St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-06-09
Art Criticism.
Too MUCH SEVERITY,

The other day while Col. b, edi-
tor of Il paper which we will call the
Bugle. WAS sitting in his sanctum, writ
ing an editorial, il visitor entered TAX
ing seat, he said:
My name is Brewer; am the paint
er of the allegnrical picture of The
Triumph of Truth, on exhibition down
at lelveItou's; | called Col b. to
make some complaint about the crit-
cISh OF the work which appeared in
your paper. 1our critic seems to have
misunderstood, somewhat the drift of
the picture. For instance, he saws
Let me quote the paragraph:
'''ln the background to the left stands
st. Augustine with one foot on wood
en Indian which is lying upon the
ground. Why the artist decorated st.
Augustine with Il high hat and put his
trousers inside his boots, and why he
filled the saints belt with navy revol-
rers and tomahawks, has not been re-
Nealed. 1t strikes lis as being very
ridiculous'
Nov, Colonel. this seems to me to
he little too harsh. That figure does
not represent St. Augustine. Ii is meant
tor an allegol ic;tl picture of Brute Force
and II has It's foot upon Intellect-m-
| tcIecf. mind Nou and not IL cigar store
Indian. Ii Is Il likeness of Captain Kidd,
aud set IL back 10 represent the fact
that Brute Force belonged to the dark
ages. How i'll thunder that man vf
Yours ever got an idea that it Was ST.
Augustine heats me"
1T Is singular" said the Colonel.
And now let me direct your atten-
tl"n I" another paragraph. He SAYS:
4
while N"al's ark goes sailing in the re-
mote distance, there is. close to it, n
cotton factory. the chimney of which is
pouring out white smoke that covers
the whole of the sky in the picture.
/ while the ark seems to lie trying to sail
down that chimney. Now, they didn't
have cotton factories in those DAYS;
the thing don't hang. The artist must
have been drunk
Nov. Colonel, this insinuation pains
me. How would YOU like it, if YOU
painted Il picture of the Tower of Babel
and somebodN should come along and
Insist that II WAS the chimney of cot
ton factory and that the clouds with
which the SKY Is covered WAS smokef
Cotton factory Iour man certainly
cannot he familiar with the scriptures
and when he talks about the ark sailing
down that chimney. he furgets that the
reason why II Is standing on one end is
That the water Is 50 rough as to make il
pitch. You know the Bible SAWS that
arks did pitch without and within. Now
don't it,
Il think maybe it does" replied the
Colonel.
But that's not the worst can
stand 1t. But what do you think of
man who goes to criticising Il work of
arr, AMI says now just listen to this
'Oh the right Is "A boy who has his
eliot Ines off, and has apparently been in
Winning and has been rescued by
big yellow dog just AS he was about to
drown. What this has do with the Tri-
umph OF Truth We do not know, but
We do know that the dog is twice us
large as the boy. and that he has the
boy head III his mouth while the bows
hands are tied behind his back Now
Tor boy to go in swimming with his
hands tied, and for IA dog to swallow
his head So as to drag him out, appears
To us to he the awfulleSt foolishness ON
earth
Colon el, You will probably he sur
pIlsed to learn that Your critic il here
referring to Il very beautiful study of
Christian martyr, who has been thrown
among the wild beasts of the arena and
VIII" Is engaged in being eaten by lion
he animal Is not Il yellow dog; that
human being has not been in swimming;
ANA the reason that he is smaller than
the lion Is that had to make him SO in
order To get his head into the lions
mouth. Would you have me represent
the lion as large as AN elephant Would
Van how 4 LII. Il Il
martyr to inform the public that This
Is not boy who has been treading wa
ter with his hands tied Now look at
the matter calmly. Is the Bugle en-
couraglng art when il goes on in this
manner? Blame me if think it is 7"
1T certainly doesn't seem so"
NV ell, then. what do vou say To tbjsY
What do You think of ii critic who re
marks:
but the most extraordinary thing in
lie picture Is group i'll the foreground
I'm old lady with an iron coal l-scuttle on
her head is handing some black pills to
Il ballet dancer dressed III pink tights,
while another woman in Il badly fitting
chenIse, stands by them brushing off
the flies, with the branch of II tree, with
Il canary bird resting upon her shoulder
ind trying To sing at some small bows
who are seen III the other corner of the
hrld. W hat tins means we haven't the
rcmoteSt idea; but we do know that
the ballet dancers legs have the knee
pans at the back of the joint, and that
the canary bird looks more as if it
wanted To eat the coaI-scuttle than if
he desired to sing
This Is too bad. DO Nou know what
that beautiful group represents You'll
hardly believe It, and Vet, us true lis
am sitting here, that old lady, a. YOUR
idiot calls her, is Minerva, the Goddess
"f war, handlng-not pills. mind Won;
pills why its awful handing cannon
balls to the Goddess of Love as "A token
there shall he no more war. And the
figure in what he calls the chimise is
the Genius of Liberty, holding ont AN
olive branch with one hand, while upop
her shoulder rests an American eagle.
screaming defiance at the enemies If
his country, who are seen flying in the
distance. Canary bird small bo,sl
ballet girls The uIan is crazy, Sir;
stark, staring mad 1t is awful, And
now ! want you to write up an explana-
tIon for me and publish it. This kind
"t thing EXPOSES me to derision. 1t ex-
cites laughter. can't stand it and by
George, | won't I'll sue YOU tor libel.
II hurts the sale of the picture"
Then the colonel promised to make
amends, and Mr.. Brewer Withdrew in
almer mood.
\ It