The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1857-01-06
TAs Lies 81 Archiuscturc.

Ths Lies 81 Architecture.
To those whom love Of art has made ac-
quAinted with something Of its true spirit
and character, rho have become familiar
with the higher criticisms Of art, and the
broad principles which lie at it's foundation,
there IL no one devel opment Of it which has
more widely departed from its great central
law, concerning which the public taste s
more completely vitiatel, and which is SO
Incredibly and inexcusably corrupt and in
consistent, Is modern architecture. Every
thoughtful student Of that noblest among the
arts, knows we'll that it is almost entirely
system OF cheats, decisions, lies, violating
the sacred laws of art almost totally, from
general scope to minutest detail. And he
sees, with pain, that the public have come
to lore and prize the creations Of his pro-
fession just in proportion Is its cheats are
undsccrnble, and its lies are beyond the
detection Of ordinary examination, Just as
We prize Robinson Crusoe, because the tale
10 80 inimitably told that we can hardly be
persuaded that it 10 not true for instance
men used to set up statues in their temples
aud palaces; but when taste declined, and
She builders were too poor to purchase a
statue, they painted one; and they painted
il SO perfect that they thought il answered
their purpose admirably. BY and by they
came to paint them almost entirely: il
seemed . useless expense to buy statuary
when it could be painted so cheaply, and
the lie was set up and passed of for the
thing itself. And yet what difTeren. i. this
from gilt jewelry, horse-jocky tricks, and
the whole brood of Satan's children Nav.
% much have the people learned to prize
these falsehoods Of brick, and mortar. and
wood, and stucco, and paint, that he sees al
most Gil OF HIS profession following it as a
means Of livelihood, and so desiring to sui,
she public taste,-to pander To it) without
really an accurate and just idea OF the pri.
mary principles of the art which thew ara an.
gagged 10, 30 that clear and indisputable
statement Of it would startle them almost a.
much ~ the public at large. Consequently
We see in these days no new STYLES arch;tec.
ture, no fresh inventions which bear the Ian :,
evidence Of permanence in their character.
Everything is imitation, or fraud. And there
can be nothing new and great which !, not
true, and consistent; which does not begin
where other styles that are great and dura.
ois,--the styles that we imitste,-haye be-
gum. And yet these facts which we have
stated are true, tried by the highest author-
i'aes OF art. They are the declarations and
unanimous agreement Of the greatest artists
snd the profoundest critics in art. Let y.
appeal to one.
Nuskin, IN his Seven Lamps OF Architect
are, has chapter entitled The Lamn ~
Truth, in which he dwells on that iaea a..
connected with architecture, in cros, and in
Detail, in the light Of history and observation
BY 1t he endeavors to accoun, for the dac,;na
and death Of medieval architecture. which
ne considers to have found its highest deve,.
opment in the ventian Gothic OF the fou,.
'eenth century. of that chapter we make
the following synopsis:
Art requires that architecture be wholly
perfect in its integrity, and in no mannsr .,
sense pretend to be what it is not, or to sur-
gest an Inference different from the fact.
All deceits, such as the suggestion of n SIM.
port different from the true one the grain
Ing or eoloring Of one wood 80 as 10 rerre.
sent another; the imitation of marble. iron
etc.; the employment of cast or machine.
made ornaments, which suggest in their in.
tncacies OF form degree Of labor not actin
ally expended; the painting of surfaces so
as TO represent ornaments in relief or sculn.
lure; these and all things analogous 10 them
tend to degrade art, corrupt the taste. and
ouii the moral sense. All things in areh;.
lecture should be xhAs they seem: and what.
ever, screened from sight, the form and ma.
sare Of which is indicated, plainly or infer
ensiaity, by anything which the eye can res,
upon, should be precisely the thing indicated
and ~ thoroughly finished and carefully con
stracted - though it we're in sight. Thi,
idea Is traced and illustrated in the his,or,
OF nedieval architecture, which, having vi
olafed it. truth, lost its unity, was over
wheimed withennovation, and died. SPEAK
ing OF the one great error in Gothic srchi
tecture,-the idea Of ductility and psnetra
bility, contrary 70 the nature Of the mster;a
employed, ~ for instance the employment O
Forms in stone which suggest the idea q
being woven, and when mouldnss meet. IN
illusion Of their passing through each other
the author says, "From that one surrcn
der OF its integrity, from that one endeavo,
TO assume the semblanes Of what it was no,
arose the multitudinous forms Of diseas
and decrepitude which rotted away the pillar
OF Its supremacy"
IHr hscE ros ls60.--Douglas and Brigh
are understood to have entered the field 20
the prize Of the Black Democratic nomina
ton in 1900. Whichever is beaten in TIM
ambition by the other, will be spared In
modification Of defea, before the peonle.
II IS questionable which will be likely TO b
the most grasiGed, in the end. The Office o
chlef-tool Of the niger breeders is to be va
Gated With the close Of the present term.
srED.-The editors OF the jasper count,