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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hocking, Shanna A., author.

Title: One bold move a day : meaningful actions women can take to
fulfill their leadership and career potential / Shanna A. Hocking.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York : McGraw Hill, [2023] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022030511 (print) | LCCN 2022030512 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781264278077 (hardback) | ISBN 9781264278084 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Leadership in women. | Career development. | Self-
confidence. | Self-actualization (Psychology)
Classification: LCC HD6054.3 .H63 2023 (print) | LCC HD6054.3
(ebook) | DDC 658.4/092—dc23/eng/20220908
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 For my mom,

Thank you for all the times growing up

when you sat next to me

while I was stuck in my writing.

You always believed in me.

This is for you.

 Contents

Introduction
CHAPTER 1 Bold Mindset Shifts
CHAPTER 2 Believe in Yourself
CHAPTER 3 Achieving Your Goals
CHAPTER 4 Advance Your Career
CHAPTER 5 The Power of Uplifting Others
CHAPTER 6 Invest in Yourself
CHAPTER 7 Lead from Where You Are
CHAPTER 8 Grow as a Leader
CHAPTER 9 Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For
CHAPTER 10 Your Bold Move Community
CONCLUSION Putting Your Bold Move Mindset to the Test
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
 Introduction

Who do you want to become?

That’s a pretty big question, but the good news is you don’t have
to know the answer to that just yet. After all, this question is likely
why you’re here.
Looking back to where I started, I was desperate for someone to
show me how to advance in my career, develop as a leader, and
grow as a person, so I listened to anyone willing to share advice and
read every business and personal development book I could get my
hands on.
I pursued my dream career and life, learned from many
mistakes, and celebrated many successes. Along the way, I also
ended up with a strong network and large bookshelf. But something
was still missing. I kept searching for a roadmap that showed me it
was okay to be ambitious, that being grateful and wanting more
wasn’t a paradox, and that I wasn’t alone.
That’s where my idea to start taking one Bold Move a day began.
I decided it was time to achieve what I had never thought was pos
sible for myself—and did that with a challenge and a reminder that I
needed to put myself out there and follow through, though I will
admit that this wasn’t concrete or conscious at first.
Over time, that changed. I realized that the more intentional I
was with this commitment to myself to make one Bold Move a day,
even if it was the smallest step in the direction I wanted to go, the
stronger, more confident, more compassionate, and more successful
I was—and it inspired others. And the easier it became to truly
celebrate my progress, too.
Today, as a leadership consultant and philanthropic advisor who
spent 20 years raising hundreds of millions of dollars and leading
large teams in multibillion-dollar nonprofit organizations, I want to
share everything I’ve learned up to this point (often the hard way)
with you.
One Bold Move a Day is the book I had been looking for all this
time—and I hope it can be your missing link to create the success
you and I both know is possible for you.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO MAKE ONE BOLD

MOVE A DAY?
When you think about Bold Moves, you might be thinking BOLD
MOVES.
Yes, a Bold Move can be something you do that merits an all-
caps text to a friend. But the reality is a Bold Move isn’t always
going to be something as significant as moving to a new city or
taking a new job. Your one Bold Move might be asking for the server
to bring the mustard you wanted instead of quietly wishing they
had. Or maybe it’s saying hello to a person you pass on the street. It
might be speaking up in a meeting, disagreeing with someone more
senior than you, or negotiating your salary to get paid what you’re
worth.
A Bold Move is one that challenges you to grow. Sometimes it’s
about capitalizing on an opportunity, and sometimes it’s about
creating that opportunity for yourself. A Bold Move might look like a
radical shift in your life, or it might be barely noticeable to others.
Bold Moves can happen at work or at home, in friendships,
relationships, and even in loving yourself.
Thinking about your Bold Move may make your heart beat a little
quicker—and there’s likely a voice in your head that tells you not to
do it, and that’s okay. Making a Bold Move requires intentionality,
courage, and follow-through.
A Bold Move for you might not be the same as someone else’s.
No one gets to judge your Bold Move and whether it’s good enough.
Including you. You have to face the fear you’re feeling and learn to
do things while you’re afraid.
With each Bold Move, you’ll grow stronger, more confident, and
more compassionate. And you’ll inspire others, sometimes in ways
you’ll never know and other times in ways you’ll be grateful to
discover. No matter the case, you deserve to achieve your goals. You
deserve to advance your career. You deserve great things. And you
have the power to do all of this for yourself.
With one Bold Move a day.
It wasn’t always like this for me, though.
Early in my career, I walked into the office wearing a suit, a
smile, and ready to share all of my ideas. And share I did. I’d speak
up in meetings, comment on colleagues’ strategies, and raise my
hand for new projects. Though what I did well helped me get
promoted, it also became a magnet for other people’s opinions. I
heard the whispers behind my back, and there were plenty of
comments to my face. They were along the lines of, “Who does she
think she is?” “She shouldn’t be so out there.” “She needs to take it
down a bit.”
I internalized the commentary. It showed up in second-guessing
myself or holding back an opinion. Over time, I minimized my own
strengths in order to make others more comfortable. I didn’t even
realize I was doing this. For years. But with help from an executive
coach and loved ones, I slowly regained the power of being the best
version of myself. I learned how to work through fears and rise
anyway. I later realized other people’s reactions often had nothing to
do with me.
This is where One Bold Move a Day comes from. I wanted other
women to proudly share their best selves as they worked to achieve
their goals. You can lead yourself and others with joy through
intentionally making Bold Moves.
 ABOUT THIS BOOK
When I wrote this book for you, I wanted to support you in fulfilling
your potential both personally and professionally. Each chapter
focuses on a different priority area to help you advance your career,
grow as a person, and develop as a leader.
At the end of each chapter, you will find three Bold Moves for you
to make now, so you can apply what you’ve learned and begin to
take meaningful actions to fulfill your potential.

