“Instead of limiting art by subjecting its productions to truth and lucidity, I believe that we shall give a more powerful impetus to artistic expression. Our new mode of life will inevitably create in us new sentiments, and more simple morals, even new sensations, which will inevitably develop in us new modes of expressions; so that a greater display of facial expressions will forcibly be followed by a richer scale of artistic execution. Besides which, we cannot take all the credit to ourselves in this reform of art; the public has given us a lesson by scorning the false manifestations of art, which inadequately represent his present condition. We cannot stop the reform, for the current is too strong and we must go with it.” (Cheers and applause.) “I believe Mr Sinclair has a few words to say to you, for which he has this morning begged me to ask your indulgence, though I feel sure he does not in any way need it.”
Lionel left the platform, shook hands with several men who had gathered round him, and joined the group which included Lady Carey and Mrs Archibald.
Sinclair took the position vacated by Lionel, and leaning indolently against the table spoke as in a reverie:—
“I have come to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, of the death of the art critic.” Every head turned towards him; one could have heard a pin drop. Sinclair seemed to wake suddenly from his meditation at the sound of his own voice, and began earnestly to address his audience. “I hope you will take it well from me, for you know how wedded I was to my profession. But if I have come here this day to tell you of the total decomposition of the critic, it is only after having maturely reflected over, and analysed my past career. The eclipse of journalism, the judicious weeding of publishers’ lists, have worked a transformation in our conception of art, be it plastic, dramatic or lyric, and we are now asking ourselves what caused the feverish infatuation for one particular author, painter or musician? But we find it next to impossible to answer. Real talent certainly was not sufficient to force the market, nor did the eulogies of critics help to boom a work which was distasteful to the public. On the other hand, no anathema showered at the head of a despised author ever stopped the sale of his inferior work.” (Laughter—many heads looked round the hall to see if the much-abused author was there.) “The critic did not guide the artist, nor did he teach the public what it had to admire or condemn. The public was a hydra with many heads and many judgments; from the _Letters of Elizabeth_ to Herbert Spencer’s _Ethics_, it devoured all, for its appetite was varied though at times unhealthy. I am sorry to say that the only achievement of the critic was to make the public believe he was leading it. It was indeed very clever of him to convince the hydra of his own importance, and as long as it lasted it was well and good; but the reign of the critic was ephemeral, for at every corner the public is having its revenge now. The masses disdainfully pass in front of pictures we extolled, hiss the plays we boomed, and roar at the music we admired. We coaxed the public, and conciliated the fashionable centres of Society so as to solidify our position and fill our purses; we blinded the many-headed hydra, stuffed cottonwool in its ears, and anæsthetised its power of appreciation into believing that we were indispensable to the development of art. The irony of it is, that it is that very public which is giving us a colossal lesson. Changed surroundings have altered the standard of art; and the hydra is giving us tit for tat. We have nothing else to do but to retire cheerfully. My dear friends, I come to you to cry, _Peccavi_, and to beg for your forgiveness for past errors of judgment. We have no need to dog the artist’s footsteps when there exists no longer any stimulus to inferior work, and when the reign of saleable art is over. The era of the artist-his-own-critic is at hand. Let the artist fight his battle with the hydra; best of all, leave the artist to fight his own battle with his own conscience, for the latter will prompt him to do only that which is necessary for the happiness of himself and others.”