Standing in front of me in a line-up, waiting to get in to see the Spanish Lippizaners, was an individual that stood out rather glaringly. She was attired all in black, leather jacket and short skirt, fish-net stockings, boots, rows of ear-rings, rings on every finger, and shocking, spiked, bright poppy-red hair and lipstick. Her eyes and eyebrows, were thickly outlined in black.

After secretive glances, and trying to be subtle, I decided I must approach her to photograph for future painting material. She agreed, turning out to be very friendly. After photographing during the hours wait, I decided she was really very pretty.

The line up of people, which stretched around the block, reacted to all of this in a variety of ways, ranging from totally non-committal, to grudging quarter smiles of amusement.

It took a year of mulling, before the image of the bright poppy-red headed girl sat comfortably in my head, and she was to be painted as "Every New Generation".

Then, to add interest to an adult water color class, she was once again the chosen subject, for the demonstration. I was curious to see how the various people in the class would react. Interestingly, some were extremely offended by my choice of subject... comments ranged from "She's ugly... That's not a beautiful woman!" to sneers of disgust. I tried to be gentle in my reaction to their reactions, saying "I wondered if you might be challenged with this subject... she did the same to me... it took me a year to get comfortable enough to paint her!" When I had finished the demo and after a great discussion, there were still varying opinions. One lady who had been sent to Catholic school for fighting with her brothers all of the time, had a high degree of empathy for Poppy. Denis laughingly commented that, "Anyone who's raised three sons, has no problem!" The fellow who had commented on her `ugliness', decided that the way I had painted her was that, "She really is quite pretty and has aesthetic, sculptural qualities." Another still thought she was a waste of time.

I decided that the unconventional can be in the subject itself, which has requirements of using certain methods that suit it. These techniques are innovative out of necessity. An `old' subject may be seen in a new way, through a different temperament, resulting in departures from the usual accepted forms as well.
But, for the viewer, the result is shock and adjustment.

Sometimes acceptance is a long time coming. With many artists it is not until after they are dead.
 

"...the core of artistic representation, namely, 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." (41)
 

"What stultifies Viennese musical life is not the lack of good will or money, but the insistence on accepted forms by bureaucracy and audiences alike. Music in Vienna has become more a matter of ritual than of genuine appreciation. In the concert programmes there is little straying from the familiar Haydon-Mozart-Schubert-Beethoven-Brahms grooves; there is no experiment, and practically a ban on novelty. The public will damn a performer or conductor who varies any tempo or reading which over the years has come to be accepted." (42)
by David Pryce - Jones




41. Rudolf Arnheim, Toward A Psychology of Art, (Berkeley and L.A. Cal., U. of California Press, 1966),  p.161
42. David Pryce - Jones, and editors of Time-Life Books, Vienna (Time Life Books, 1978)