The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art May 1965 [antikvár]

47th May Show Annual Exhibition of Artists and Craftsmen of the Western Reserve May 5 through June 13 From time to time it is useful to question the validity of our most cherished habits of thought and action. Do they continue to have meaning, or have they become conventions, empty of meaning and function? Each spring in Cleveland brings questions about the purpose and value of the May Show. Let us confront the question then: does this, or indeed any, régiónál exhibition have a serious purpose and important values? And if so, are they the same as those that originally called such exhibitions into existence? The latter question is the easier to answer. The situation today, in both the arts and society, is obviously different from the period between the two World Wars when there were few opportunities for artists to show their work and sell it, except through such exhibitions. For the local public, it usually provided a moment of at least ritual acknowledgment of the artists' importance to the community. (The volume of sales in the Cleveland show has always con-stituted more than a "ritual acknowledgment," of course.) The character of such exhibitions, however, was based on the notion that it was possible to develop a high level of culture in relatively small, isolated pockets through enthusiastic support by the local population for all creative activity on the assumption that the cream could be skimmed off. In retrospect, this idea appears to have been related to that of national isolationism, political as well as cultural. It seems obvious today (particularly today), however, that if any community isolates itself from the broad mainstreams of world action and thought, it does so at peril to its own state of economic, morál, and cultural health. But if the originál role of such exhibitions is no longer valid at a time when the mushroom cloud of a "cultural explosion" threatens to at least obscure art itself, new conditions have produced new needs which may be even more crucial than the relatively simple ones of the past. One of the most serious problems in art today is not to awaken public interest in art or to see that the artists eat regularly; it is to distinguish between art of high quatity and mediocre art or non-art. In a world largely dedicated to a mystique of number, it is imperative that the arts continue to be devoted to the concept of quality. This does not indicate withdrawal from the world; art is always made by humán beings and experienced by humán beings. The central questions about any exhibition, therefore, must be concerned with its purpose and validity in terms of humán needs. To return, then, to the question of régiónál exhibitions: they provide an aréna where younger artists can test their abilities against others more mature than they; and they present an opportunity for the interested public to participate in the crea-tion of culture. For culture is not a thing or a place; it is a way of living. It is, above all, serious engage-ment with aesthetic and ethical values, and when any public looks at, evaluates, and acquires art, that public is so engaged. Thus, it would seem that such régiónál exhibitions have purpose and value for the fledgling artist and the concerned public. But what about the Professional artist? It is he who establishes the qualitative level of the exhibition. And what has he to gain from such an exhibition? Probably not very much. His reputation is already made and he can only risk it. He might sell something, but usually he sells much of what he produces anyway. Maybe he will get somé publicity, but perhaps it will be bad. He seems to have little to gain materialiy and a good deal to lose. Whatever reasons there may be for him to participate in such exhibitions, they are not to be reckoned in terms of material gain.