WHAT ONE BOLD MOVE A DAY WILL TEACH

YOU
Through this book, you will learn what is possible for yourself. You’ll
be reminded of your existing strengths and cultivate new ones.
You’ll understand that even the smallest step in the direction you
want to go will get you closer to your goals and give you courage
and energy to put yourself out there to try something new.
The reality is that sometimes the small things you do each day
will end up leading to very big things. That’s how movements get
started. You might start the first step in a project you’ve been
thinking about for years. You might make one new connection at an
event. You might support one person’s goals or get a new job.
Whatever it is, one single Bold Move can change the trajectory of
your career and your success, as long as you get started.
As for the right time? Well, there will never really be a perfect
moment. You just have to start somewhere, so why not start right
here and right now?
 1

Bold Mindset Shifts

To prepare yourself to make one Bold Move a day, it helps to get

into the right mindset—the right four mindsets, actually! The four
bold mindset shifts include:

1. Gratitude Mindset
2. And Mindset
3. Happiness Mindset
4. Progress Mindset

Each of these four mindsets individually plays a special role in

the process of continuously showing up for yourself and others.
They also represent a significant shift in how I approached my work
and life, and they will provide you with the context and
encouragement to successfully put yourself out there and follow
through.
Each mindset contributes in a different way to your success, but
they all complement each other and together they will become the
foundation to your Bold Move Mindset. Because even when your
Bold Moves create your path, things may not always turn out as
you’ve planned. There will be days when it may not even feel like
you’re moving forward, and in that case, you need to consider your
growth with the appropriate mindset. Let’s dive deeper into each of
these mindsets to know when and how each can be used.
 GRATITUDE MINDSET
I can still remember the day I walked into work and learned I was
being reorged. My job responsibilities shifted, and part of my team
was moved to another reporting line. Though, looking back now, I
see there had been a few warning signs, in the moment I felt
completely caught off guard. Our team had excelled, and I had been
recognized for my leadership—but I had forgotten the importance of
proactively talking about these accomplishments and took for
granted that others were aware of what we had been doing. My first
mistake was assuming that I would be noticed if I worked hard, and
my second mistake was starting to withdraw at work, and worse,
chatting behind closed doors.
I know this was not ideal. As the leader of a team, I had even
more responsibility to help my staff members navigate this
transition, especially those who also had their jobs changed
unexpectedly. I felt like a failure for not protecting them and for not
protecting myself.
I realized I needed to do something to help regain my sense of
control of the situation.
In reading articles and books on facing change at work, I came
across many suggestions and concepts to try. One that I kept seeing
was a “gratitude list,” which I will fully admit I scoffed a bit about at
first. I didn’t think that something so simple could really help change
my life. I wasn’t one of those woo-woo people, and I was far too
realistic to see only the positive. Plus, when my work life turned
upside down, the last thing I felt was grateful. Of course, I was
grateful for my health and my family, but those things felt too
substantial for this exercise and didn’t address the problems I was
facing at work.
Despite my initial pushback, I decided to focus on being grateful
for the good things that happened each day to keep me grounded in
the moment I was in. It took me a while to get started. I had
trouble noticing the good things. One of my earliest notes included
appreciation for rain boots. Another day I was grateful for the
conversation at family dinner. As I practiced gratitude with more
intention, my notes changed to the beauty of individual moments
spent with family and friends, sharing ideas in meetings, working on
new projects, and more.
When I sat down to review my gratitude journal to write this
chapter, my tears filled my eyes when I read one entry: “I can feel
gratitude changing me.” It made me realize that it can be tough for
negative emotions to flourish when you’re consciously keeping track
of things that bring you joy.
Gratitude comes in all forms and sizes. There is no judgment if
your list includes the latte from your favorite coffee shop or an extra
delicious piece of cake. Like any Bold Move, it’s about recognizing
the moment.
If the list isn’t quite your thing, practicing gratitude can happen
in other ways. Instead of spending time to write out your personal
list, try sharing gratitude daily with others in written or verbal forms.
Plan to start each week or each day sending a note of appreciation
to tell someone how they’ve made a difference in your life. Be
specific about why you’re thankful.
If you’re thinking this all sounds a little too whimsical, research
shows gratitude increases resilience, happiness, and self-
awareness.1 It also has been found to lead to physical health
benefits, including better sleep.2 Most of the studies showed
significant positive effects of gratitude can be developed within three
months. That’s such a small part of your entire life, and yet the
effects will extend far beyond three months. To grow in your career,
these are all qualities you will need, so think of it as an investment
in your professional success.
In cultivating gratitude in my daily life, I’ve grown more
optimistic, resilient, and open to learning (and failure). It has helped
me overcome challenges in handling change on many occasions. I’ve
realized I had the tools I needed within myself. I’ve taught this to
my son, to help him create this strength in himself, too, and it’s
become part of our dinner conversations or bedtime routines.
When you feel grateful, you honor all you have and all you are.
 AND MINDSET
Here’s the thing: You can be grateful and ambitious. These are two
equally important truths, and they don’t have to exist independently.
A paradox mindset means accepting the both/and of the situation3—
meaning multiple things can be true at the same time. This is the
reality of life: things may feel competing or in tension, but you can
reframe your approach to see how they integrate. It’s what I call the
And Mindset.
The sooner you accept this paradox, the sooner you’ll thrive. In
the And Mindset, you see abundance. You believe in possibility—
including what’s possible for you. There’s space for all of us to be
successful, there’s space for all feelings, and in this magical space,
there’s innovation, grace, and learning.
When you’re stressed or overwhelmed, it’s a natural response to
see everything as zero sum. There’s only one option. There’s only
one winner. There’s only one path forward. People crave clarity and
certainty, and we unintentionally try to create it such that it over
shadows other important truths. You can get caught up in either/or
—and it will limit you.

