The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-04-23
THE ACADEMY OF THE FIRE ARr2.
FORTY. SECOND ANNUAL EXHIBITION.


In the spring Of every year, as II IN sympathy
with the season, the wall OF our old Academy blush
and bloom again with the be-utv of art Then we
discover what our artists have been doing for the
past year. Tor here their best works are assembled.
The galleries filed with new painunq1, not
merely those of American ar ISIS, but with the
foreign PICTURES which our wealthy connolsseurs
are constantly importing. England, France, and
Germany are laid under contribution. Nowhere can
the untravelled Phladelphan study art to sucn ad-
vantage, for il is the only gallery in which the
various schools ard styles represented. The
visitor may 90 back to "the glory that was Greece,
and the grandeur that was Rome;" have at least
glimpse of the beauty of the early Italian painters;
study the Tendencies of art ia other counties,
and compare WITH all these the works OF those men
who now ma n ain and increase the reputation OF
Philadelphia. lie may see the complete colec
ton OF casts from the celebrated marbles
which Lord Elgin brought from the Parthe.
non to England in 1s1l-those mutiiated
statues before which Fusei strobe in his eothusasm,
exclaimng, The Greeks were gods The Greeks
were godsv'-of which Hayden said, 81 saw that
union OF nature and ideal perfected in heh arc, and
before this period pronounced by the alb est critics
as impossible. thanked God with all my hear,
with all my soul, and with ali my beng" No other
city in America possesses casts from the unrivaled
works OF PhIdias. Something, at least, is there of
Guido, Salvador Ro a, DOmnichino, and Michae
Angelo. OF names Distinguished in English
art are Van Dyke, Wet, Ope, LclUe.
but, strange indeed not one canvas
of Reynolds is in the gllleriesl But all the
artists who ae now considered the fathers OF Ameri
can painting are represented there-GIlbert S uart
the creates: of al, perhaps Washington Allston,
John Neage, Gnman, and Rembrandt Peae; and
after these the eminent painters now living -SuIIy
Hamilton, Rothermel, Schussele and others, who
prove that art has not de5eneratod in America
Deficient as our Academy IS in many respects. it
must be admitted that no other collection in the
country surpasses it, while in the department of casts
from the Antique it Is unequaled. To-day the spe-
cal exhibition formally opened. On Saturday
evening the private view largely attended
Most of our artists were present, and many gentle
well known for their interest in arr The ladies,
of course, were numerous-too many of them more
attractive than the pictures, and few quito well
painted. A beautiful woman should enter picture
gallery with discretion, and endeavor not to distract
the attention of the earnest student In the Gro
that filled all the galleries, aud with the short time
for examination, we could do little more than form
general idea OF the exhibition Tle critic is neither
Just to himself the artist, who judges picture
at glance.
There upwards Of five hundred works belong
ing to the Academy; besioes these, are about
three nunOIeu ana JnlIGy new WORKS, Wnlcn Will De
withdrawn when the eXhibIuon closes
We do not intend to pass over the fact that
number of prints and drawings are hung in the
Directors room which the catalogue states are "not
on exhibition" Why are they not exhibited?
What right have the rectols to retain them for
their own private enjoy ment! IT. as we suppose,
these works are the property of the Ac Ademy, they
should hang where visitors could study them.
Though we remember better exhibitions, this is
equal to the average of the last six years. and
contains many excel ent and inerestingworks in chiefly
by Philadelphia artists New York and Boston have
sent few pictures Nor the foreign contributions
numerous, though there are many pictures, from
Germany especially, that have never been on the
walls OF the Academy. Some of these are only
known the public bv their exhibition at the Great
Central Fair-the finest collection ever seen In Phi
adephia-and regret that their owners were
not more liberal The Directors of the Academy
have always had a. difficulty in obtaining the
loan of the gems of private galleries. But why
should collector hide his pictorial lights under a
busheG If it is cledable to possess fine picture,
il is more honorable to share for little while with
the art-loving public the pleasure of behoding it.
Yet best artists, after selling picture per-
haps the triumph of years labor, frequently find
the possessor unwilling to permit its exhibition.
This form of selfshness is akin to that which has
the duplicates they could find that they might boast
OF having the only copy in existence!
OF historical subjects there but few the largest
being RothermePs "Paul Preaching at Athens" No
648l. Schussele exhibits "Audrew Jackson before
Judge Hall, at New Orleans, 1916" (No. 69ll, and
Winner, "Christ and the Pharisees," mo. 724)
These the only pictures in the branch of art
generally considered the highest. That it u.s. are
not willing to concede But that the annual exhibit
ton of the leading city in American art contains but
three paintings of history, and not one of them
great is proof of the inequality with
which art is sustained In searching for
the reason of tins, 1t must be remembered
that in this country art depends upon the patronage
of the people, while in Europe for centuries, its
great pillars were Royal Governments and the
Catholic Church. To Catholicism the unriyalled
architecture of the middle ages may be said to have
owed its existence, ana to the lavish hand with
which the Church dispensed her wealth, Raphael
Michael Angelo, and Rubens, most of their fame
When Italian art in its glory there scarcely
a church too poor to purchase for an altar.piece O
descent from the Cross" or 'Last Jud gment' u
But in Amer ca there palaces for painting to
adorn, and our republican Government has only oil
late appreciated the immense importance OF
national patronage of art. In the Capitol, al
Washington few paintings worth glanc
ing at, and most of them disgrace the archi
lecture. The Pennsylvania Legislature ha;
lately voted small appropriation 10 purchase
paintings illustrative Of the war; huE tins is ex
ception AS a rule, our artists depend upon men Of
moderate wealth, who merely want pictures to adorr
their galleries. Hence the great number of land
scapes, cabinet paintings, portraits and the unfOr
tunate scarcity of good historical pictures Rother
mel whose genius deserves the largest field, hal
hfu forR Rhn