The
invention of a new art form takes place slowly, over time, resulting
from an individual's struggle to communicate, under conditions that
have never existed before.
No new discovery or way of working, is without influences from the
past. It is interesting to trace those of a modern day artist, such
as Matisse, all the way back into history, like the lineage or
ancestry of a family name. We often think of painters like Van Gogh
as just appearing miraculously. But this is not the case... they all
had preferences of particular artists and techniques borrowed from
the past.
Often it is the discovery in some other field or of a new material,
that leads to a corresponding development in art. At times I am
sorry that concrete was ever invented.
In any one place, it is usually a few leader-artists who innovate,
and others soon emulate. I have made the mistake of granting a
particular artist with the development of a new `style', to find out
that it was indeed someone else. It is not always easy to trace the
innovator, because the follower may be better at exposing his work
to the public.
It was surprising to find that The Post had many artists do covers
for them, that were strikingly similar to those of Norman Rockwell.
But Norman Rockwell, was the best at it.
"... firstest is almost always mostest, and...in art the
sincerest form of flattery is not the imitation of a style but
emulation of the process of self-discovery by which a real artist
creates his or her own." (137)
Thomas Albright
"... the core of artistic representation, " namely is with " what
takes place when an artist, or period of art, possessed by a vital
conception of human existence, rallies all available tools and
resources to invent a profoundly significant visual form." (138)
Rudolf Arnheim
"The only thing for me to do was to keep on keeping on, to have
faith in my whim, and to remember that for me, as for the saints,
illumination when it came would probably come from some unexpected
source." (139)
Robertson Davies
136. Thomas Albright, On Art and Artists, (U.S.A., The Chronicle
Publishing Co., 1989), p.116
137. ibid., p.116
138. Rudolf Arnheim, Toward a Psychology of Modern Art, (Berkeley
and L.A., Cal., University of California Press, 1966), p.161
139. Robertson Davies, The Deptford Trilogy, (Great Britain, The
Chaucer Press,1986), p. 173.
