Page:John Collings Squire - Socialism and Art (1907).pdf/3



I do not know the author of this pamphlet, but I consider that he has done good service in putting the case for Art from the Socialist point of view; and I find myself so much in sympathy with what he has written, that I feel constrained to offer a word or two in support of his position.

I have often wondered that Socialism, presenting as it does the only living ideal of human existence on this earth, has not more generally won the enthusiasm of artists, who, as our author points out, have suffered so much under the modern commercial capitalistic system.

Even what are called successful artists are forced to specialise their talents; and to maintain their repute and commercial value must continue to repeat the particular manner or method of work by which they are known, and so it often happens that having no time for experiment and vitalising effort in new directions, they are apt to become played out.

While men of repute become overburdened with work, and have a practical monopoly in certain directions, the struggle for recognition among the young and unknown grows even more severe; and. while success can command large fees at one end of the scale, there is a disproportionate drop at the other end, and unrecognised talent often'has to do uncongenial work, or work unworthy of its best powers, in order to live. Yet the profits of the most, successful artist are as nothing compared to those of the successful dealer in Art.

This is an artificial state of things, and it has produced an artificial atmosphere about Art, which has come to be considered—under a system which measures all things by a money standard, and according to their commercial value—as a luxury for the well-to-do, instead of as the common inheritance and joy of humanity.