Americans Explore the Creative Arts as a Leisu
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T HE ADVENT OF THE CAMERA provides man as, artist with a di-
s, mension of involvement in art's subject matter that he previously
could not attain. We tend to think of the artist as interpreter of
2 scenes and situations in life, rather than as imitator because he must
act as filter to the scene he relates, giving his audience that scene
and imparting to it a degree of himself.
In a sense, then, if he is a sculptor, he has actually participated
in his plaster or bronze casting, his stone figure, or wood carving.
Certainly the camera, in the hands of a capable photographer, is
a tool for a valid art form. The talented eye either selects or poses
a scene that is itself aesthetically pleasing as well as complementary
- to the media of film.
THE PRINCIPLE OF THE ARTIST as filter is diminished, the
photographer is not bothered with the physical execution involving
less of his personality in the art object than the sculptoror painter.
The other extreme of involvement with a piece of art can be found
in the dance where, in the words of Yeats, you cannot "tell the
dancer from the dance.
ymvThe arts, as expressions of the self, provide a convenient and
necessary outlet for today's much inhibited public, as well as a cure
for the blindness of our society's philistines.
. THE DOMAIN OF THE ARTS today is more public than it has ever
been because the affluence of our society makes available to a
r largehgroup the time, professional training, and the raw materials
a necessary for the artistic endeavor.
But in keeping with the stress upon greater ease in our lives, our
Y art has become so watered down that we miss the entire value of
participation in it which lies in the labor of having to grapple with
aesthetic problems.
The esoteric art forms have b ecome the popular trends The non-professional artist who is not forced to depend upon his
finished product to secure a living need only involve himself with the
turmoil of the artistic process in his search for value in the arts.
There is something wrong if, when we are dealing with artistic crea-
tion, we have no questions to ask ourselves concerning our art.
ART CAN BE a leisure time activity but this does not mean that
it is then time to relax our minds and senses. The less relaxation
we get from art, the more pressing it is to us, the greater has been its
value for us. Art must be defined by the war that both the artist and
the audience for the art object wage when they are faced with
creating and evaluating art.
Comprehension of the aesthetic difficulties as well as a more
profound perception of a work's subject matter is the reward for
grappling with an art object. Lethargy in facing the problems of art
never produces an artist or a worthwhile reaction for an audience.
a Photographs by Davd Giltrow
Story by Michael Spitzer
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Potting-one of the new productive forms of leisure time activity
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The stuff of art is in nature, but requires a mh
MAGAZINE SUNDAY, MAY 21, 1961