Honor the tension that exists when two competing things feel
true.

You can find joy even in challenge.

You can love something and still be exhausted from it.

You can walk into the discomfort to get comfortable.

You can create clarity while you wade through ambiguity.

You have the power and strength to do this. It may need to be

further cultivated, and I’m here to support you.

Find the and.

 While you seek it, remember this is a process.

HAPPINESS MINDSET
Sometimes while you pursue goals, it’s easy to get caught up in the
results. You tell yourself: if I just do a little more, go a little farther,
work a little harder, I’ll reach the desired outcome. In this hustle,
you might even lose sight of what you’re working toward. I know I
have.
This goes all the way back to childhood for me. I can distinctly
remember conversations with my mother where I’d plot the next
student leader role I wanted or a project I should take on, even
when my days were already packed with a full roster of activities. I
often looked ahead, working toward the next big thing. Though my
mother always made sure to remind me that she was proud of me,
in each conversation she would add, “Remember to have fun.” I
tried to take her words to heart, though usually I waited to celebrate
until after the task was finished or the goal was completed. It wasn’t
lost on me that most of my friends’ parents urged them to achieve,
and mine told me to have fun. I think she realized she didn’t need to
push me because I pushed myself hard enough. Looking back, I
remember far less about the goals I planned—which seemed so
important to me at the time—than her gentle encouragement. She
had already learned happiness doesn’t come from reaching a goal.
To my mom, joy came from celebrating the moment you were in.
This hustle continued as I entered the working world. I was
motivated to exceed every goal, whether to prove to others or
myself that I could. It felt great to make something happen as a
result of my efforts and be recognized for it, which felt even better.
This was how I defined success, and therefore happiness. The cycle
continued—except it didn’t always. When I didn’t meet my goals, it
gutted me. And sometimes even when I did meet them, I didn’t
acknowledge what I had accomplished because I was too busy
working toward the next goal. I kept racing to the proverbial top of
the mountain thinking that’s where I would find happiness. But the
problem was when I got there, I sometimes found that what I
thought was the top was really only the middle of that mountain.
Never mind the fact that I thought there were always more
mountains to climb. Living like this meant being in a perpetual state
of “not enough.”
Getting out of this trap is crucial to your success, not to mention
your emotional and personal well-being. If this feels like something
you do, start to make a change by stopping yourself from equating
reaching your goals to happiness.
Think about this. Do you tell yourself, “After I reach that goal,
then I’ll be happy”? If you do, there are some hard truths you need
to come to accept. First, your goals may change. You also won’t
always meet them. You’re more than your outcomes. And when you
make happiness contingent on your success, you’re inadvertently
postponing your own joy. You deserve to be happy. Right. Now.
Happiness is a mindset. It comes from where you focus your
attention and how you approach whatever your current reality is. I
like to think of myself as a rational optimist, which means
realistically assessing a situation and believing you can make a real
difference. It’s knowing that you can create clarity in ambiguity. I
want to be clear this approach doesn’t mean that you’re naive or
overly optimistic; instead, it means you can see challenges as
possibilities.

