Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1843-07-22
From The Democratic Reriem for Jnfpl
REMARKS ON AMERICAN ART.
ny upRATto "GRffNuuGrt

ny ItpRArto GREENotGtt,
Tho susceptibility, The tastes, and The GO
MUS which enable u people TO enjoy the
Fine Arts and TO excel in them, have beer
denied TO tho Anglo Americans. not only
by European takers, but by European
thinkers. The assertion for our inefieion
cy and obtuseness in this respect, has beer
ignorantly and prcsumptuonsly act lorit
BY some persons, merely 10 fill up tho moa
sure Of Our condemnation. Others have
arrived at the same conclusion, after exa.
mining our political and social character
after investigating our exploits md testing
our capacities. They admit that we tradt
with enterprise and skill, that we buiIt
ships cupningly and sail them well. tha'
we have a quick and far. sighted a%pprehon
sion of the value of u territory. That We
make wholesome homespun laws for its 60
vernment, and TIM, we fight hard when mo
lestel in one of these homely exercises ol
our ability but they assoft that there is
II stubborn, anti. poetical tendency in al
TINT we do, or say, or think they attri.
bute our very excellence in the ordinary
business Of life, TO causes which must pre-.
vent our development as artists.
Enjoying the accumulated result of the
thought and labor of centuries, Europe has
witnessed our struggles with tho hardships
of an unframed continent, and tho disad,
| vantages of colonial relations, with but n
partial appreciation of what we aim at,
with but on imperfect knowledge of what
we have done. Seeing us intently occu'
pied during several generations in telling
forests, in building towns. and constructing
roads, she thence formed u theory lint We
are good for nothing except these pioneer
efforts. She tainted us, because there were
no statues or ~frescoos in our log.cabins
she pronounced MS unmusical, because we
did not sit down in the swamp with an In.
dian on one side, and n ratt!e.snako on
tho other, TO play tho violin. That she
should triumph over tho Deficiencies Of i
people who had set the example of revolt
and republicanisrn, was natural but the
reason which she assigned for those def.
c~ioneies was not the true reason. She az.
gued with tho depth and sagacity ola phi.
Iosophor who should conclude, from seeing
an infant imbibh with eagerness its first
| aliment, that its whole lifo would BIO occu,
pied in similar absorption.
Sir Walter Scott, rank tory as he was
showed more good sense, when in recon
mending an American book to Mss Edge
worth, he accounted for such a phenome
non, by saying. that people once possess
ed of a three-legged stool, soon c%ontriv,
to make an easy chair" Humble as the
| phrase is, we here perceive an expectation
on his part, that the energies now exerci
sed in laying the foundations of a mighty
empire, would in due time rear the stated,
columns of civilization, and crown The
edifice with the emblaturer of letters and O
arts. Remembering that one leg of the
American stool was planted in Maine, q
second IN Florida, and the third at The
base of the Rocky Mountains, no coule
scarce expect hat the chair shouldbecomt
an easy one in u half century.
IL is true, that before the Declaration o
Independence, copely had in Boston form
ed a style of portrait which filled Si
Joshua Reynolds with establishment !; anc
that West, breaking through the bar o
Quaker prohibition, and conquering the
prejudice against a provincial aspirant, hac
taken a high rank in the highest walk o.
art in London. Stuart, Trumbull, Aston
| Morse, Leslie, Newton, followed in quicl
succession, while Vanderlyn won COLDER
opinions at Rome, and bore away high no.
hers at Paris. So far were the citizens o.
the Republic from showing a a Of ca,
pacity for art. that We may safely affirm
that the bent Of their genius was rather
peculiarlv in that direction. since the frs
burins of Europe were employed in the ser
| vice Of the American pencil, before Irving