The short story collection Pictures of Fidelman contains what may be Malamud's most fully realized conception of artists and artistic matters. Malamud's reason for writing Pictures of Fidelman is the development of an artist as a true human being. The most prominent theme in PF is that of life versus art. But in an artist, life and art cannot be easily distinguished. Unable to fathom what it means to be human being, Fidelman never tastes real artistic success until the very end of the series. But it is his search for art that eventually brings him insight into life, which he should have been pursuing all along. Fidelman is an failed artist in search of the holy temple of Art. The first story, "The Last Mohican" is its focus on humanistic themes while the rest stories depend primarily upon the artistic experience. In each of his six stories Arthur Fidelman is caught on his way to an esthetic calvary. The stories are, in a sense, six comic "Station of the Cross". We can trace Fidelman's progress through these Stations.