“DEGRADATION OF ART”

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 July 1936, Page 14

“DEGRADATION OF ART”

INFERIOR TO CAVE MEN. LONDON, May 21. “Now, at tho end of many thousands of years through which civilisation has progressed, the degradation of ait has been reserved ( for our time.” This conclusion, uttered “with a feeling of distress/’ was expressed last night by Mr Philip A. de Laszlo, in a lecture before the Royal Society of Arts. Viscount Ullswater presided. The state of art was better even in the Stone Age, Mr de Laszlo considered. “The cave man drew upon the rocks pictorial impressions of the world he knew'. A savage he may have been, but he was by instinct a sincere student of realities, and in dealing with them he did his best.” Having spoken of the immemorial inspiring influence of religion on art, as exemplified in the works of the Masters, the lecturer continued: “We are living in a material age. We have no use for sentiment, and in the hurry and rush of our daily existence there is no moment allowed to us for contemplation or quiet thought. CRAVING FOR SENSATION. “We are dominated by a craving for sensation, and our whole outlook on life is ugly and distorted. Look, I beg you, at the paintings in presentday exhibitions, and tell me in how many of them you can discover evidences of earnest intention. Our modern artist, he said, needed to recapture the spirit of the cave man. It w’ould do him good to go back to the cave man for some muchneeded lessons in sincerity anil simple directness of vision; but when be had learned those lessons he must look for guidance in the .way to apply them to those master craftsmen w’ho had established the standard of technical achievement.

A wilful neglect of technical quality was evident in many modern works of art.

“The men who produce them no longer care to draw correctly or to paint with any grace o£ handling; they do not study now to manage their materials; they make no attempt to observe subtleties of colour and tone relation; and they have adopted a slovenliness of manner and method which is lamentable.’’

In his concluding remarks, however, Mr de Laszlo expressed satisfaction at the fact that students were beginning once more to appreciate the value of thoroughness, and to interest themselves in qualities of draughtsmanship and technical expression. In the work of some of them there was hopeful evidence of the growth of a sounder and healthier spirit than our art had known for a long while past. Viscount Ulswater said: “When I go to some of the more modern gallieries I always wonder whether the artists are not pulling my leg. They seem to be wondering how much the public will stand. Many of the modern paintings and drawings we see appear to me to be absolutely childish. Thy seem to be the work of children of S or 10 who have been told to draw something.’’ Mr C. R. W. Nevinson, the artist, commenting on Mr de Laszlo’s remarks, said last night: “I quite agree with Mr tie Laszlo’s criticism. It is a paradox that an artist never reflects his public. “And the proof of it is, that the Italian primitive painters were painting for the most depraved, the most illiterate public that the world has ever seen. The public is quite as depraved to-day.’’