world moves and
has only a position in the rank and file for imitators. Occasionally an
artist goes to work with a vim and indulges in research, thereby
demonstrating originality in two respects. Painting is just as much a
field for research as light-production.

Recently experiments are being made in the production of color-harmonies
devoid of form. Surely there is a field for pure color-composition and
this the field of the painter which leads toward the art of mobile
light. Many of the formless paintings of the present day which pass
under the banner of this _ism_ or that are merely experiments in the
expressiveness of light. Being formless, they are devoid of subject in
the ordinary sense and cannot be more or less than a fixed expression of
light. Naturally they have received much criticism and have been
ridiculed, but they can expect nothing else until they are understood.
They cannot be understood until mankind learns their language and then
they must be understandable. In other words, there are impostors
gathered around the sincere research-artist because the former have
neither the ability to paint for a living nor the inclination to forsake
the comparative safety of the mystery of art for the practical world
where their measure would be quickly taken. This army of camp-followers
will not advance the art of mobile light, but the sincere seekers after
the principles of light-expression who form the foundation of the
various _isms_ may contribute much.

The painter will always be available with his finer sensibility to
appreciate and to aid in developing the art of mobile light, but his
direct contribution appears most likely to come from the present chaos
of experiments in pure color-composition, in the psychology of light,
or, more broadly, in the expressiveness of light. The decorator and the
designer of gowns and costumes do not arrogate to themselves the name
"artist," but they are daily creating something which is leading toward
a fuller appreciation of the expressiveness of light. If they do not
contribute directly to the development of the art of mobile light, they
are at least aiding in developing what may eventually be an appreciative
public.

The artist paints a "still-life," the decorator creates a color-harmony
of abstract or conventional forms, and the costumer produces a
color-composition in textiles. The decorator and costumer approach
closer to pure color-composition than the artist in his st