University of Oregon monthly., March 01, 1908, Image 8

U N IV ER SITY OF OREGON- MONTHLY
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On Artists and Art Schools
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.There is n o field of human activity th at has Sp»many applicants
and sq few successes as the field" of art. E v ery village B B its genius
an4;a great per cent of these geniuses aspire; to make tracks hi the
san^s of tim e through the medium of* pictures. There is scarcely
a/country cross roads th at has hot §Qme ambitious youth “ whclcan
jus^‘draw ^anything and ne-vfer had a lesson in his life.”
The very fact th a t he c^n draw 'p i e t u r ^ ^ f ' houses and trees
so That their identity can be determined, w ithout a label, leads his
fond, 'r e la te s ? and friends to predict th a t he has before him a path
of roSe'O eadiag S immortal fame. j@any of these village geniuses'
are content,to live on local fame, until dire necessity cotnpels them to
weigh out prunes in the corner grocery store.
Somy qf them .begin to search for the rose-streW n'path, and are
surprised, and pained to learn th at success in art dependlyupon the
sam ^^ u aJit^S ;^|UsU£cess,, in any other/ profession—good /Common
sen® an d a ,; capacity fey; a lot*of hard work.
;IV ^ g e n e ra lly supposed th at all .th at is required io be an artist
is the/pbility^tojdraw and the/(y p u th ^ h p has this knack is usually
urge^JEoftake, up the, stu4y °f $r t ^ h ^ n /h e has none( of the other
ieq-uirements; w ith the result th at the. word “artist” is| associated
in bur'm inds w ith g arrets a n d f ^ e soup.
The youth w ho ,can copy, beautiful pictures’ has just as much
change p i bqepming a .great a r^ W a s the pnfe /who can ju n the type­
writer has of becoming a g reai/author'or, editor, and nq more. The
drawingjis.,sjunply the means .by,, which the artist may express his.,
thoughts an q yrithout the thought the draw ing am,Qunfe|to nothing.
«Drawing is purely-.a .mechanical prdeess and is natural to no
one.- Anyone can learp to .dra.w who can learn to write and nearly
every,child att^idpt.s th e dppwing -first, Because it is more interesting/
but the w riting gets the upper hand because* it is encouraged while
the'.draw ing is laughed a t o r . otherwise discouraged u n til'it pines
and pindles, and finally peters-put and the grown up ¿y^uth is able
to boast th a t he cannot draw a straight, lipe with a -fard stick;/
A rtjsts ^ ¿ > m e draftsmen, because their constant effortTtoj ex-
pre^,rfieir thoughts and pictures- makes them proficient in draw ing