The Schism, parts 3771 - 3774

 3771. Then there is another dangerous kind of criticism; it is the criticism that aims to destroy the very objectives of the work itself, and attacks the rudimentary assumptions on which the work is based. It is a philosophical attack, and takes the form of an existential undermining of the unspoken purposes of ones life.

 3772. The most effective of the first type of criticism leads the artist to gradually perfect their art, and the most effective example of the second type leads the artist to abandon art altogether.

 3773. Ivan had never in his life heard this type of criticism that not only questioned the objectives of his family’s art, but went so far as to question the structures of society itself. He did not stay to listen to what those gentlemen had to say about what sort of art they though artists should produce, and what kind of society they thought should be the replacement of the monarchy under which he lived, but it is just as well because listening to conversations like that often led to incarceration.

3774. Ivan returned to his father’s workshop, and the effect of his experience was not in evidence. Over the next few weeks and months he began to assert himself by making very small figure studies in wax. By working on very small figures he managed to overcome his tendency to see in parts only, and although he had a little success, his father saw fit to hire him out to a funeral service where he was employed carving small statues of Christ for funeral monuments.