Oscar Wilde's advice to young artists
How to be an artist according to Oscar Wilde
“Do not wait for life to be picturesque, but try and see life under picturesque conditions. These conditions you can create for yourself...”
In 1883 Oscar Wilde gave a lecture to the Art students of the Royal Academy, London. The topic was “How to be an artist in an age lacking in beauty”.1
He begins by saying that if you want to be an artist you have to try to create something beautiful. But how to find beauty in such vulgar times?
The answer is simple: Look for beauty everywhere, even in the things that appear ugly at first. He writes:
“No object is so ugly that, under certain conditions of light and shade, or proximity to other things, it will not look beautiful ; no object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly.”
He then explains how artists can create their own idea of ‘beauty’, instead of simply copying the beautiful:
“Many of our young artists look merely at what we may call ' ready-made beauty,' whereas you exist as artists NOT to copy beauty but to create it in your art, to wait and watch for it in nature.”
“Do not wait for life to be picturesque, but try and see life under picturesque conditions. These conditions you can create for yourself...”
I.e. you can’t wait for the perfect moment to arrive. Instead you must simply begin. Start now, and don’t wait until the conditions seem just right.
Finally, he tells the students that it is hard to be an artist. But that’s the whole point. And artist is someone who imagines the impossible. And what could be more impossible than a commitment to beauty in ugly times?
“Of course it is difficult, but then art was never easy; you yourselves would not wish it to be easy; and, besides, nothing is worth doing except what the world says is impossible.”
It’s a simple but timeless message. You can be an artist if you want to be.
Living during dark times should not make us despair. It only makes the work of an artist even more important.
Everyone can develop an artistic disposition. It simply means looking attentively at the world around you and processing it in your own creative way. This can be through writing, sketching, photography, painting, or poetry.
An artist is someone who has the ability to see beauty in everything: especially in what other people might consider ugly.
Julian
Thank you for reading my newsletter. If you’d like to support my work please consider becoming a paying subscriber by clicking the button below. Thank you!
Full text: https://celt.ucc.ie/published/E800003-005/text002.html
I really, really love this.
This speaks to me because I’m an artist taking on a new task. I just finished illustrating a little book for my grandson, which inspired me to start writing more children’s books, something I’ve always wanted to do. So I’m going to do it. Thanks for the inspiration.