The painter of scenes and things is helped out by his subject.
The portrait of a beautiful woman may be very badly painted, but if it conveys the impression of a beautiful woman it is accepted.
The Cubist who tries to paint his impression of a beautiful woman has no likeness to help him out; he must make his painting so beautiful in itself that those who see it will, without knowing why, get some of the enjoyment from the mere composition of line and color that the artist received from knowing the woman who inspired the picture.
To do this a man must be a greater master of line and color, a greater technician, than the average portrait painter.
Ask the average portrait painter to paint a composition of line and color, beautiful in itself without reference to any object, and not one in a hundred can do it.
The average portrait painter finds his compositions of line and color ready-made; he takes them as they come to him. He has little practice in composing for himself.
However disconcerting the exhibition was to most painters it should have been stimulating to decorators and interior furnishers.