ed,
the need of expression. The material and practical utility of the hut
obscures the emotional character of its origin; the emotional import
of the picture outweighs consideration of its utility to the painter as
the means by which his need of expression is satisfied. The
satisfaction of physical needs which results in the creation of
utilities and the satisfaction of spiritual needs which results in the
forms of expression we commonly call works of art differ one from
the other in their effect on the total man only in degree. All works of
use whose conception and making have required an act of creation
are art; all art--even in its supreme manifestations--embraces
elements of use. The measure in which a work is art is established
by the intensity and scope of its maker's emotion and by his power
to body forth his feeling in harmonious forms which in turn recreate
the emotion in the spirit of those whom his work reaches.

In its essence and widest compass art is the making of a new thing in
response to a sense of need. The very need itself creates, working
through man as its agent. This truth is illustrated vividly by the
miracles of modern invention. The hand of man unaided was not
able to cope with his expanding opportunities; the giant steam and
the magician electricity came at his call to work their wonders. The
plow and scythe of the New England colonist on his little farm were
metamorphosed into the colossal steam-driven shapes, in which
machinery seems transmuted into intelligence, as he moved to the
conquest of the acres of the West which summoned him to dominion.
First the need was felt; the contrivance was created in response. A
man of business sees before him in imagination the end to be
reached, and applying his ideal to practical conditions, he makes
every detail converge to the result desired. All rebellious
circumstances, all forces that pull the other way, he bends to his
compelling will, and by the shaping power of his genius he
accomplishes his aim. His business is his medium of self-expression;
his success is the realization of his ideal. A painter does no more
than this, though he works with a different material. The landscape
which is realized ultimately upon his canvas is the landscape seen in
his imagination. He draws his colors and forms from nature around;
but he selects his details, adapting them to his end. All accidents and
incidents are purged away. Out of the apparent confusion of life