The Artist and the Art Lover
Jean-Antoine Watteau, ‘Three Studies of a Young Girl Wearing a Hat’, c.1716
Dear Adam,
You are only 16, but I get the idea you want to become an artist and by that I think you mean painting and maybe sculpture (I think in other countries, France for example, ‘artist’ is a general term covering all the arts, including literature).
Well, you will have to teach yourself, even if you attend a college you should just consider it a block of time in which to make your own discoveries. ‘Art’ schools teach presentation skills: think of a concept and then package it – a shark in formaldehyde. Academic – the received opinion.
Art has to be representational (I claim in the AR Manifesto that what makes us human is the ability to imitate and to make patterns by representing one thing with another. I love painting; I think there is nothing more exciting than representing something with 3 or 4 dimensions by something on a picture plane that is limited to 2 dimensions. In ‘Art’ school they teach next to nothing of basic skills, though I think there is now life drawing. One of the ‘Brit Artists’ told me recently that I was bourgeois to assume that an artist needs skill. You see how extreme this ‘Art’ school dogma has become. Neither do ‘Art’ schools teach history of art. I say this on the basis that if they did we wouldn’t be stuck with an ‘Art’ school formula.
I mean: are they serious? Don’t they worry they will get found out for telling lies? They have never looked at Titian!
It’s all this mistaken idea that an artist should express himself; an artist should tell the truth and for this he needs to be humble. Which brings me back to you. You need to draw. Everything is based on drawing. You can sketch from life; you can copy the drawings of others. Drawing involves the transmission of spirit or feelings from eye to hand. It is a training in concentration. People who really can draw do it without even needing to look at the page. The Chinese artists who painted with ink and brushes looked again and again at their subject and concentrated it down to its epitome, its sign of itself, by keeping it in mind and then painting spontaneously back home and away from the subject. It is spontaneity which keeps your drawing alive.
Painted by the Qing Dynasty artist Shi-Tao
You may not have the talent to become a great artist, but you will find this out if you are truthful. And you will learn so much in the attempt. You will start to see things as they are. Good luck! Prince Charles has a drawing school. Check it out and let me know (http://www.princesdrawingschool.org They have drawing workshops for 10 – 18 year olds).
The Manifesto distinguishes between the artist and the art lover. The artist must tell the truth. It is the responsibility of the art lover to absorb themselves in the work, to discriminate and recognize the truth when they see it. Of course the artist is also an art lover.
We can talk about painting later when you feel you have made headway in your drawing. But do remember when looking through the galleries that the technique of oil painting which began in Flanders with the van Eyke brothers attained its peak in the 16th and 17th centuries. After that it was more or less lost, though the great English painter Gainsborough had it. You need to go to the galleries as often as possible. Focus on one group of paintings at a time. Get art books – you can order them from the library, but it’s great to have your own. (I recommend Madlyn Kahr, 17th Century Dutch Painting).
Most galleries are free. And, although you will have to pay, there is a special exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art until May 24th of drawings by one of the greatest drawers of all time – Watteau – they are concentrated down to a few lines. The Wallace Collection has a small exhibition of some of his paintings which is free.
The subject matter is not the important thing; that will come as you learn and understand ideas. Remember, there is no progress in art: one truth is no more true than another.
Keep reading the Manifesto and come to our next reading.
Dear Vivienne
Thank you so much for replying, you helped me so much. My drawing skills are not the best compared to others I know. But now I know that If i want to become I need to be truthful in my work, working on my abilities the best I can and developing my skills. I Like how drawing the base of most art being able to transfer point a to point b with the eyes and hands.
I’ve been told by others I am more of a hands on creator using my hands to mould 3d creations from ideas that I see, like you with fashion being able to take history and doing your research create something from canvas and transforming it into something that people can wear. I remember I had some thought into beoming a designer after hearing a quote from a film saying that fashion is a very good form of art as you “live your life in it”. That really inspired me, I like fashion but not in the way that it makes people look good. But how designers can take something like your Pagan V and Portrait collection with inspiration from pieces inside the wallace collection and Boucher that have inspired you and helped you develop your ideas around art. That I something that I find very interesting and inspiring
I chose to do you for my Art exam and study, your really a true inspiratin for people and the fact that you are one of the people that really gets to the point of art and how it defines our world and how using art is a good way to better understand our world.
I cannot wait for the reading of your manifesto, I went insane with joy in school when I saw that you replied and you really made me think about how i’m going take my art and develop it. I will visit as many galleries as I can and absorb art and its history as well and best I can.
I will study your manifesto and get as much from it as possible. It really is a form of art in itself like you said literture is a form of art.
Adam Sullivan
P.s. thanks for making one of my dreams possible
Comment by Adam Sullivan on 29/03/2011 at 5:01 pm
Hello friends.
Vivienne, I believe in art as well. You had me until you dissed contemporary/ academic art. I went to an art school that fostered and nurtured representational art as well as the contemporary and new medias. We had classic art history and 1945 to contemporary issues. And I loved every minute of it. Once I had a clear understanding of art history, of its many turns and twists, I fully embraced the cannon as well as those who seek to bury it.
In actuality, contemporary art burns clearly. Yes, some artists are cool like a florescent light fixture and others burn to scorch. But artists, all artists, all creatives, all art is a political and cultured act. Artists shouldn’t limit themselves and shouldn’t be limited. You know artists and art lovers must stick together. I would never call someone a name but I would spend hours discussing this from that.
Adam, you said your drawing skills aren’t what you hoped. Let me tell you that your drawing can get better. Sure, some have natural skill, some call talent, others call genius. I do not feel comfortable using those words in my vocabulary. Its a skill that you can improve through hand/eye coordination exercises and learning the tricks of the trade. Anyone who tries hard can draw well and this includes diligence and sensitivity. Go to art school though. And find out that not all art has to optical, it could be cerebral too.