PROGRESS MINDSET
Once you realize happiness leads to success and not the other way
around, it doesn’t necessarily mean you need to slow down in
pursuing your goals. Instead, you’ll have to be far more purposeful
to give yourself pause in order to grow—and that’s where our final
mindset comes in: Progress Mindset.
Think about it: when you’re so focused on your next
accomplishment, you forget how hard you worked to get where you
are. Before you move on to the next thing, first recognize your
preparation and learning. The journey matters, and it’s more
meaningful when you recognize the steps you took. It’s about
believing in your own abilities, knowing you have the capacity to
improve, and honoring what you did to get to this point.
Learning to celebrate progress has fundamentally shifted how I
lead myself and others—and it’s also become one of my greatest
joys. Now I see every day as an opportunity to appreciate how far
I’ve come—and it can be for you, too. I mean, who doesn’t love a
good celebration?
You can start by jotting down a note in your calendar each day
about a win you had. By the end of the week, you’ll have a list of
wins. These tiny victories add up over time. You can also find ways
to remind yourself of what you did to get to where you are today.
When I was a development intern in college, a mentor, Beth,
brought me a plain manila folder that she called an “AttaGirl” folder.
She said it was for keeping track of the notes and accolades I
received, and I should look back through the folder on tough days.
Though unsure why this would be important, I trusted her wisdom
and dutifully took the folder, and this practice has become incredibly
important to me as I’ve progressed throughout my career.
Over time, I’ve created email and paper versions of this folder.
They are filled with my formal offer letter for my first job in
fundraising, the envelope from the first seven-figure charitable gift I
closed, notes from bosses recognizing my efforts, and cards from
colleagues cheering me on, among other things.
On the days you make a mistake or get rejected, it’s easy to
forget the many things you have accomplished and how you have
helped others. The simple act of reviewing the folder and rereading
the notes provides you with the reinforcement to keep going, try
again, learn from the experience, and refocus on the big picture.
Today, it just takes knowing that the folder exists to motivate me.
When I packed up my office during the pandemic to transition to
fully remote work, it was one of my most prized office possessions.
 Even when you’ve developed strategies to work through things
over time, you’ll likely still have moments where former tendencies
emerge. There have been a few (okay, more than a few) times in
adulthood where my mom still had to lightly remind me to have fun
and be in the moment. Because you’re committed to the journey,
you can accept this learning with self-compassion.

MY MOMENT OF REALIZATION
When I think back through the rejections I received throughout my
career, one in particular has stayed with me all these years. I had
my eye on a job managing young alumni fundraising for a university
I had strong affinity for (though I hadn’t attended). As a recent
graduate who was passionate about helping others find the joy in
philanthropy, I felt this was the perfect job for me. I made it to the
final interview round, and ultimately, they selected someone else. I
remember feeling brokenhearted that this had been my chance, and
I missed it. Then I learned the woman who got the job (I’ll call her
Laura) had several years of experience already, she was an alumna,
and on top of all that, she seemed to have it all together. While
Laura seemed perfect for the job (and really, in life), I felt less great
about myself.
Even after I found a job and moved away, I still randomly
thought about how I had missed the perfect opportunity and Laura
had gotten it. It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but I would follow
her career and secretly compare our progress against each other,
too.
Imagine my surprise when I went to a professional development
conference a few years later and saw Laura’s name on the attendee
list. During a break, I worked up the courage to introduce myself. I
wanted to dislike her, to confirm she didn’t have real experience and
I really should have been the one to get the job all those years ago,
but in reality, Laura was well spoken, knowledgeable about our
industry, and kind. Instead of hating her, I wanted to be her. I
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 Lack of technical skill—Why art flourished in the
Seventeenth Century with Rembrandt, Rubens, and
Velasquez—The decorative in modern art—
Revision of technical methods by Millet, Manet, and
Monet—Advance of painting with new discoveries—
The spontaneity of art—Materials and the craftsman
in literary art—Absence of the decorative in Walt
Whitman and Holman Hunt—The lasting value of
the decorative—The “Venus of Milo” and Titian’s
“Sacred and Profane Love”—And Shakespeare
again

Chapter VI. Subject in Painting.—Art for the artist— 139

The voice of the public in the work of art—The old
masters working for the Church—Various views of
art held by artists—Partisan views and their
advocates—Extravagant views in literature—Mr.
Whistler on painting—Advocates of the decorative
only—The meaning of pictures again—The subject
cannot be omitted—Mr. Whistler’s marines
—“Patriotism” in painting—Velasquez, Rembrandt,
Frans Hals all show it—All painting must illustrate
something—Historical painting—Whistler and Monet
illustrating the social history of their time—The
illustrative quality of Italian art—Whistler’s “White
Girl” vs. Palma Vecchio’s “Santa Barbara”—The
Dutch as subject painters—The historical
landscapes of Claude and Turner—The story in
painting—Titian’s “Sacred and Profane Love” once
more—The silly incident and the degradation of
painting—How the old masters worked upon given
subjects—The subject in the “Sistine Madonna”—
The subject in painting to be treated illustratively—
Catholicity of taste—Education—Many elements
united in “great art”—Conclusion
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Palma Vecchio, St. Barbara Frontispiece

(Detail).

