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CIX i:.M ATOGRAPHIC ANNUAL
results. We may further quote; "happy is he, not who has the fewest obstacles to encounter, but who has the most spirit and perseverance to surmount them, or the resignation to submit to disappointment when the difficulties prove insuperable."
If we must justly fix the responsibility of the cinematographer, we must classify his position among the arts.
Definition of Art.
It is no easy matter to find a satisfactory definition of art.
The ancient philosophers have defined it as being anything that is apart from nature but having been produced by natural laws; that anything but nature was artificial and the result of art. Others contended that even nature, itself, was artificial and assumed the one great, generic idea of art in the conception of the Creator as the initial and Divine Author. A noble scheme, indeed, for an artist to fashion his ambitions upon. John Ruskin's writings are conceived upon a plan of equal reverence and attempt to identify aesthetics — or the love of art — with our moral perceptions. In his "Ideas of beauty," he claims that beauty is spiritual and typical of Divine attributes.
Dr. Samuel Johnson excited considerable discussion when he defined art as "the power to do something that is not taught by nature or by instinct." This naturally suggests a distinction between man with his marvelous ingenuity to create many things and the various animals and insects that have power to produce various works independent of nature, performances that inspire the awe of man, challenge his reason to explain and tax his ingenuity to imitate. How often have we looked, in wonder, at the spider weaving its web; the beaver building its dam; the labors of the bee; the industries of the ants and the nest building of the birds, all of which seem to embody the first principles of art, using the forces of nature to produce necessary utilities. Here we have a picture of man matching wits with the instincts of bugs and animals, a train of thought that seems to carry us back to the aforesaid concept religioso, "The Great Artist of Nature."
These speculations have naturally demanded a modified definition of art, one that will adjust this distinction between man's rationalism and animal instinct. We, therefore, account for art as being that which is produced by man using natural forces. But even here, our subject does not end, for the more we develop it, the stronger becomes our conviction that we cannot divorce art from nature. The scientist now comes into the picture and shows us that no matter what we may produce by natural laws, we necessarily borrow from the realm of science, a fact which introduces the ancient claims to honors between the "arts and sciences." However, let the artist enjoy this thought: the more we try to define his position, the higher we elevate his pedestal for the dignity of his position is confirmed by the complications and extent of these speculations. But let the artist not forget that the claims of science do not lighten his burdens for if science insinuates itself into art, the artist must master those branches which are necessary to his profession. Therefore, Mr. Cinematog