Thanks for reading.
Comment by Thomas Wheeler Castillo on 05/04/2011 at 5:59 am
Hello Everyone,
I also agree that all art is creative and political like in fact all actions in life are. I agree to a point with Vivienne that skill is important and leads to great discovery and in some case a form of wisdom through discipline the way the Chinese and Japanese seem to achieve it . On the other hand I also agree with Thomas that all artists are creative and express political and philosophical standpoints. The content is eventually as important as the style or skill with which it is expressed. I love drawing portraits which are a little like large very colourful passport photographs because I cannot draw fast and so they acquire a formal intense quality , but I also learnt to use my own limitations in skills to my advantage and create a vision that is particualr to me. On the other hand I also love to make installations using found material or fabrics that I “skillfully” dye, paint and embroid.
I do not see any contradiction nor do I have a preference or hierarchy for either of the media used, they just present themselves at different times and through different opportunities. I belive though that the true function of the artist is to be subversive to the “establishment”and the forces that try to control and oppress the human spirit.
In this way Vivienne Westwood is a true artist for me. That element of subversiveness is essential but the “establishment” love to celebrate it so that it renders it harmless. That is a great danger and one the pitfall for the ambitious, vain,unscrupulous or greedy artist, no matter what fabulous skills he may possess. The great skill of the artist there is to avoid all the pitfalls of the ego and of fame and to stay true, subversive and a free spirit, not the caricature of a free spirit, which is the image that has been sold to us, the artist as brat and wild child, who cares, really enough spoilt childre in the world. But the artist as embodiment of free and creative spirit, with love, compassion as much as passion and responsibility to the world he lives in. I believe Vivienne Westwood embodies all these qualities. All the best to you Thomas and Adam.
Thank you.
Comment by Francois on 07/04/2011 at 6:30 pm
Sorry for posting this here but you discuss art love on this blog. There is a 2012 Olympic project on Titian’s work at the National Portrait Gallery next year. As a fan of his art, I wondered if you will involved in the project.
P.S. A belated happy birthday, 70 and still going strong – an inspiration to all of us whether it be fashion, art, human rights or conservation. May you see many more years.
Mark Jayatilake
Comment by Mark Jayatilake on 16/04/2011 at 5:00 am
Dear Mark,
This is great news about the Titian exhibition. He is timeless, as original today as in his own lifetime. I also must see the Manet exhibition in Paris.
Comment by Vivienne on 23/04/2011 at 8:48 pm
Dear vivienne,
Here is a letter I wrote you a year ago. I was 16 and intensly depressed because a film I worked on for years never saw the light. I tried to send it to you in private, with no success. Here am I, a year later, facing the exact same problems, the same questions. I now regret not having sent you this before. Stuck up like a teenager, I try once more hoping you will read it.
“ Dear Vivienne,
I am facing a tremendous problem and I thought I ought to ask the one person who can help me solve it. The thing is I don’t know how to express it. In the fashion industry rare are the designer who use their impact on the media to improve life, to help make important changes take place. To be honest I don’t see much happening and all of us should participate. But that is one thing, the other thing is that people, and especially young people are increasingly passive and demotivated. I am one of them. I got passionate about fashion when I first came to England, then it was cinema, the second year when I started to miss my home town, Paris. I also happen to be a huge art fan, like yourself, especially contemporary and urge you to take a look at Alice Anderson’s work, she is in my opinion one of the most brilliant young British artist. Anyway, so the issue is that not enough people really know what they want to do with their lives. Like you say: Get a life!, well i don’t think I’ve got one yet, I always keep thinking it’s too late, so much time has slipped away and i haven’t done anything I truly wanted to do because I simply don’t know what that is. And the worst thing is that I always get what I really want. Time slips away faster than it has ever done, always receiving information, always alert (with that globalisation we’re facing.) And the latter is not the only thing. People look the same, shops look the same, and nearly everything really. You go to the other end of the world and find out it is the same everywhere ! But don’t take me wrong, I am not pessimistic or writing a protest I just want to know how you found enough strength to become what you are, a discreet genius in one of the most busy and sometimes animalistic industry, and where you find the energy to create and recreate things at such a pace.
With much love, admiration and respect,
Virgile“
Comment by Virgile Alexandre on 23/04/2011 at 8:16 am
Dear Virgile
My answer is to become an art lover. Everything takes time. But this is an investment. For example, you have to go back time and again to an art gallery, look at the same works over and over. Reading, not only on art but following your deep interest.
The investment is you get an anchor in life and a sense of personal discovery and progress in understanding the world you live in.
Anyway, you have to discover your deep interest and pursue it to Get a Life.
[I was talking to a young pop musician the other day. And it’s great to do that. Not everyone can get a band together. But even a pop musician needs culture (I don’t mean protest songs are obligatory) otherwise he won’t have ideas and he will stagnate like a boring old fart, like an old pop musician who can only say ‘fuck’.]
Comment by Vivienne on 06/07/2011 at 9:42 am
Dear Vivienne,
I really enjoyed reading your blog.
Comment by William Duncan on 25/04/2011 at 7:59 pm
The Titian exhibition was great ! Thanks Mark
Comment by Virgile Alexandre on 29/04/2011 at 7:41 am
Vivienne,
Do you think that there needs to be a concept behind artwork?
If there is a beautiful painting of a woman, just simple and brilliant, do you think that there needs to be some form of concept behind this?
In my Art classes, they are constantly thrusting conceptual art down our throats and sometimes i feel like stepping back and saying: “Hold on, this is a painting of a woman – i’ve done it because its beautiful, not because she represents anything”
What are your thoughts?
Sam
Comment by Sam Varnham on 06/07/2011 at 10:55 am