PAGE

I. Holbein, Portrait of a Man, 8

II. Benozzo Gozzoli, Adoration of 12

Kings (Detail),

III. Van Dyck, Cornelius van der 16

Geest,

IV. Millet, the Gleaners, 20

V. Paolo Veronese, Marriage in 24

Cana,

VI. Carpaccio, St. Ursula and Prince 28

of England (Detail),

VII. Bellini, Madonna and Saints, 36

VIII. Correggio, Mystic Marriage of 40

 St. Catherine,

IX. Corot, Landscape, 48

X. Dürer, Christ on the Cross, 56

XI. Turner, the Fighting Téméraire, 64

XII. Antonello da Messina, Portrait 70

of a Man,

XIII. Velasquez, Innocent X., 74

XIV. Paolo Veronese, Venice 80

Enthroned,

XV. Tintoretto, Miracle of the 84

Slave,

XVI. Daubigny, Spring, 88

XVII. Benozzo Gozzoli, Adoration of 92

Kings (Detail),

XVIII. Van Dyck, Jean Grusset 96

Richardot,

XIX. Gainsborough, Mrs. Siddons, 100

XX. Gérôme, Napoleon before the 104

Sphinx,

XXI. Michael Angelo, Delphic Sibyl, 108

 XXII. Hals, The Jolly Man, 116

XXIII. Bonifazio Veronese, Moses 120

Saved from the Nile,

XXIV. Giorgione, Madonna and Saints, 128

XXV. Reynolds, Lady Cockburn and 132

Family,

XXVI. Claude Lorraine, Flight into 136

Egypt,

XXVII. Tintoretto, Marriage in Cana, 140

XXVIII. Raphael, Sistine Madonna, 148

XXIX. Botticelli, Allegory of Spring, 152

XXX. Poussin, Shepherds in Arcadia, 156

THE MEANING OF PICTURES
THE MEANING OF PICTURES
 CHAPTER I

TRUTH IN PAINTING

Those people who go out into the highways of art crying, Haro!
Haro! in the name of realism, would certainly gain their cause could
numbers give them a verdict. They have always been in evidence;
they have always made themselves heard. There never was a time
when the mob was not hungry for realities, when artists were not
harping upon “truth to nature,” when critics were not concerned
about “the realistic tendencies of the age.” The interest in things as
things and the art that hinges upon facts as facts were from the
beginning. For did not Apelles paint horses so realistically that other
horses neighed at the sight of the picture? And did not Zeuxis
deceive the birds with his painted grapes, and was not he himself
deceived in turn by the painted curtain of Parrhasios? Admitting the
stories to be greatly exaggerated, does not their very existence
prove the liking for the realistic motive?
Indeed, the Greeks were accounted very good realists in the days
of their late power. The Pergamon frieze, the “Samothracian Victory,”
the “Dying Gaul” give the proof. And in earlier times they modelled
and chiselled the Parthenon marbles so true to life that William
Hazlitt based a theory of art upon them, maintaining that the aim of
art was the imitation of nature and the finest art was simply the
imitation of the finest nature. It was the realistic Roman marbles,
founded upon those of Greece, that gave the first breath of
inspiration to the painters of Italy. The Renaissance nature-study that
went hand in hand with the study of the Greek was largely to enable
the painters to reveal the model more completely, to draw a leg or
arm or face more exactly, to place figures in an atmospheric
envelope, to reproduce a likeness of the landscape background. If
we examine the works of Fra Filippo, Botticelli, or Mantegna, we
shall find that there was more of the earthly in their painting than the
mystic face of the Madonna or the religious pathos of saints would
disclose. They were intent upon the reality before them and evidently
for the reality’s sake. They delighted in drawing a foot and placing it
firmly upon the ground, in giving bulk, body, and weight to the figure,
in painting flowers, leaves, and fruits with precision, in adjusting the
exact relations of light-and-shade, in catching the right tone of color.
It was all a close following of the model—a representation of nature
itself or as near to it as they could attain.
But the Dutch painters of the seventeenth century were far more
rigid sticklers for the fact than the Italians. Their work was essentially
a portrait of Holland and its people, as Fromentin has said, wherein
faithfulness to the model was a primary consideration. From Hals
and Rembrandt down to Van Mieris and Schalken every Dutchman
considered an object as a plastic fact—a something not to be juggled
with, but to be rendered as truthfully as possible. Indeed, it was the
Dutchmen who set the pace for all the moderns in what is called
realism. It was the five days upon a lady’s hand—a day to each
finger—of Gerard Dou that suggested the ten days to a shoe-buckle
of Meissonier. All the modern contingent of genre painters and
students of still-life who paint things that “stand out” are but a growth
from the Dutch. The tradition has been handed down unimpaired,
losing none of its ancient positiveness, but rather gaining some
latter-day exactness in the process of transmission.
For just now realism in art seems more of a desideratum than
ever. And from the way the word “truth” is bandied about studio and
gallery, one might think it the only thing worth having in artistic
equipment. But we need not necessarily become either brow-beaten
or bewildered by all this volume of talk about the real. For, bluntly
stated, there is no such thing as absolute realism in art. The “real” is
nature itself, and “truth” is merely the report of nature made by man.
Some cattle and horses standing under a tree in a meadow are a
reality, and your description or report of the scene, either in words,
lines, or colors, would be the truth of the scene—that is, provided
your description was accurate. Under no circumstances is the report
made by producing the real things in evidence. It is practically
impossible to do that in art. Any close attempt at doing it, or
misleading one into thinking he sees reality, generally results in
absurdity or repulsiveness. What, for instance, could be more
hideous than the wax figure in the museum? Or what more dull than
the modern battle-panorama where dummy-figures and painted
figures mingle to make up the scene?
Art is far removed from such attempts. Instead of producing the
real it merely implies or suggests the real by certain signs and
symbols which we have agreed among ourselves to recognize as its
equivalent. If, for instance, we attempt to bring to the mind of another
the thought of water we do not get a glassful of it and place it upon
the table to show what we mean. We simply say or write “water”—a
word of five letters which bears no likeness or resemblance whatever
to the original, yet brings the original to mind at once. This is the
linguistic sign for water. The chemical sign for it, H2O, is quite as
arbitrary, but to the chemist it means water again. And only a little
less arbitrary are the artistic signs for it. The old Egyptian conveyed
his meaning by drawing a zigzag up or down the wall; Turner in
England often made the few horizontal scratches of a lead pencil do
duty for it; and in modern painting we have some blue paint touched
with high lights to represent the same thing. None of these signs
attempts to produce the original or has any other meaning than to
suggest the original. They are signs which have meanings for us
only because we agree to understand their meanings beforehand.
