ART CHRONICLE
35
Art is essentially something to continue, not to start; it may vary
enormously, providing the evolution is homogeneous; it is born of itself
permanently, and cannot be born of anything else. Painting is what pro–
vokes painting. This is .why I believe in museums. You have many of
those and some are excellent. There are painters in New York, and they
find colors and time to paint. Art is there. Nothing more is needed but
to
continue.
There is little appreciative public; painters can furnish one for each
other at least. I am afraid that conditions are not ready to be much better
anywhere. Persistency will always gather a small public; to convince it,
to
help it to convince others, the only sound way is to show in our work
what we think and. what we feel, more clearly, completely and strongly,
and to give it as much quality as it can bear from all points of view.
Checking up, too, that we are not barely repeating ourselves or others.
3.
When you visited the So11iet Union, did you find indications that a
strong plastic expression might emerge from its system of society?
In U.S.S.R. seven years ago, painting or sculpture did not seem to
play much part in anything but propaganda. Perhaps I was unable to
find the men who were working freely.
For the naturalistic painter, there is no reason why he could not
accommodate himself to any subject which he is paid and well paid
to
paint. It is a question of suppleness in its handling, in incorporating
it into a composition of plastic values.
If
all I saw of propaganda was
poor, it is probably because the best painters declined to do it; which
should be a mistake. They ought to accept the test, even if not liking it,
to
prevent the lowering of the already low public taste, and prove by
their work that, with subject or no subject, the plastic handling of form
and color as form and color is what creates beauty. As for abstract
painters, if any were left, the difficulty of reaching a public for their
work in an overwhelming atmosphere of a country under construction
ought to be much worse than ours. Being easy to make a living, they
would be reduced to painting one day out of five.
For the immediate future, I cannot see why we should hope that
the public would turn suddenly toward us, even in Russia, when our
attitude is so dry, when the way toward non-representative painting
proves so hard to find. The increase in time for leisure and culture, when
achieved, will give a better chance for people to see shows, providing
there are shows where all types of painting are fairly represented, and
provided that artists of our type have not been completely discouraged.
I
fear most of the best have emigrated elsewhere. Supposing foreign art
should be equally shown, some people will quickly find their way to
abstract painting. It will be a minority, gifted, free-minded, among the
very best, disregarding origin and profession. It is through their influence
that a wider public may be reached, and chances of important works
offered to artists. But what the power of those amateurs will be is some–
thing that cannot be foreseen securely. Let us not dream. A form of art
as highly concentrated as that which we are trying to make everywhere,
