coherent form; in this
aspect he is essentially the _artist_. Secondly, for the expression of
his idea he brings to bear on the execution of his work his command
of the medium, his intellectual adroitness and his manual skill; in
this aspect he is the _technician_. Every artist has a special kind of
means with which he works, requiring knowledge and dexterity; but
it may be assumed that in addition to his ability to express himself
he has something to say. We may test a man's merit as a painter by
his ability to paint. As an artist his greatness is to be judged with
reference to the greatness of his ideas; and in his capacity as artist
his technical skill derives its value from the measure in which it is
adequate to their expression. In the case of an accomplished pianist
or violinist we take his proficiency of technique for granted, and we
ask, What, with all this power of expression at his command, has he
to say? In his rendering of the composer's work what has he of his
own to contribute by way of interpretation? Conceding at once to Mr.
Sargent his supreme competence as a painter, his consummate
mastery of all his means, we ask, What has he seen in this man or
this woman before him worthy of the exercise of such skill? In terms
of the personality he is interpreting, what has he to tell us of the
beauty and scope of life and to communicate to us of larger
emotional experience? The worth of technique is determined, not by
its excellence as such, but by its efficiency for expression.

It is difficult for an outsider to understand why painters, writers,
sculptors, and the rest, who are called artists in distinction from the
ordinary workman, should make so much of their skill. Any man
who works freely and with joy takes pride in his performance. And
instinctively we have a great respect for a good workman. Skill is
not confined to those who are engaged in what is conventionally
regarded as art. Indeed, the distinction implied in favor of "art" is
unjust to the wide range of activities of familiar daily life into which
the true art spirit may enter. A bootblack who polishes his shoes as
well as he can, not merely because he is to be paid for it, though too
he has a right to his pay, but because that is his work, his means of
expression, even he works in the spirit of an artist. Extraordinary
skill is often developed by those who are quite outside the pale of art.
In a circus or music-hall entertainment we may see a man