Time & Perspective Quote by Ralph Allen

There is a quiet power play tucked inside Allen's polite-sounding comparison. By framing one setting as "rather technical" and the university as a place "where art theory is very important", he draws a line between two kinds of authority: the hand and the mind, the workshop and the lecture hall. The sentence reads like neutral recollection, but its intent is evaluative. "Rather technical" lands as faintly diminishing, as if technique is necessary but insufficient; "very important" elevates theory to the status of cultural capital.

Coming from a politician, this is less a curriculum note than a status map. Allen is signaling what counted as legitimacy in his world: not just producing art, but being able to justify it in the language of ideas. That distinction mattered in the 18th century, when academies and universities were helping to professionalize taste and turn culture into a system that could be taught, policed, and used to sort people. Theory doesn't just explain art; it creates gatekeepers.

Then he pivots: "The teachers were renowned artists and among the best of that time". It's a credibility patch, and it reveals the tension he can't ignore. Even if the institution skewed technical, it still commanded prestige because fame travels better than pedagogy. The subtext is pragmatic: institutions may argue about ideals, but reputations decide what students trust, what patrons fund, and what histories remember. Allen is recording education as politics by other means.