Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c12.245

c12.245

It is on the technical side that the wrong we have done to Indian art is most apparent and least excusable. It may be difficult to provide in a State educational system, especially under Indian conditions, that intellectual and spiritual stimulus without which no real art can ever be developed. As Emerson has truly said, art does not come at the call of a legislature—neither can a legislature entirely suppress it only by neglecting to take cognisance of the artistic faculties. But nothing can excuse the crushing out of all the splendid artistry, of the technical lore and skill of hand inherited from former generations—one of the most valuable industrial assets India possesses—simply from the want of an intelligent adaptation of official machinery for making use of it.