Now this agreement to understand the sign is what might be called
the recognition of the convention. All art is in a measure
conventional, arbitrary—unreal if you please. Everyone knows that
Hamlet in real life would not talk blank verse with his latest breath.
The drama (and all poetry for that matter) is an absurdity if you insist
upon asking: Is it natural? It is not natural; it is very artificial. And
unless you accept the artificial as symbolizing the natural, unless you
recognize the convention of metre and rhyme, you are not in a
position to appreciate verse. The name of those who “do not care for
poetry” is legion, because they have not the proper angle of vision,
because they are out of focus. And this is equally true of music.
Tristan and Isolde singing their loves at each other is sheer insanity
from a realistic standpoint. Everyone knows that love in real life may
do a good deal of sighing and sobbing, but it does not burst forth into
song. The opera is a most palpable convention, and the flow of
music, which so beautifully suggests the depths of passion and the
heights of romance, is but an arbitrary symbol of reality. Recognize
this and you have taken the first step toward the understanding of
art; fail to recognize it and art must always be a closed book to you.
You will not perceive the artist’s intention.
As a matter of fact we all do accept the convention in one form or
another. If a child standing at the blackboard should draw a horse
with four chalk-lined legs and a chalk-lined body and head we should
have no trouble in making it out as a horse. And should we know it
as a horse because of its truth to nature? Is a horse flat, hairless,
colorless, shadowless? And has he a chalk line about him? Not at
all. The representation is but a sign or symbol which we have agreed
to recognize as a horse. It is a child’s representation, and it differs
from a painter’s representation of the same animal largely in the
matter of trained skill and imaginative conception. The fine portraits
of Holbein—than which there is nothing finer in painting—have that
same rim about them (Plate 1). We call it Holbein’s “clear outline,”
but it is substantially the same thing. And the etched landscapes of
Rembrandt—what could you have more arbitrary? Merely a few lines
drawn with a swift hand, a few scratches in a copper plate to
represent sunlight, and some cross-hatchings to represent shadow;
but how quickly we recognize their meanings! If you will look closely
at the wood engravings of Timothy Cole you will see the modelling of
the faces brought out sometimes by long, waving, diagonal lines,
sometimes by dots and sometimes by checks and squares. Again
could anything be more conventional? But we have no trouble in
making out the artist’s intention. We accept the convention from the
start.
 So it is that we do not necessarily grasp the intention by the
fulness or elaborateness of the sign. The painter, from long
experience, from being more expert of hand, is perhaps better able
to exploit the sign than is the child; but we do not fail in
understanding the meaning of the childish outline. There is a
difference in sign making, to be sure, and that may make a great
difference in art; but there is little or no difference in the intention—
the meaning of the sign. The flat figures upon the Greek vases are
not quite like the outlined figures of Raphael and Ingres, and still less
like the figures of Manet; but they are all signs nevertheless. Manet
used the patch of color instead of the rim or outline, which is
supposed to be a very fetching piece of realism; but none of the
representations is to be mistaken for reality. The real is one thing;
the sign or symbol for it, quite another thing.
What then is realism in art—this drawing of eyes that follow you
about the room, lips that seem parted as if to speak, and hands that
you could shake? What is this painting of pots and pans to be picked
up, and cows that walk out of the canvas? Can we not define it as
merely the adding-to, the rounding, the perfecting of the sign? Is it
anything more than the telling of all the truths, both great and small,
so that the veriest dunce in conventions shall not fail to recognize
them?
I.—HOLBEIN, Portrait of a Man. Belvedere, Vienna.
 To revert to our former illustrations, perhaps Ingres’s rigid outline
contains less truth—less important truths—than Manet’s color patch.
Why? Because the figure in full light really has no rim about it. It
looks more like a patch of color relieved against other colors. The rim
or outline is childish, primitive, and originally came, not from a direct
study of the model but from studying the model’s shadow or
silhouette. People of childish intelligence, like the Egyptian fellaheen,
for instance, understand it very readily because of its simplicity and
its arbitrary utterance; but the more complex sign that deals with
sunshine rather than the flattened shadow contains the greater truth.
Therefore as regards the whole truth there is more of it in Manet’s
figure than in Ingres’s. Additions to the sign, such as effects of light-
and-shade, of color, of surface texture, of contour, may tell us more
about the object and add to the sum of truth and the perfection of the
sign; and yet these may not change in any way the significance of
the sign. The most elaborate human being that a Meissonier could
paint would still be only the individual symbol of a man, and in that
respect would not be different from the incised outline of Rameses
the Great upon a Theban wall.
You will understand, of course, that there are painters who use the
sign to convey a meaning—use it as one might words and
sentences. Millet, in writing to a friend, said: “All art is a language
and language is made to express thoughts.” Of that I shall have
something to say later; but just now I wish to call your attention to the
fact that the realist does not agree with Millet, that he is not
concerned with ulterior meanings, that in fact he rather despises
them. For realism, broadly speaking, means a pot for a pot’s sake, or
a cow for a cow’s sake, which is to say a sign for a sign’s sake. The
Gerard Dous and the Meissoniers rather plume themselves upon
being expert sign-makers. Their art usually goes no farther than
excellent craftsmanship. They draw and paint skilfully, decoratively,
telling everything about the model before them, from an eyelash to a
boot-strap; and there they stop. They give forth an official report
which may be true enough from their point of view and yet contain
not an idea worth the contemplating, not a thought worth the
thinking. But that does not in any way disturb the poise of the realist.
He is ready to answer you that “beauty is truth and truth beauty”—an
aphorism that sounds like argument and yet is only assumption. But
let us look into the matter a little farther and ask: What is the truth
which they claim to have? Is it the vital truth or the only truth, and are
there not varieties, grades, and degrees of truth in painting as in the
other departments of art and life? I have no wish to deny that
realism, so-called, makes up one kind of art; but let us push our
