Ways of seeing
Sibyl Ruth writes about art with a capital Q
Earlier this year my husband – after almost forty years in the field of law – decided to become an art dealer. He’d seek out prints and paintings by neglected artists, research into them, get some restoration done and create a website. Would I be his business partner?
It’s normal to have doubts before setting off on a different path. However, I was surprised that one of my scruples was that I’d be doing something un-Quakerly. Friends’ old suspicion of the visual arts is dead and buried. Art is now seen as spiritually nurturing, a ‘good thing’. My Local Meeting is packed with knitters, beaders and quilters. So, why was there this committee of (imagined) weighty Friends in my head, debating whether the scheme was in ‘right order’? They informed me that art was fine as a recreation, but shouldn’t become too important. And they urged me to remember a particular discussion about flowers (it had actually taken place).
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