Modern Art as a Hobby

There is no Better Hobby than modern art. Modern art is easy to learn, it is not habit-forming, and it is a relaxing hobby, because you can draw a picture in five minutes and spend the next three weeks lying around admiring it.

A lot of people don't understand modern art. When they look at a picture they want to see something representational like a cow or a sunset or an icebox. In order to understand art, you must understand the psychological significance behind the picture. On this page you will see reproduced an expressionistic painting I did last year of the popular entertainer, Arthur Godfrey.

The layman will see nothing here but a well-designed and beautifully executed portrait, but by studying the symbolism in this picture the trained observer can tell quite a bit about the subject.

From the way the head is broken up into two separate masses of light and dark, we can tell that Mr. Godfrey is an epicure. From the dark areas surrounding the head we can tell he has a strong parental attachment (to his mother and father). And from the sharp, pointy shapes in the upper left-hand corner we can tell his underwear is too tight.

You may notice that the figure's left arm is abnormally long and the hand has six fingers on it. There is a reason for this, too.

Bad drawing.

But, to me, the most interesting thing about this portait is the series of little angular designs in the lower part of the picture, because they show the timelessness of all modern art. I shall explain.

When I was doing this picture, I made up those designs out of my head. Yet, only last week I was in the Metropolitan Museum, and in the Guatemalan Inca Indian Room, I saw some pottery pieces that were made by the Inca Indians over two thousand years ago. And these pottery pieces had that same design on them that I made up out of my own head. (See Figure I, next page.)

The pottery pieces also had an inscription on each one, which I translated, hoping to find some clue to the origin of the design. However, the translations were not particularly helpful. They read, "His" and "Hers" (from left to right).

Representational Drawing

If you wish, you may occasionally attempt a representational drawing as an exercise. It isn't as difficult as you think. The thing to remember is don't worry whether it (the drawing) looks like anything or not. Make this a rule.

Below is an example – a drawing of my uncle Parker. I have made innumerable drawings of Uncle Parker, who was a very vain man and always liked to pose for me. I recall that when Uncle Parker was young he was awfully vain about his blond, wavy hair. This is a picture of Uncle Parker as a youth:

However, when Uncle Parker got to be about twenty-five years old, all his hair fell out, and we learned his horrible secret. Uncle Parker's hair was really straight. It was his skull that was wavy:

Landscape Painting

Landscape drawings, either from life or memory, can be a source of many hours of fun and relaxation. Figure III is a landscape I recently completed, which I have entitled, A Scene in Texas.

This is one of the least difficult types of drawings and is recommended for the beginner.

Leonard Stern, Modern Painter

Leonard Stern is probably the very best, least known modern painter (with the possible exception of GrandpawMoses). His paintings are very much worth studying. Figure II is an example of his style, which he himself chose as representative (reproduced full scale).

This particular picture, Portrait of the Artist and Miss Patricia Delray, is quite well known, principally because of the newspaper publicity it received when a Dr. Carl Gassoway formed a committee and attempted not only to have the painting banned from the Museum of Modern Art, but to have Mr. Stern arrested for indecency. He failed.

But all true artists are, of course, used to such blue-stocking carpings, and Mr. Stern took the whole affair philosophically, saying, "I can't make no concessions. I paint whatever's on my mind."

Arthur Godfrey

Figure I.Inca Indian Pottery Pieces

FigherII. Portrait of the Artist and Miss Delray

Figure III.A Scence in Texas