inquiry farther afield and find out if possible what is the basis of the
realistic picture.
“Truth,” we have already affirmed, “is the report of nature made by
man.” We may cast out the child’s report about the horse because it
is incomplete, immature. It is made up of all the errors of the
untrained hand and eye, and though it has a certain personality
about it, and gives us a child’s idea of a horse, yet it cannot be
considered as an entirely truthful record. The report of the camera, if
it be true or false we do not know. Light flashes and the horse’s
silhouette is instantly caught and fixed upon the plate; but I need not
tell you that light does not flash into the human eye, and the
silhouette is not instantly fixed upon the human retina in the same
way. Nor need I tell you that eyes vary more widely in the way they
see than do cameras. Which then tells the truth? That the camera
always records the same does not prove that it always records truly.
It may always record falsely. At least the human eye sees differently
from the camera, and the ultimate decision as to truth must be
referred back to the eye. It may not be an infallible register, but it is
the best we have. For all human knowledge must base itself upon
human sensation.
The horse of the child being incomplete and that of the camera
misleading, we return to the work of the painter and ask: What of the
horse of Apelles? Can that stand as the final truth? The story of its
deceiving other horses we may put aside as pure romance, but
undoubtedly the picture was emphasized in its modelling—pushed
hard in its high lights—to make the horse “stand out.” Granted a truth
of relief and perhaps a truth of surface, are these the only truths
about the horse? And do they make the standard to which art and
artists must bow? Not necessarily. We have had hundreds of
painters since Apelles’s time who have painted hundreds of horses,
perhaps quite as true to nature as his, but never a one of them saw
or painted a horse in just the way Apelles did.
And now we are confronted with the fact that if there are many
men of many minds in this world of ours there are also many men
with many eyes. No two pairs of eyes see alike. Are we to infer then
that any one pair of eyes or any one race or its school of painters
sees truth and all the others see only error? Is truth on one side of
the Alps and falsehood on the other? Titian in Italy made a different
report of nature from Rembrandt in Holland—which told the truth?
Does truth abide exclusively in the Orient or the Occident? A
landscape in Japan by Hokousai, how very different from a Seine
landscape by Daubigny! But is either of them false? And after all
does not something of truth—I do not say the whole of it—consist in
the fidelity with which the point of view is maintained? We must
cultivate liberality in this matter. For Creation ordained that there
should be a Babel of eyes, all seeing differently, and consequently
there must be a standard of truth peculiar to each individual.
II.—BENOZZO GOZZOLI, Adoration of Kings (detail). Riccardi Palace, Florence.
 Does “truth to nature” then mean to each man what his eyes tell
him and to each painter what the sincerity of his make-up enables
him to record? Yes, certainly; but, mind you, it may be a very limited
truth, not necessarily an absolute truth, not a world-embracing truth
applicable to all classes and conditions of men. The child with his
chalk-lined horse may be maintaining his childish point of view with
the utmost fidelity, but it is apparent from his drawing that he does
not fully comprehend his subject, does not see the object in its
entirety. The horses by Spinello Aretino, shown in his Campo Santo
pictures at Pisa, are not very different from the child’s conception.
They contain more truths without by any means being exhaustive.
They are still crude, but true enough as regards the maintenance of
the point of view. The fine horses of Benozzo Gozzoli, in the Riccardi
palace fresco (Plate 2), are an improvement upon those of Spinello
without being complete, and the Gattamelata horse of Donatello, the
Colleoni of Verrocchio, may make us enthusiastic about the special
truth of their pushing power, and again not make a full report of the
horse. Perhaps when we reach the height of realism and come to a
horse as seen by Gérôme or Rosa Bonheur we are not so pleased
with it as with Benozzo’s square-framed beast; but that may be for a
cause which we shall discuss hereafter. The completeness of the
truth, the fulness of the report, may not be denied, however
wearisome it may be as art.
Now we must add to this individuality, which everyone possesses
in measure and which must warp the vision somewhat, a further
influence or bias which the individual takes from his race and his
country. I have already asked Pascal’s question about truth being on
one side of the Alps and error on the other side. Applied to the arts it
is pertinent to inquire: Is a Siena landscape by Pintoricchio false
because it does not look like a Vosges landscape by Courbet? Not at
all. They are both true—that is, not only true to locality but true to
that native flavor which makes a pine-tree in Japanese art look
“Japanesey” and a pine-tree in Norwegian art look Norwegian.[1]
Moreover, each landscape is true in exhibiting its time, its country,
and its race. The Pintoricchio shows the attenuated purist landscape
of the Tuscan country—the landscape admirably suited to serve as a
background for the sensitive, sentimental saints he depicted. It
speaks truly enough for a portion of Italy during the Early
Renaissance, that portion which lies in the Tuscan country; but it
goes no farther. Giovanni Bellini at Venice was Italian, too; but he
was at this very time producing quite a different landscape—one that
spoke for the mountainous country lying to the north of Venice, but
not for Tuscany. The landscape by Courbet is not so limited. It is
nineteenth-century work and has the advantage of the great advance
made in landscape work since the Renaissance; and yet no one
could fail to see that it was French, that it depicted a French country
in a French way. With all its large truth of appearance it shows its
localized Parisian point of view. To be sure Paris in Courbet’s day
was very cosmopolitan. His vision was broader, his grasp of truths
greater than the sculptor who carved, in bas-relief, Sargon feasting
with his wives; but nevertheless the local truths of France and of
Assyria are each apparent in each.
1. “If we will take the trouble to look at the wood-cuts illustrative of some given
celebrity as they appear in the illustrated newspapers of various nations, we
shall see that, though copied very mechanically from the same photograph,
Mr. Gladstone becomes a Frenchman in France, a Spaniard in Spain, and,
though less visible to us, in the same way the Continental, the Spaniard, or
the Frenchman becomes English in the engraving of an English magazine.
Even in the handling of the tool called the graver which cuts the wood there
is, then, a nationality.”—John La Farge, in International Monthly, Nov., 1900.

