Rose VanDusenberg, parts 946 - 949

946. Perhaps you do not believe me about prospective purchasers of paintings rubbing their chins before they purchases pictures, but you can subject the theory to a test; go and buy a picture, and see if you can complete the transaction without rubbing your chin first, I assure you, you will not succeed, you will rub your chin despite yourself.

947. This chin rubbing is of no advantage to the art dealer because it indicates that the transaction has been completed without him or her having to exercise all of the subtle skills that go into prompting a client to buy a picture; it will have happened of itself. It is one of those sales where the salesman takes no part, the client makes the decision all on their own, and is positively annoyed if the dealer tries to interfere.  

  

948. Rose however did not decide to purchase any of Coromo's paintings, instead she invited him to chose a wall in the dining room and put up all of his pictures. She suggested he not put them all in a row, but to scatter them all over the place. The only painting she had misgivings about was his one religious picture, Coromo's favorite. She did not reject the picture outright, she just questioned if it would work in the restaurant setting.

949. Rose explained to Coromo what she planned to do to the dining room, and her explanation gave him a little insight into why she wanted to utilize his paintings. "We will replace all of the chairs and tables with much more rustic items, no chrome, no Formica, and no plastic. Every section of wall will be a different color, and some walls will be two or three colors where patches of one color show through another as if by accident."

Rose VanDusenberg, parts 942 - 945

942. He knew Rose liked the paintings of Gauguin who was also a painter who used color in a arbitrary way. But what if it was not arbitrary, what if those real artists had access to theories and ideas which he could not understand, or even come across so as to be confounded by them. In short, he was tormented by a feeling of inadequacy. But he had no choice, he had to take has medicine, and subject himself to criticism from someone who obviously knew all about paintings.

943. As you might guess, Rose loved almost all of Coromo's paintings. She set them on the floor against a wall of the restaurant all in a row and for about five minutes she said nothing at all. After those five minutes she picked up one of the pictures and set it apart from the others, it was the 'Decent From The Cross' painting. After that she rearranged the others into sets of two or three, like a person arranging their cards in a poker game.

944. All the time Rose looked at Coromo's paintings she held her chin in her hand in a meditative pose, and with her other hand she held her elbow. Now and again Rose massaged her chin with her thumb and her forefinger. Coromo was on edge the entire time. Since he had no self-confidence, at least when it came to his pictures, he thought everything she did was an indication of her irritation and rejection of his little pictures. 

945. Now it is a well known fact among people who buy and sell pictures frequently that when a person rubs their chin with their thumb and a knuckle of the forefinger it means that they are about to purchase the picture they are looking at. If perchance they ask a question about the picture they are contemplating while rubbing said chin, the dealer knows there will be no need to offer a discount, because the sale is as good as completed. 

Rose VanDusenberg, parts 938 - 941

938. And what is there to learn for new artists by looking at the pictures of Picasso too carefully.  Does one ever hope to be considered a 'follower of Picasso'. That would be a deadly title. There is a reason there were followers of Rembrandt and followers of Michelangelo, because they worked in a tradition the arc of which lasted a hundred years so there was something to follow.

 939. All modern artists are one of a kind, if they are not one of a kind they are nothing at all, so to copy, to follow, to even 'learn from' others is a serious mistake. Coromo could only proceed when he decided to close the art history book and forget about it all together and fortunately that day was not far off.   

940. But for the moment he had to decide what to do about the command from Rose VanDusenberg to bring all of his painting to her the next day. What would she make of his paintings? Would she ask him if they were done by some village idiot. Purple horses, pink bicycles, a black and red striped bus with dogs looking out of the windows, dogs with faces half yellow and half orange. 

941. He had only one painting of which he was proud, and on which he placed all his hopes to be taken seriously, it was a religious picture, Christ being taken down from the cross. He was surprised to find this idea painted by many artists in the past, and he saw also that painters as modern as Gauguin painted religious images.

Rose VanDusenberg, parts 934 - 937

934. That night he looked at every image in the art history book, giving special attention to the color plates. He looked at the artists Rose had mentioned with admiration, all of these were toward the end of the book in a chapter on post-impressionism. The artists she had criticized were in the earlier chapters. He could see clearly that the post-impressionist painters drew things out of proportion and used color in an arbitrary way just like he did.

