THE ARTIST'S VISION

Evening Post, Issue 37, 12 August 1936, Page 4

THE ARTIST'S VISION

MUST BE ADOPTED

HOW TO LOOK AT PICTURES

"DOING" THE GALLERY

Wellington ought to be getting artminded by this time, as people in their hundreds and even thousands arc flocking to the National Art Gallery, many paying visit after visit. Much must have been learned of painting by this time, in both oil and water colours, as the various exhibitions are so very complete. But at the same time there is no doubt that some people who have gone to the National Gallery just to see the pictures, without any clear idea as to how works of art should be looked at, have missed much. The person who, when viewing an art exhibition, simply says, "I know what I like and I know what I don't like," is not seeing anything other than what he or she has decided to see. Such an outlook is restricted, and will remain restricted. The attitude of mind to be adopted should be one open to receive, and then infinite pleasure will be gained from what the specialised trained vision of the painter has to offer.

Therein lies what may be termed the art of looking at paintings—the ability to look at them through the eyes of the artists who painted them. It is necessary for proper appreciation of {he paintings to obtain some insight into the artist's outlook regarding the subject of the picture and his treatment of it. Some people have rather strange ideas about artists: they are considered to be quaint people who wear long hair, flaunt coloured ties, and live in ari unconventional way. A few, perhaps, may be like this, but very often the man or woman who dresses in a queer fashion is a poseur, out solely to attract attention. The painter is, after all, a human being, who thinks, feels, and acts like any other normal person. But he is also a very highly specialised being, doing highly specialised work. He has a type of vision which enables him to see more than a person with ordinary sight. The ordinary person sees things quite clearly so far as it is useful to do, so, and he knows colour —that is, exact colour, but his vision is limited to that. The artist's vision, however, is of a somewhat different nature. To him the shape of a cloud or the light on a fold of drapery is tremendously interesting. The difference in textures is equally fascinating to him. He knows what and how to choose because his unusually receptive mind and powers of interpretation have been trained for that purpose. He has at his command, also through training, all the technical skill that is needed to carry through successfully the most exacting pictorial undertakings. His achievement, therefore, has an ample measure of authority, and his art satisfies the most critical demand.

If this is borne in mind when looking at works of art, it will be of considerable, help. One will discover what is often missed when looking at a ■view, for instance. Instead of seeing merely land, houses, and trees, one receives something of the effect of cloud, shadows upon the land, the play of light upon the houses, and the colour and movement in the trees. That is what the artist sees and paints. Therefore; to go to an art exhibition with a.closed mind and restricted vision is to miss the beauties of Nature which the specialised vision of the artist offers for our pleasure. ' | Painters work hard, in fact harder than many other people, because their eyes and senses are always seeking for something fresh. Even while enjoying recreation and rest, they may be re-: ceptive to an "effect" which presents itself and commence to work on it.

Some critics say that the subject of ■ '-picture is:of no importance, that it does not matter what an artist paints but only how he paints. Perhaps it does not matter whether- a picture has a subject, lor if a picture only shows wimt things look like it will be dull and uninteresting. If, on the other hand, it shows the artist's personal experience or idea of those things it will be good art/always provided the exptrience is sincere. There is no reason •wjjy a picture should not tell a story, b^t the trouble often is that a picture does nottell a story at all, it only tejls what things looked like at one selected moment in the story. •British painting, of which so much ss.'to be seen at the present time in the National Gallery, has always been secure in its draftsmanship. Drawing add construction have always played an important part in painting. Draftsmanship can be a good servant, but it, can also be a bad master. Purely technical powers can pall, but when allied to vision and emotion there is something which gives pleasure for all time. The necessity for sound training cannot be stressed too much. With experience come the powers of selection and elimination, and the ability to simplify is one of the artist's most difficult achievements.

la every section of the present exhibition one can see the effects of this training and vision to a marked degree. It can be traced from the earliest portraits and landscapes shown in the Empire Art Loan collection, through the contemporary British work, and definitely in the New Zealand retrospective and contemporary collections.