
