Leon Kroll

From Philosopedia

Kroll, Leon (1884—1974)

Kroll, an eminent United States lithographer and painter, was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. One of his murals is in the Justice Department, Washington, DC, and his paintings are found in major galleries throughout the United States.

Asked about humanism in 1956, Kroll responded:

I am neither a writer nor a philosopher, and I doubt whether my idea of humanism is of general interest. However, since my life is concerned with the search for truth and beauty as an artist-painter sees it, I will comment briefly. The artist is inevitably a lover of humanity. His work is based on that emotional quality. He gives it expression in terms of form and color. This is true even from the earliest records of painting and sculpture. The artist tries to express what he feels about what he sees and create a beautiful order through this visual perception. Technical experiments, while valuable and fascinating, are not enough, since they concentrate on too limited objectives and more often than not depart from aspects of life and nature to such an extent that they become academic. From my point of view, I can see no advantage in the elimination of the recognizable object. It serves, when sufficiently plausible, as a better universal language than arbitrary abstractions. The abstract element is inevitably present in a work of art whether the work is representational or not. It requires more mastery of design, more imagination, and a broad vision of humanity and nature to include man, his aspirations, and character in a work of art than to be satisfied with the comparative aridity of the abstract as a final expression. Some cultures, such as ancient Hebraic and Moslem, forbade the use of man as subject matter in art. The result, when compared to other art of the same period, resulted in mere decoration, some of it fabulously skillful but devoid of full expression of the human spirit. To me, man is more important than the atomic age or any other scientific contribution. Ever recurrent, yet always new and wonderful.

{WAS, 25 August 1956}