935. But those post-impressionists managed to distort their figures, and employ odd colors in a way that was very different than the way he did. It was as if they could have done it all realistically, but chose not to because they had some different obscure purpose.

 936. He finished looking at the art history book, set it aside and had a look at his pictures with a fresh eye. What he saw seemed utterly stupid to him. By comparing his own work to the pictures in an art history book, he was doing the worst thing a new artist can possible do, especially in this day and age.

937. A person might gain something by looking at Rembrandt's paintings if one could go over to Rembrandt's house and have a long talk with him about how he did what he did. But not only has Rembrandt been dead a long time, dead also are his patrons, the institutions and political systems of his day, as well as all the assorted trivial facts, procedures, opinions and ideas of that time. 

Rose VanDusenberg, parts 930 - 933

930. To say the restaurant manager was uncomfortable while talking to Rose would be an understatement. First the work he had put into decorating the dining room had been dismissed with ridicule, and after that he had to listen to Rose's long, self indulgent lecture on art and design. Suddenly his irritation found an outlet and he turned his attention to Coromo, whom he began to ridicule with an outpouring of fake admiration.

931.  "Coromo here", said the manager to Rose, "is our local artist. He has done a series of paintings which are superb, and I was thinking about recommending him to be an artist in residence at the resort. He could give instruction in painting and drawing to our guests who are always looking for classes to sign up for. You should see his paintings, you would love them."

932. Coromo knew that the manager hated his painting and thought he was a fake as well, so he understood that everything said about him was simply said in jest. Rose, however took the manager at his word and immediately asked him if he would show her his paintings. He refused this request with an outpouring of humble excuses saying, "The manager is just kidding about my paintings, they are nothing at all, just little things I do in my spare time.

933. But Rose was not to be put off, and Coromo had to promise to bring all the paintings he had at home for Rose to inspect the very next day. That night when he went home he took a copy of Janson's 'Art History', with him, he found a copy of the book in the resort library. Although he expected no good to come from showing Rose his paintings, still, there was so much he did not understand, he though anything might happen.

Rose VanDusenberg, parts 926 - 929

926. First of all Coromo had never considered a judgment about a picture in any other terms that its detail, its accuracy, and the amount of time it took someone to do it. According to this measure, he judged his own pictures to be the worst.  On the other hand, he could see that Rose was dismissing those highly detailed works of some old masters for reasons he never would have considered, they were rejected by her because they were not 'truthful' some how. 

927. He thought to himself, 'What if someone were to make an eloquent speech full of brilliant words, and turns of phrase, and yet everything said was an outright lie. Then someone else who is practically illiterate, and furthermore has a speech impediment, states the truth of the matter in a blunt simpleminded way. Who is the great speaker then?

928. But, his pictures were not truthful, he thought, what is truthful about a striped bus full of tourists with dog's heads in the windows, painted by someone who seems to have the palsy.

929. He decided it was confusing and impossible to figure out. He put it out of his mind, and decided to just take things as they came. He was having very good luck with his new occupation of painting. He was very popular with two strange old rich lades; who knew what the future held for him. Little did he know, or even suspect that the distant ephemeral art world of which he knew less that nothing was peopled with scores of strange rich old women. 

Rose VanDusenberg, parts 922 - 925

922. Then she turned the pages until she came across David's picture of the coronation of Napoleon. "And here we have the ultimate idiocy of historical painting," she said,  "this is a combination of all that is wrong with the Ben Hur style of historical pictures combined with an inability to understand his present predicament as a revolutionary who voted to decapitate the King, only a few years  later to paint the glorification of an Emperor.

923. The sad thing is that the bad jokes he produced cost him years of toil. Still, the public loved his work up till the end when he had to flee to England to avoid the new King's wrath during the restoration.

924. The poor restaurant manager listened to Rose in silence because he had nothing to say, and did not even have any idea what she was talking about. Rose went on and on taking about her favorite subject, and now and then the manager ventured a timid question, just to indicate that he was listening.

925. But for Coromo it was a different matter entirely, the conversation was causing an earthquake in his mind, a mind unacquainted with a single idea about what is and what is not art. And you must never forget, if you want to know what Coromo was like, that he was deeply religious, walking away from Rose and the manager to the kitchen he muttered to himself, 'Having eyes I saw not." casting in biblical terms, these confusing new ideas.