Collectable Very GoodÂ
 PREFACE
I AM WRITING this little book for those who like pictures, for those who
have felt the urge to paint and draw and have continued drawing and painting
after they have left the schoolroom. And I also hope to find readers amongst
those who have begun to earn a livelihood from the practice of pictorial art
in its many forms. Then there are those who get constant pleasure and refresh-
ment of the spirit from looking at the works created by pictorial artists and wish
to know something further about the outlook and aims of such artists, especially
in these present days, when there are so many experiments being made and new
and often bewildering techniques abound.
Perhaps my aim could be summed up by saying that I hope to help in the
understanding of pictures, not the intellectual criticism of technical matters. This
book will try, not to add to the snobbish attitude that is so selective and eclectic
that only a very few fashionable works can pass muster as worthy of attention,
but to foster the essential outlook, the possession of which will help one to grasp
the aim and significance of all types
of painting
There may also be some who read these pages who modestly describe them-
selves as being those who “know next to nothing about pictures or paintingâ€
but who definitely “know what they likeâ€. To know what you like first of all
presupposes that you "likeâ€, and liking is akin to affection and even to love.
Some might say that to know, or in other words to understand, what you like
would do away with the liking and reduce the affection felt for the picture. But
one can know why one likes a thing and still continue to like it. Understanding
does not necessarily connote lack of emotion, in fact it often heightens the feeling
towards the object. I'm afraid that the expression “I know what I like†should
really read: “I don't know what I like or why I like it, but I like it!†It is one
of the aims of this book to enable those who like pictures to know a little more
about why they like them.
In order to fulfil the object I have in mind it will be necessary to trace the
development of pictorial art from its earliest expression, and to know how the
aim and endeavour of artists throughout the ages have a permanent basis...