34
PARTISAN REVIEW
process of creation is built with a mass of slight influences. The more
intellectual Art grows, the more it nrcds to be fed on these to keep vital.
Nature, a city, a stack of decayed objects, are sources of forms and
relations, a bottomless reservoir of plastic experiences. Observing is the
best way to train eyes and to check up on concepts, even those remote
from the use of objects.
But how much this trip has influenced the "quality" of my work;–
others will see it better than
I.
Furthermore, any influence will be com–
pleted only when I go back to Paris, where things will look different in
their turn.
2.
Do conditions and life in America strike you as less or more favorable
for the rebirth of an esthetic tradition than in Europe?
·Material conditions in America for the artist, with the considerable
help of the W.P.A. art-project, and the numerous possibilities for teach–
ing, seem much easier than in France, where a small dole is all you may
get when things become panicky. The possibilities for exhibition in
America are numerous, with your large museums and touring shows,
and your daily papers give at least more information than ours. There
appears
to
be much curiosity about any form of art. The curiosity about
abstract works may be transformed into a discerning interest by ·means
of comprehensive shows appearing regularly. You and your friends have
proved that these are possible. Great help may also come from teaching,
and from illustrated publications.
In France as well as here it is hard foi' a young artist to sell if he
does not benefit from some fashionable snobbism. Galleries trade chiefly
in the works of men whose commercial value, regardless of merit, was
built ten years ago at least. Our advantage lies in cheaper living and
cheaper materials. Intellectually there is either strong interest or com–
plete indifference. So much has happened since Impressionism that noth–
ing looks new. Any idea is easily tolerated. It takes little money to print
a magazine, but very few will read it, far less will buy it.
The young painter in Paris benefits from the continual possibility
of meeting experienced artists who are among the very best and most
famous. But much of what is made in Paris appears in American shows
at some time. Perhaps the best we get through contact with authentic
masters is a lesson of obstination, patience, and sacrifice of everything that
does not contrive to build up our own art.
Art can grow in any place where artists can find some way to live, ·
and try their best with all their faculties; in America as well as anywhere,
not better. It is for the artist a question of building up a resistance to
superficial public opinion, to publicity, agitation, conventions, and
despair. Also a tolerance for other opinions.
I do not believe in any rebirth of tradition; it is not dead; it is cut
to pieces, maybe, but can always be picked up and rebuilt in a new way.
To discern the strongest way of gathering all bits of tradition, recent and
old,-that forming the most potentialities,-and to forge the missing
links so as to make it coherent, is always necessary. Now more than ever.
