Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-02-18
The Art Lectures.

Monday evening was unpropitious enough
in point of weather. But it evidently takes
something worse than sleet and darkness to
seriously lessen the attendance on this
interesting course and the customary
pleasant and cultivated audience, but
slightly diminished in numbers, greeted the
lecturer. President Buckham subject was
The Art Element in Life.
THE LECTURE.
Is Art, he asked, a mere pastime? Can
1t clam. as of right. a place among the things
We prize and strive for? Does a man lose
anything essential to his manhood it he
| leave art entirely out of his education and
experience =? 1T man wishes 20 make the
most of himself in noble, Christian way,
will he bestow any time and thought on the
fine arts If art have an important office,
is it something only for the few of leisure
and abundance, or is it within the reach OF
every life? These questions have peril
neuce for us, from the recent entrance OF
Art, in our matter-oi-iact community, in
modest guise it is true, yet claiming mon
ey, time, thought and admiration. Can
We afford to give the newcomer place IN
our minds anu hearts? Has not Providence
assigned TO Us rather the arts by which
nature is subdued. and political, social,
moral and religious weli-being secured?
Such questionings naturally thrust them
selves on people 10 whom art is not ma
tive and reflection is.
In answering these questions the lectur
er first laid down some of the fundamental
principles of art. Art is the making of
beautiful things, or, more fully defined,
the sensuous. expression of an idea and an
/ +~ua nd trDnH
| F3ne art is such expression OF q high idea
and noble emotion. First among modes OF
expression is language, reaching its highest
| power in poetry and music /; next come ma
terlal embodiments in wood, clay, marble,
the metals and cOlOrs. Man can take
block of stone and put into 1t 50 much OF
his thought and feeling that for ages men
will gather round it, and get from 1t more
high thought and noble feeling than living
man can inspire in them. This power Is
the two-fold one Of thought and feeling
interfused and made objective. The work
Of art includes first thought. some true
conception Of something second some feel
ing of love. admiration. reverence or other
elevatlng emotion toward 1t; and MTdiy
the skill that blends these perfectly with
the material That which l. beautiful is
always true. A. in music the widest
strains must conform in every note TO a
mathematical law. 50 in all art the first
condition Is conformity 10 the truth OF the
conception. In sculpture the t4lslhcatlOn
Of anatomy in painting violation OF per
spectlye III sculpture the succeed or Tres
coed ialsehood, are always biemishes-and
most Of the failures in art. as in life, come
from lack Of conscience and Of supreme rev.
erence for truth. The value of Il work Of
art depends largely on the amount CT
! thought it contains. There may be as much
thought IN painting ike Leonardo's Last
supper. as in a system OF Philosophy, and
as much science on the walls Of the Sistlne
chapel as in the Vatican Library.
Yet art Is not the mere expression Of fact.
/ The artist strives to comprehend and realize
/ the whole truth. underlying a well as on
/ the surface OF his subject II he paint.
( say a beech tree, he strives to conceive a
| tree which shall be not only an individual
/ tree but typical OF the species. His port
4 folio will be found iull OF - studies OF
| beech trees, in which he has studied the
ideal tree in the actual trees, making Ma
| lure tell him, better than she knows herself.
what Gods idea of a beech tree Is. 81 the
| true pOrtrait-pa inter-yOur Titan or Key
| nOlds-dOes not attempt 10 TX with came
IA the solar reelection. at given moment,
| Of a set OF features from which by the ne
I
| ing has been distracted he paints a man
OF woman, soul and all. 50 that in his pic
tuTe their character and history may be
| discovered. The great pictures, ike Para
| disc Lost or Macbeth. dwarf everything
else, especially yourself. ltyou reach their
thoughts, it must be by growing up to
/ them. Only stupidity will belittie a thing
too great for 1t to comprehend As King
George confdentially assured DR.. johnson
that there was "a deal of sad stuff in
| Shakespeare.
