Page:Landscape Painting by Birge Harrison.djvu/314

LANDSCAPE PAINTING paint, all of the shimmering, iridescent effects that happen only under the great blue arch of the sky; the glory of the noonday sunlight, the pale beauty of the dawn, the golden glow of sunset and the brooding mystery of night.

Why, we may ask, this change of direction? The answer is simple: the artists have discovered that most of the unsolved problems of art lie in the open air. They know by instinct that art, to be alive, must move ever forward toward some new goal. If it remains in one rut, it stagnates or dies. The end of every great art movement has come when its living, rushing, turbulent waters have been congealed into icy formulas rules of thumb by the use of which the mere artisan can produce a sort of "near-art" which is necessarily without vitality or charm. The true artist must always be an innovator, a [248]