Alienists have long ago warned us of the coming of this psychic malady as a consequence of the spread of this sadism in art, and the erection of it into a cult, by the increasing mob of degenerates in the world. This sadism in art finds an hypocritical defense in the preservation of mutilated statues and pictures, mosaics, etc., preserved in our museums. These should be preserved. But why any man should, today, deliberately model a human body and then mutilate it and hack it, and exhibit it, except as a revelation of his sadistic soul, passes our comprehension. The first man, as far as we know, to do this was Rodinwho was regarded in Paris, as a moral sot. In his "Walking Man," Fig. 11, we have a glaring example. Here is the body of a man, modelled so skillfully that he seems to live and walk, and then the head and arms are hacked off, and the body otherwise mutilated. Now, we can understand that this might occur to a statue crushed by a falling temple, in an earthquake, and then, when unearthed, preserved as a record of the state of sculpture at a given epoch. But, to deliberately produce such a cadaver in marble, and sell it, perhaps, is proof of the workings of a mind tainted with sadism. Fig. 12 is another Rodin specimen. This photograph was bought in a public photo store in Paris. To make such a thing for a study for some other complete work, and then smash it, is done by all sane sculptors; but to have it photographed, and the photos sold, publicly, shows that Rodin had a degenerate mind, and a soul steeped in sadism. But the most senile example of Rodin's sadism is "Doing the Split," Fig. 13. Reader, study this carefully. Did anyone, before this, ever make so insane a "deformation of the form"-Rodin's recipe for producing g-r-e-a-t style in sculpture! Here we have monstrositation with a vengeance, ending in a mutilation of the body of poor woman-ever the object of these attacks by sadists, and in this case, resulting in a "prize-piece" of sadism in art. Cézanne was also tainted with sadism, perhaps through no fault of his own. Notice, first of all, his own "Portrait by himself," Fig. 14. Then look at his photograph, Fig. 15. Is there any resemblance between the two? The so-called "Portrait of himself," by himself, shows morbidity, an urge toward self-mutilation, which is a form of masochism, and his photograph reveals, to the skilled physiognomist, indications of a nature at once fierce, violent, and unbalanced, as is testified to by his biographer, Vollard, who, on page 5 of his notorious propaganda-biography, says: But in spite of his nature violent and sensitive to excess, etc., which all his stuff shows, and manifests. Now, notice his "Temptation of St. Anthony," Fig. 16. Notice the distortion and partial mutilation of the bodies. Finally notice the "Landscape in Provence," Fig. 17. We know Provence well enough to say that no such mutilated landscape exists there. It is a glaring proof of Cézanne's penchant to mutilate, which we find throughout his work, and is an insult to nature. It may be said, that these are extreme examples of his mutilation of nature's forms. Granted! But, a cursory examination of all of his works will show therein a general tendency towards mutilation: either by commission or omission. And that he seems to have been a sex-pervert seems probable when we study his many, more or less vulgar, nude studies and pictures, especially his "The New Olympia," and "The Struggle," in the sumptuous volume on "Cézanne," by the Paris art-dealer, Ambroise Vollard, written apparently to boost the prices of his "collection" of Cézanne's works-in order to unload them, at gigantic profits, on those American collectors who have lost their sense of discrimination, and have developed a weakness for succumbing to the cynical, weasel-propaganda conducted by the masters of the art-world of today, the astute dealers in art-instead of going to the artists direct, and buying what truly appeals to them and emotions their own soul. And then these dealers-through some of these buncoed collectors— will either easily inflict these sadistic atrocities on some of our art museums, or jimmy them in through "influence," or by browbeating some poor director, who is powerless to protect the public against the hanging of these things in the great museum over which he presides. These two leaders in the production of sadistic art, Rodin and Cézanne, have had numerous followers. Among these are also active sex-perverts and sadistic artists, as well as others who are not so glaringly tainted; because sadism in art, after its initiation by Rodin and Cézanne, soon became suf Cézanne in this work, evidently tried to depict himself-for the benefit of FIG. 15. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH. CÉZANNE IN HIS STUDIO. His evidently abnormal "temperament" has been dubbed "genius," and his childish works "great," by his deluded followers and by those who misled them. |