Is every artist then biassed in his conception of truth by his race

and age; and is every art significant of its environment? Certainly.
Thus far in the world’s history all art has been provincial—expressive
at least of a nationality if not of a locality. The art of Holland in the
sixteenth century never travelled beyond the dikes and dunes except
in the case of a genius like Rembrandt. As a truth for universal
application a roystering party by Jan Steen would go no farther to-
day than a garden party under the cherry blossoms by Hiroshighe.
Both are peculiarly provincial and belong in their own lands with their
own peoples. Outside of their own countries they meet with
appreciative understanding only from the artistic few. A century ago
no one in the Anglo-Saxon or Teutonic world cared very much for
Dutch art, and not fifty years ago Japanese art was regarded as little
more than an interesting absurdity because of its unfamiliar
perspective. Neither of them at this day has any world-wide reach.
They have not travelled to us, but the cosmopolitan art-lover has
gone out and discovered them. Transportation may eventually make
us all cosmopolitan—make all art kin; but it has not done so as yet.
Of course all painting is not so strictly local as the pictures of Jan
Steen and Hiroshighe would suggest. A work of art, in subject and in
method, appeals more strongly perhaps to its own people than to
any other—an Osiris to an Egyptian, a Zeus to a Greek, and a
Madonna to a Christian. But the carved Buddha, seated with crossed
legs, open palms, and a vacant stare into space appeals only to a
Buddhist. It will not travel elsewhere except as a curio. Nor will the
Osiris or the Madonna go very far. But what of a Zeus! what of a
Hermes by Praxiteles! what of the Greek ideal! Have they not a
universal quality about them—a grasp of universal truths—that carry
them beyond the frontier lines of Hellas? Think for a moment of the
“Venus of Milo.” Has it not something supremely true about it that a
person of any nationality cannot choose but see? And think for a
moment of the “Ariadne” of Tintoretto. Again is there not something
here that compels the admiration of the Asiatic as well as the
European and the American? There is individual and local and racial
truth in all these works, but there is also universal truth—truth
applicable to all humanity.