But true work of art must have feeling
as well as thought IN 1t. 1t has d moral
! quality In the square OF triangle or cir
Gle there Is expression of q pure intellect
ual conception but beauty comes with de-
parture from the mathematical form. The
stiff line is made fluent, one curve bending
| insensitly to meet an opposite curve. "a
though by infusion of some moral quality
like gentleness or submission. Color ha,
| moral quality apart from the object that
bears IT, Purple Is royal by nature. red
! martial, black iunereal, white Festive, by
moral instinct Line, form, color, not only
suggest but actually express moral feeling
! The beech tree is more interesting than the
poplar, because it, possibilities Of moral
expression are greater. II embOdies the
idea OF trmness mingled with plsyluness
in It's roots" wreathlng, a. Gray has 1t,
" its old fantastic roots 50 high of power
and endurance in its solid bole Of humili-
| " and tenderness in long dropping branch
es bowling to kiss the gnarled roots The
great landscape painters were those who
had the deepest insight into the moral
meanings OF nature. In Claude Nature
seems IN a reverie in Salvador Rosa in a
! passion in CainsbOrO. in domestic repOse.
Down to the time Cf Wordsworth, the
painters interpreted the moral aspects of
nature better than the poets and SAID in
their way. as plainly as Wordsworth in
words. that Tor them
The mcanest flower that blows can give
/ Thoughts that dU Oltsn lie TOO deep i0r tears.
The art in which feeling Is thought to
have least play is Architecture. Yet what is
more radiant of feeling than gothic
church-such as we call "hymn in stone?'
The Cathedral builders unconsciously
meant 10 express in them the awful
ness Of the mighty truths OF Chris
tianitv. There l. moral something
(Which was also in the souls OF the build
ers) in the slender pillars. reaching up
from the common light at their feet, to the
arched twilight OF the iar-away root-s0me-
thing that uplilts the thoughts from the
fiat and sordId pavement of earth into the
upper space where all the lines of grace
meet, and where the light Is pure and
heavenly.
The art element 10 life, then, is this
diyinely implanted impulse to express the
true and the good In the beautiful. Com
ing down to art IN connection with use,
Mr. Buckham said that wherever men put
their best head work, heart-work and hand
work into material objects, there Is an at
tempt at Art Cardinal Wiseman, in his
charming paper on the Identification Of the
ertizan and artist. calls attention 10 the
fact that the beautiful antique hronZes,
mosaics DC we now gather IN cabinets,
were once not only things OF every day use,
but were found in the holses OF ordinary
citizens \ thousand years hence will men
dig up from the debris OF the 18th century
any of our household utensils and put them
into cabinets as gems of art-our stores.
for example. our kerosene lamps. or. save
the mark, our spittOOns Household art
was 50 much higherIamOng the Greeks than
amongus because they put better thought
and better feeling into their work he
thought We put in, l. to much OF 1t
money making craft, We make TOO many
things TO sell and not 10 use. Ii We ind an
article giving evidence OF good thought IN IT,,
it will be found to approach to beauty The
distinction we make between things tor use
anu thlus7 lVi eHo"f - i''A' =" a A"'
traveller who notices our houses white on
the three sides which can be seen from the
road and red in the rear, may be excused
for thinking that no art can be expected
from a heople 20 given 10 sham-. As long
as We make one style OF thing Tor service
and another for ornament, We shall produce
: ueliness for service, and false ornamentation
for show Ruskin says the moment We
: make anything useful thoroughly, 1t Is a
law OF oar nature that we shall be pleased
: with ourselves and with the thing We have
made. and become DESTROYS therefore to
r adorn or complete it in some dainty way
with finer art expressive OF our pleasure.
This doctrine of conscience aud love, il
, obeyed would fill our land with works OF
I truest AIT. and we shall never get much
high art, worthy the rame, till We get d
E better quality OF low art as a substratum