Advice For The Asking

"Whistler's Painting"*

*In 1878, the American-born artist James McNeill
Whistler sued the art critic John Ruskin for damages
over the latter's harsh attacks on the former's
paintings - attacks which Whistler considered
had passed the bounds of legitimate criticism and
invaded those of libel.

Naturally, Ruskin's lawyer had to do his best to
denigrate Whistler's paintings. He took one which
was rather abstract and not at all calculated to win
the hearts of a no-artistic Victorian jury, and said,
"Now, Mr. Whistler, how long did it take you to
paint this one?"

"Most of a day," said Whistler calmly.

"And do you ask this jury to believe that you are
justified in asking five hundred pounds for the
labor of less than a day?"

"Not at all," said Whistler icily, "I am charging for
the experience of a lifetime."

(Whistler won his case but was awarded exactly
one farthing in damages. But then, how does
one estimate the value of creativity even in
callings less lofty than that of art?)

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"Advice For The Asking"*

*A young man is reported to have approached
the renowned composer Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart (one of the great musical prodigies of
all time), and asked, "Herr Mozart, I have the
ambition to write symphonies and perhaps you
can advise me how to get started."

Mozart said, "The best advice I can give you is
 to wait until you are older and more experienced,
and try your hand at less ambitious pieces to begin with."

The young man looked astonished. "But, Herr
Mozart, you yourself wrote symphonies when
you were considerably younger than I."

"Ah," said Mozart, "but I did so without asking advice."
Received on Mon Oct 6 07:20:43 2008