I used to be such a little
New Englander, _afraid_ of life, but now--
JOE
It isn't only what you call the "younger Frenchmen and Russians" who are
learning how to paint--the modern movement has spread all over.
MR. WENTWORTH
Of course, I don't pretend to be an artist myself, but I have always
studied and loved pictures, and when you say "learning _how_ to paint"--
JOE
That's exactly what it is. Learning _how_ to paint. Learning what art is.
Getting _life_ into it instead of abstract ideas.
MR. WENTWORTH
Art? But art is beauty! Eternal beauty. You can't change art over night,
like a fashion!
SILVIA
But that picture's beautiful!
JOE
Art changes as life changes. Art has always changed. If it didn't, why
isn't your Japanese art just like Greek art? And Greek art like the
Italian?
MR. WENTWORTH
Oh, in that way, of course. But all the great masters obey the eternal
laws of beauty!
JOE
There aren't any eternal _laws_ of beauty! There's only the eternal
impulse to create. Every artist has to express himself in his own way.
What you call the "eternal laws" are merely the particular expressions
your own favorite painters happened to work out in their time.
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