ART CHRONICLE
THE NECESSITY OF THE OLD MASTERS
It is assumed that modern literature, whatever its novelties,
remains continuous with the past. It is also assumed that anyone who
presumes to write poetry or fiction is not insensible to the virtues of the
poetry or fiction of the past, even though he himself may-and should–
want to do something different. We would doubt seriously the compe–
tence of any
poet
writing in English who felt that Shakespeare, Spenser,
Milton, and Wordsworth were of no concern to him; and
if
that poet
did prove himself competent we would find it a paradox.
The situation, in this country at least, does not seem to be the
same in painting. Many young and more or less advanced painters–
competent ones-appear to have been left indifferent by the pictures
from the Kaiser Friedrich Museum that were shown in Washington
and New York recently (and which are to be shown in other American
cities through the summer and early fall). Some did not even go to
the trouble of seeing them. And also, I know people who, though reveal–
ing judgmeat of a high order when it comes to any painting done since
Matisse and Picasso, are insensitive to the merits of even the Impres–
sionists.
The explanation of this is not as difficult as it might seem. Since
Impressionism, painting in western Europe and America has been
engaged in unraveling its own tradition and in the process it has been
able at moments to accept traditions of
art
other than those of the West.
Literature, being tied to language, cannot maneuver that freely. Lan–
guage is the product of a certain people, place, and past, and remains
bound to that past. The writer who would use his language well is
forced to acquire a sense of what has already been done with it. After
all, language is
usage.
Painting is not-or not to the same degree. Since
it
has freed itself from the necessity of representation, painting seems at
liberty to reject all but the most recent past; it feels that it has made a
new start and created a new instrument for itself.
I myself believe this is an illusion and that the advanced painter
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