New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-03-22
A SENSIBLE UNDERTAKING.

The people Of Pennsylvania are apparently
determined 10 make the benefit Of the ENposi-
ton as permanent and practical rs possible To
themselves, and with that purpose have estab-
lished within the last week or two Museum
and School of Industrial Art, which has been
put in charge of men possessed of both means
and culture and of that business experience
which will make both of service To Tire public
in the present instance. The Museum proposes
TO illustrate the mechanic and decorative arts
with the materials used in art industries. he
reason for founding it just nov ~ the large
opportunity which will be offered at the
close Of the Centennial for the purchase OF
such materials. With Il certain, and by no
means exorbitant, sum Of ready money
and wise discretion, an illustration
could be procured of the condition OF
decorative and mechanic ant IN every conn
try represented at the Exhibition. We wish
orr ncighbors success III their undertaking.
and We see no reason why New-lOrk, with
her larger means and more numerous client
ace TO he benefited by such study, should not
be justified in an outlay for this especial pur-
nose. The great Museum of South hcnslng-
ton was founded at the closing of the Worlds
Fair in London, and has proved not only oi
such practical use to the great public, but 10
successful pccuniarly, that il has increased
steadily with every year. until its cata-
locue lust published is in itself an
education in liberal art. We have
in New-York collections and museums
MAGNIFICENT in PROPORTION and priceless in
value, but they offer, for the purposes OF the
student. only disjointed aid. He passes from
n,
cloisonnG. into another lined with madonnas Of
the Dutch school, or portraits Of French kings
and their mistrcsScs Here he stumblcs over
Di Ccsnola's very live stone dead men, and
there over Mrs. Adams baby linen, or a
mummicd Pharaoh. They are catacombs Of
knowledge where the scholar whose studies
lie outside may dig out some curious con-
Grmation of his theories, but where 10 steady
practical course of study in any line could he
attempted with hope of success.
Now, the study of decorative and mechanic
art from the artists, and not the mere work
mans standpoint, is not "a whim of passing
fashion in this country. It will outliye the
mad rage for bric-a-brac and china monsters.
The American people in every class have had
their ewes opened to the fact that beauty or
integrity in outline, color and aim is "A ncces-
sity. not an accident of daily life, when once
understood and appreciated. The taste will
grow, net diminish, as all good and whole
some things do grow just as the
want becomes moro widely felt class of
workmen and w0rkwOmcn will rise 10 meet it..
The quickened aesthetic taste of the people of
this country has already put bread into the
mouths of thousands who otherwise would
have come near starvation. We need precisely
such mechanical museum and school of in
dustral art as our neighbors propose for the
benefit of these artist-workcrs. 1t would sup
ply lack which our academies of design and
museums, useful and superb as they are, do
not fill.