About Art - Reflections

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	About Fine Art 2 Some thoughts about Impressionism
"Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal." Lionel Trilling (1905-75) U.S. Critic Esquire (New York, Sept. 1962)š.
The above is a quote I came across while browsing in my Microsoft BookShelf 98 a many years ago. Then, after reflecting on what Mr. Trilling could have meant by those words, I like to dwell a bit on this quote, perhaps reflecting it on myself in the connection of taking pictures in my mind, putting them on a canvas and/or taking pictures and using them for reference. Would this be stealing or imitation? No, I don't have a photographic memory. My own conclusion is that I probably don't understand what Mr. Trilling wanted to say. Any way, and from my point of view or interpretation: I must be very "immature", since I sometimes try to "imitate" my own photographed pictures, which might be accompanied by a sketch from an idea or the inspiration I had at the moment? Are those snapshots art? Well, not really, it takes a lot of skills from a professional photographer to call it an art, but it is a very good reference from the moment that passed and won't come back. And if a picture does a good visual impression on my self I might save and use it in the future to compose a painting in my own way. There is rarely time to make a sketch from what I see, unless I put my mind into going out in nature with a sketchbook to do so. Then the use of pictures could be called stolen impressionism? Thank you camera for letting me steel from you! Impressionism No, to me impressionism is what the brain might see with help of the eye. An impression, a personal moment, the connection from the eye to the fingers to the building of a picture on to a plain background. In other words; a vision or an impression that comes from the artist's mind, no matter what material and style she or he uses could be immature as long as the work is an original. This is probably up to you to decide, meanings might differ, but I hope you agree. However, some samples of artistic work are more beautiful and easier to understand than other pieces are "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" Is an Impressionist mature? Most objects are from real life, but transferred the way the artist sees them. Like a child does. It doesn't even have to be beautiful. And even very famous, artists like Klee and Picasso, has used a child's way to make an impression. A child can also, regarding to the quote in this case, also be mature. I mean rendering what it thinks it see, like we all do, talented or not. Also an impression can be naivistic. I just love Henry Rosseau's paintings and his imagination from places he had never visited but used postcards as inspiration, and the charm of Grandma Moses's. What isn't there to like and enjoy. A feast for the eyes. A lasting beautiful and colorful impression.
However, the quotation on plagiarism is quite right in some sense. To show you what I mean; to the right is an image I "stole" from nature, a picture I took with my camera, in the evening of early Spring at sunset by Lake Ontario became "The Last Straw". I were sitting sketching a warm evening in Spring 1993 and suddenly became aware of a straw still standing proud from the Summer before. At home I rendered the view my way. I can, relate to the phrase "Immature artists imitate" this is mostly how an artist, already from childhood and thru school, trains the eye to capture and develop skills before getting a recognized style of their own. Immature could also mean the copying other artist's work, which I personally really don't approve, but copying of ideas. This has also been done by very famous artists, and we can find a few variations in our art history books. Let's make the artist's style speak for it self, or we will have less art to enjoy. It is a personal thing. The training to learn to "see" is necessary. What you see in a 3-D picture is only an illusion of form. A picture is flat, isn't it? Then applied there is a mixture of light and shadow that creates form. But what stealing has to do with maturity and impressionism puzzles me still. Yes, I wish Mr. Trilling could be here and explain to me what he himself meant with his quote. It is possible I have misunderstood. Instead I am interpreting the way I like. An original is still an original, and a painting is not a photography. /Margareta, With art on her mind Welcome to my galleries in http://www.art-mouse.com Next
šQuote from Microsoft BookShelf 98
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