prevalence of the faiths of the past is very far from being
unfortunate.

There is another tendency of art and of the artist, how-
ever, which in the long run is a more sufficient force to
counteract any losses ascribed to the conservative character
of the arts. The artist is a prophet in his own right no less
than are other innovators. There are two ways in which this
is true. Artists are not only constantly saying new things
or devising new forms, but they have, in the past, many
times expressed by their manner something different from
the subject matter of their work.

First, the artist is one who sees things that other men
ignore. If he expresses what he desires to express, it is always
some fresh way of looking at things. He is always adding to
the world of created beauty. Standing apart from practical
life, at least imaginatively, he is little hindered by the
prejudices and concerns of the ordinary man. He is not him-
self in the "game." Sitting as a spectator, his eyes are clear
of the dust and passion of the struggle.

I am keenly conscious of a great difficulty here. There is
much bad art in the world because of this separation on the
part of artists. Perhaps there is no moral evil greater than
that of looking upon life as a spectacle. It is contempt of
persons. Every artist is in constant danger of this evil point
of view. As a man and citizen he is required to be a man
among men. As an artist he is required to stand apart and
to be an onlooker. I believe that it makes a profound dif-
ference as to which is the real self of the artist and which
is his assumed dramatic rôle. If his real self is the spectator,
and he merely makes dramatic excursions into real life, I
think his art will be bad art. If his real self is man and
citizen, and he makes the supremely dramatic effort of
imaginative withdrawal, I think his art will be good aft.

In any case, whether the aloofness be real or assumed,
it must be in some profound sense real for the purposes of
good artistry. It must be a genuine attempt to see more
things and to see them differently than they are seen during
the actions of common life. As already suggested in another
chapter, this is why the artist has always been accused of

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