Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-06-15
THE NUDE IN ART.
some OF ths Pieces at the EXPEDITION
Philadelphia Cor. San Francisco Chroniclel

some OF the Pieces at the Expedition
Cor. San Francisco Chronicle,l
The fact is apparent to me, as l
wander from room to room, and
from looking at the inanimate ex-
hibits turn to studying the people,
that Americans have not learned
to look placidly upon the bare hu-
man figure as put upon canvas or
in stone. In European cities art
galleries are numerous and easily
accessible, and the public becomes
thoroughly familiar with such
sights. Here art is comparatively
new, and a training of taste in that
direction is generally lacking. /
do not mean to say that admiration
of the beautiful is any less a con-
spicuous trait Of Americans than
Of foreigners, but simply that a
large portion of us have not ceased
to be shocked at nakedness in mar
BILE or oil. Nine American women
out of ten are ashamed while they
view the sculptured shapes of wo-
men. | detect the sentiment in
spite Of their forced equanimity.
notice that the cheeks of the pretty
girl, who, as she leans on hel
escorts arm, is made to face the
picture of GA Jewish Mother De
Tending Her Seven Sons" grow
roster in tinge, and that her eyel
droop. The sons have been cruci
| fed and are depicted the size o
life and utterly nude, without con
cealments by skilful arrangement
of attitude or bits of drapery
Facing a row of seven men il
| that plight, even in a picture
sa hard ordeal for this sensitiv
lgirl, as we'll as many Others. Sh
| bears it with steady nerves, how
j ever, although the blush will come
4 | observe, too, that a dry-visage,
/ woman, presumablyIa maiden, ,lbOlt
hurriedly past all the undresSe,
i figures in the sculpture rooms, wit
Ihverted eyes and compressed lips
and will only stop by the lubberl
children that the Italians hav
chiseled and sent here. She dis
approves the public disclosures
human anatomy, and doesn't car
who knows her opinion. Eve
among the stone children she find
: a little fellow who odends her b
lacking a fig leaf, or any SubStitut
for a fig leaf, and she hurrieS diI
: gusted out Of the building, AS
guess their thoughts, there are fe
J among the spectators who reall
disasaOciate a pure love of art frol
a grosser consciousness Of what
/. lis they are seeing, They do nc
5 for an instant forget that the repr
: sentations are such as would not /
! Thought of in reality. Doubtle
there will come q change in tn
? regard. A few more years Of il
creasing familiarity with sue
!, things may educate MS to the poll
/ iof Indifference which European
i have attained. Then, FrenC
bronzes may be put into our hous
as they are imported, and publ
Ii art exhibitions may not be plac
D for girls to blush in. The aequil
9 ton of this accomplishment h
!. already extended far in what '
call "cultivated classes" as l al
t, observe in my wanderings throuI
II the Art Department.
REALISTIC wAX-woRK.
There is one thing in the A
Department about which there c
be but a cendemnatory feelil
Judging it from the standpoint
propriety. Our folk may learn
look unabashed at nudenesS in p
lures and sculpture, wherein t
Dc best representations Of the hum
form are only approaches, close
= remote, to perfect naturalnt
~ There is always the sense Of ina
! / mateness that blunts the shock
modesty in some degree. But,
the exceptional thing to whic
allude, even that blush-sayer
lacking. In the main corridor
= the Memorial buildings ann
where the most casual visitors
not likely to miss it, a wax fig
~ of Cleopatra is displayed. She
ol;nae unn,, n anrt nf throne AM