Page:Through the torii (IA throughtorii00noguiala).pdf/121

 called a view of Cremorne, it would certainly bring about nothing but disappointment on the part of the beholders. It is an artistic arrangement.” Again, he said:—“To some it may represent all that is intended, to others it may represent nothing.” That is the real point of his art. A desire and composition are merely a human creation that great Nature never thought of; as Nature never tells you where it was begun, how it was ended, what its idea and what its intention, so Whistler thought his pictures should be. It is perfectly clear to see why he was called a conceited and wilful impostor; but the abusers only exposed at the best their own knowledge, which is a lost thing in Art. What Whistler aimed at was imagination and impulse.

No artist when he is great can separate his personality from his work; as Whistler’s personality was unique, whether it was after study or not, so his art was; and we all see his personality behind his work. If you only see the surprise, mystification, confusion, and confounding in his art, I do not think you see the real Whistler at all. It appears, at the first glance, that he was Rh