New inventions like the printing press and the camera threatened [the
picture-painter's] activity, however, and he was able to continue
producing pretentious pictures only by exerting a tremendous amount of
wit. He pictured the effects of phenomena in spectrum-colored light. He
distorted natural images. He painted funny-looking people and wild,
childish scenes, and played with subconscious ideals and space-time
symbols. His work recorded his personal maladjustment to life and
people, and he thought for a moment that he could adjust himself by
introducing new "subjects." He became, even, a regional and political
hero again for a day--but it was of little use, framed "picture-making"
became a lean and mean business.
from PAINTINGS AND PICTURES, 1943 lecture.