ART HANGOVERS
Sir-Mr, Fairburn obviously writes out of extreme disillusionment and distress of mind. One feels sorry that this is so. Culture is a hateful word, and "Culture-Conscious" worse than hateful. I feel that we should not be aware of becoming a cultured race because the things which make us so should attract us for their own content of truth, beauty, and goodness. Of course Mr. Fairburn must be some years older than I am, and he has had the opportunity to meet a greater number of unpleasant people who purvey culture, but to me it matters only that their work can please my eyes, or mind, or hearing, Your contributor should remember that such "Culture Diffusionists" are normal (nasty) human beings first and artists only incidentally, unless of course, they can be classed’ as geniuses, in which case, we know very well, they are artists first and even more difficult. The important point is that these people give us glimpses of truth, beauty and goodness with varying degrees of skill, and for-that we should be profoundly thankful no matter how sarcastic, malicious, or parsimonious they might be. « Money is well spent on material which can give us all an uplift of the spirit. I know it well, as I am one of those overworked young mothers who have roused Mr. Fairburn’s compassion. If a portion of the funds raised to maintain the Symphony Orchestra could be obtained to provide me with a home-aid
or a nurse, someone might have to go without a favourite piece of music, but at least I could have proceeded without endless interruption with this inauirvy into the Distressed Mind of a
Critic.
ETHEL
PERRY
(Auckland),
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19490325.2.14.5
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 509, 25 March 1949, Page 5
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281ART HANGOVERS New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 509, 25 March 1949, Page 5
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