“The Romantic movement changed English poetry when there was nothing more to be said in the manner of Pope. You may prefer the old art to the new, but even if you are right in preferring it, you are not therefore right in condemning those who practice the new art. For they have no alternative. Either they must be mere imitators of the great men of the past or they must make a new start; and the true artist can no more content himself with imitation than the true philosopher can content himself with repeating what other philosophers have said. “Behind all representation in the arts there is the impulse of expression; and that will make its discoveries wherever there is most to be discovered, turning naturally to those elements of the art which have lately been neglected. If we understand this we shall see that a new artistic movement, such as Post-Impressionism, is not to be judged merely by a few pictures or to be condemned because those pictures seem to us very unlike reality. Whatever may come of it, it is something that is happening in all the arts, because discovery is turning in a new direction. All the successes of the past are obstacles to new success of the same kind, and discovery naturally takes a line of least resistance away from them. For a long time, in every art, artists have been raising expectations which they found it difficult, if not impossible, to satisfy. In painting, with its effort at complete illusion, they have provoked comparisons with Velasquez. In music, with its elaborate forms, they must do as well as Beethoven if they are to succeed. The dance, as we are used to it, demands an easy grace in every movement, which M. Nijinsky himself cannot combine with novelties of expression. He has found that, if he is to be a discoverer in his art, he must teach his public not to expect this easy grace, this formal and accustomed beauty, from the start. And that is the purpose of Post-Impressionism in all the arts. It is determined not to arouse expectations which it cannot satisfy. “The public may begin by thinking it all crude and ugly and childish; and it will be the more delighted by any beauties which it discovers afterwards. Hitherto the arts have promised more than they could possibly perform. Now they shall promise nothing, and so perform at least more than they promise. It is natural, perhaps, that the public should resent this as a kind of discourtesy. The artist who makes no professions seems to them lacking in respect, and they are inclined to hoot him as an impudent charlatan. But there are very few artists who wish to be hooted, and the real charlatan usually flatters his public. Whatever may be said against Post-Impressionists in all the arts, they are not flatterers.” * * * * * It is a far cry from London to Reno, and the differences between the two places are not measured by the miles between them. Leading editorial from the “Journal,” Reno, July 11, 1913: SIMPLE SOLOMON