Newspapers / Jones County Journal (Trenton, … / Nov. 21, 1968, edition 1 / Page 3
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—... "■ --- "What the artist gains in the way of liberty, he loses in the way of order” <•-.■f*:«9*; HirJJalirKidwk?1 Mir'* Last weak, in an effort to lighten the usual heavy burden that clutters all too many edi torial pages I did 4 little exer cise about Pablo Picasso, which was not altogether fair, and al though Pm quite conscious of how little this will matter to Picasso, it does matter to me, and it could matter to those who pass a dew minutes each week scanning these -pages. Picasso has been detracted by detractors far more expeft than % but to leave the impression among those who may know Uw en less about this living legend of a man than I do that he is a rich lustful artistic nut is to assuredly leave a wrong . impres sion, ami event to use such a man with the best. intendons is less than fair if something of his more serious side is nOt revealed. And especially this is true, r feel, when this 87 year-old man has something to say that cpuld be of great value to each of lift as individuals and to all of us as groups of ifcdividuals. In a discussion of art with Francoise Gilot, the young wom an who shared his bed and his art for 10 years and bore him two children, Picasso expressed a desire to go back to “someone, at least, who might be able to get painting back on the rails again.” She asked, '‘Inhere had it gone off the rails?” and his reply has -a broad application to every lev el of civilization, although he was speaking only to the point of art. His reply was: "That'* a tong story, You have to go all the w*y back to the Greeks and the Egyptians. To day we ere in the unfortunate position of having ijp order or canon whereby all artistic pro duction is submitted to rules. They — the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians — did. Their1 can on was inescapable because beauty, so-called, was, by defini tion, contained in those rule*. But as soon as art had tost all link with tradition, and the-kind , s of liberation that came in with Impressionism permitted every painter to do what lie Wanted to do, painting was finished. When they decided it was the painter's sensations and emo- , tions that mattered, and every man could recreate painting as he understood it from any basis whatever, then there was no more painting; there were only individuals. Sculpture died the same death. _"Beginning with van Gogh, however great ,we may be, we are all, in § measure, autodid acts — you might almost say primitive painters. Painters no longer live within a tradition and so each one of us must recreate that language from A to Z. No criterion can be applied, to him a priori, since we don't believe in rigid standards any longer. In a certain sense .that's a liber ation, but at the same' time it's when the individuality of the ar tiat begins Wexpreaa Itself, what the artist gains In the way of liberty he loses in the way of order, and when you're no long er able to attach yourself to an drder, basically that's very bad." Ifois coming from a man who has accumulated untold wealth from that gain in liberty certain ly mates clear what he loses in the way of order. Today in every aspect of art we see this liberty, and it is reduced far' more to license than to liberty. ' But far more important so far as me world as a Whole Is con cerned is this spirit in nearly ey eyery other art - pf man. • We are deserting the order of religion for the liberty of the unknown. We ate aeserung rong-neia principles of government in ex change ifor more of those liber ties of the unknown. We even see, a growing seg ment of our society deserting the known evils of one form of dissipation; staggering blindly from alcoholism to drug addic tion and even from that into the hallucinatory realm of the “mind blowers” such as LSD. We see this groping in educa tion as gadgets and gimmicks are substituted for teachers. We desert too easily and too frequently the sanctity of mar riage for the amorality of the pig pen or the stud farm. We as a nation decide that the written law is too slow and we substitute for it the “liberty and, license” of men who no longer live in the tradition of the law. ' • •, Picasso was talking to a young woman who worshipped him and the new lahguage of art that he represented, but his words have a timeliness, and ah Undeniable logic that, might very well be come an essential to every proc ess of learning. Some are able to leap from one solid stepping stone info the unknown and come down safely, but the vast majority of us are not so lucky. Civilization has been a long, long journey; made a step at a time. Individuals and groups, of indi viduals journey at the very greatest peril when they tear down the guideposts that have brought us to the imperfect point iq history we stand. Impatience with the imperfec tions of our time is wholesome, and none of us should ever quit exerting whatever powers we may have to make this world and the world that follows a bet ter place, but this cannot be done in any realm of art, or science, or business, or personal living by totally destroying the stepping stones that brought us to this point.' There is a supreme order, and a supreme power; and whether it is a deity of flesh or,spirit or cosmic design is really imma terial because the rule is sim ple and the fule is unalterable: That we ignore order only at the gravfest possible peril. Q: Dr. Garrett, why do you My that the Negro it inferior to the White man? What about Ralph Bunch or Thurgood Marshall? *v A: I have never said that the Negro is generally inferior to the White. Intelligence has three aspects: Abstract, motor, and social. In motor intelligence, the Negro is as good and may be better than the White. Witness Negro athletes. In social intel ligence, basically, tactfulness, the Negro is probably as high as the White. But in abstract in telligence, the ability to solve' problems put in words, numbers, diagrams, pictures, etc., here the Negro definitely is below the White. Only about 15 per cent North Carolina ranks first in the nation in tobacco produc tion, second in peanuts, fourth in broilers, fifth in eggs, seventh in turkeys, eighth in com and apples, and tenth in soybeans. —"— _ — * • • LAY-A-WAY FOR CHRISTMAS NOW! For The Finest DIAMONDS — WATCHES — JEWELRY SILVERWARE — LUGGAGE — CAMERAS RADIOS — TYPEWRITERS — AND GIFTS FOXMAN'S Your Jeweler of Negroes do as well as the average White. ", Bunch and Marshall virtually are White men. Their inheri tance from their White fore bears must have been excellent. COVEY SHOT? The Lenoir ^(flinty Sheriff’s Department includes several who like to hunt) law breakers as well as birds and rabbits and squirrels. Tuesday night a cov ey shot was fired that hit three, and front t^e; same family. War rants wereT’s^rved on John Sut ton, John Sutton, Jr., and Rob ert L. Sutton, all of 1107 Bright Street. Each of the three was charged with passing a worthless check. ; Frosty Morn >•: v Meats Inc. ''Helping to build a better Livestock Market for Eastern North Carolina" Top prices paid for Hogs & Cattle Daily No Commission Charge No Waiting Phone JA 3-5103 Kinston, N. C. I--HZZI __ Oj&l$oone 86 PROOF KENTUCKY THE OLD BOONK DISTILLERY Mtmbwhw^ KMtveky STRAIGHT BOURBON oo 4/5 QUART WHISKEY ,U
Jones County Journal (Trenton, N.C.)
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Nov. 21, 1968, edition 1
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