Welsh Journals

ART AND NATIONAL LIFE. THE EXHIBITION AT CARDIFF. THE ARTIST'S VOCATION. The charge has frequently been made, and not seldom too carelessly admitted, that in the realm of the fine arts Wales has never taken a worthy place among the nations. Often has the question been asked How is it that a race of men living in a romantic country amongst noble hills and lovely valleys, a race with a stirring history behind it, a strong poetic strain and a great natural gift for song -how is it that they should so far have made no remarkable contribution to the art of the world ? If the charge were completely unanswerable and the question altogether justified, it would be indeed a thing to deplore, because a nation which fails to express itself in noble artistic forms runs the serious risk of losing a permanent place in the real history of the world-a history which takes more count of imaginative achievements than of bloody victories. We believe that this charge is not unanswerable, and that it has often been levelled thoughtlessly and with only an imperfect knowledge of the facts. It is undeniably true that through lack of know- ledge and opportunity rather than through incapa- city, the Welsh people have not learned to think of art as a vital part of the national life, and it must be admitted that in the architecture of places of wor- ship and public buildings, and in the decoration of the home, the idea of the beautiful has not been allowed to exercise due influence. Yet, in spite of this apathy towards the arts, the fact remains that in the spheres of sculpture, painting, and draughts- manship Wales has produced and is producing men who are eminent in the world of art to-day. The exhibition, which is now being held in Cardiff, an exhibition confined to the work of artists of Welsh birth or extraction, is in itself a striking vindication of the assertion that Wales is in no way deficient in those creative forces which find most beautiful and vital expression on canvas and in stone, but that on the contrary she is even now making important contributions to the art of the time. Though it cannot be seriously maintained that a Welsh school with definitely national characteristics has come into being, yet the initial material for such a school can now be clearly discerned, and it is hoped that with this encouragement before their eyes, more Welshmen will interest themselves in a matter so profoundly important to the welfare of their country. But in spite of the natural satisfaction which this evidence of artistic activity may arouse, many thoughtful people will ask the question However world-famous our artists may be, what vital purpose do they serve if they do not bring enlightenment and joy to the masses of their fellow-countrymen ? This resolves itself into the larger and simpler question, which may well be put in regard to the whole of our modern civilisation, Does art play any vital part in relation to ordinary life ? Is it in touch with life at all ? In the great artistic periods of history the artist occupied a very different position from that in which he finds himself to-day. He was virtually a ruler, and a ruler who not only held sway in the local sphere of taste and aesthetics, but whose mighty influence extended to every department of life. His conceptions of life and the world were the ruling conceptions he was a great creator who set his seal on the life of his time. His vital importance consisted in the fact that to him men owed their highest conceptions and their truest estimates of life, and that common existence caught something of his nobility and grandeur. But he exercised another, and, for us who follow after, an equally important function in that his achievements are the most unfailing record of the thought and spirit of his day. Turning to our own age we must admit that much of the art of to-day, however sincere and earnest, brings with it no living message, although here and there we see the figure of a man, who, rising above the crowd, does in some small measure speak for his race and time. We must remember that it is impossible rightly to estimate the strength of forces and the value of achievements which we cannot place in the perspec- tive of history. It is true that in years to come the few great artists of the age may loom larger as land- marks along the high road of human progress than we ourselves can realise. But, whether our artistic achievement be comparatively great or meagre, it is obvious that the artist has almost entirely lost his hold on the life of his time, and that even in countries which are peculiarly friendly to the arts, there is lacking that intimate relationship between art and life which is so essential. If we turn again to the history of those nations which have enjoyed periods of peculiar artistic activity, we find that they have as a rule followed in the wake of some great national crisis, when, purged by trial and nerved by self-sacrifice in the struggle against some common danger, the whole nation has emerged with a new strength and new aspiration and the common life has become intense and full. It was then that the will and power to create was