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Traditionally students have always learned their craft by copying the works of their forefathers. Surely there’s no better way to master a technique or a style? But each artist must always find their own path and individuality. Linda and Laura Kemshall explore this idea...
Text by Linda and Laura Kemshall Images by Linda Kemshall unless otherwise stated.
Soapbox
DÉja` vu?
Linda:
As children we learn by example. We observe our parents and older siblings and, for better or worse, we copy their actions and language. It’s the natural way of things - we look, listen and learn. As adults we continue to absorb information and ideas from many external sources. We take classes with teachers we admire, we devour books and magazines, we visit exhibitions to study works of art, we listen attentively to lectures by established experts. Like sponges we soak it all up and store it away in the backs of our minds. We might even take photographs and scribble relevant notes. It would be impossible to go through life without these external influences affecting everything we produce as creative people - ideas tucked away almost forgotten will inevitably ferment and eventually come to the fore. But where do we draw the line between inspiration and imitation when these thoughts and memories resurface? There was a time when every budding artist was encouraged to make copies of old master paintings or ancient statues. Training the seeing eye to observe and reproduce accurately was a valuable lesson when an artist was regarded as an everyday artisan and their skill as a painter was their craft.
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Picasso is reputed to have said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal”. It’s a difficult quote to fully understand but I’m sure he never meant to condone plagiarism and certainly not forgery. He himself was very influenced by earlier artists. There is some debate about the exact wording of the quote but if we can attribute this saying to him, what I think he meant was that all artists are aware of what others create. Because they love and are fascinated by art they assimilate the ideas, style and content of the work and allow these things to influence their own work to a greater or lesser degree. Great artists however do more than see and learn from art they admire - they take ideas and concepts and make them completely their own. By using the word ‘stealing’ I believe he meant owning or possessing the idea. Picasso in fact was inspired to paint many versions of Manet’s ‘Dejeuner sur L’Herbe’ but while the subject matter of his paintings may be the same as that of Manet’s, the style is unmistakably that of Picasso. Creative people are spoilt these days. There are so many images instantly available online, on TV, in books, videos and DVDs and there are exhibitions within the reach of most. We are all surrounded and immersed in visual stimuli. In terms of access to all kinds of art the world has become a much
Through Our Hands Magazine, Issue 4 | february 2015