Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1877-07-14
The Growth and Relationship of tho
Arts. iFt

OudSteuS WdlkiuS Ill uOllteSS Will cldSpe
hands, worshiping the aesthetic trinity,
tile good, the true, the beautiful.
All art is the expression of the beauti-
full; the difference is in the
material employed - Poetry re-
veals a creation OF the imagination
through sound, at the same time shaping
tito the laws of understanding and real
son. Sculpture appeals to the mind, in
form. Painting deals both in form and
color, while music addresses the spirit
through tone and change. Each of the
arts has its own peculiar advantages,
each appeals to mans susceptibilities in
one or another,and represents something
from the great store house of truth and
beauty. Each has had its great master,
w.ose iiames are almost synonymous
with its own. All true art has in itself
al intrinsic nOblencss and dignity.
Those nations which have eXcelled i'm
the arts have had an acknowledged SUI
periOrity and advantage over others. We
judge not aloneNof a nation from the eX-
tent of its undertakings, neither from its
victorious conflicts as told in history, but
from the excellence and culture of mind
and heart rs stamped upon those acts.
Unlike are the art sisters in look and
bearing, Z .ch has comli,t3s peculiar
to herself. Sculpture is cal lni as. pas
sionless, and bears her faul;.c-s tIgnre
somewhat coltlly toward her sister. She
has nc hate, no love.
Painting has ripplins that
shines in the sunlight, ass .aout
her, shoulders is robe vi bright,
'i"h color. She laughs, and
weeps ami sIiiSs,- and would throw her
warm arms about her faultless Ss-.nr. but
that her affection is rcpuiseI; AMI
thus these two, though ever side by side,
walk apart tSOm each Other.
Poetry. with thoughtful brow, and
music, the devinc, are bounhin closest
love, as with Il solden ring from which
they cannot break. They blend, as the
many tints of color intcrmingle, i'm IA per-
feet flower.
Each ar t, in some age and nation. has
held Sovei eighty over mankind. Greece
was the cradle of the arts There, i'm an
heroic age, poetry Was born, flourished
and came to maturity. 1t was the land
of the muses.. The beauty-loving hearts
of the Greeks worshipped them with
prayer and wine AMI sacrifice. Homer
came into the world, ut once the first and
last, with all the Influence of poetic re-
ligiOn, and an heroic nation, he wrought
with power that no later genius has
surpassed. Poetry walked with Homer.
and with her own hand put upon his
brow the crown of kingship. Greece
loved Homer as Il God, and to every
Greecian heart poetry was less pastime
than a religion. Pericles said: Homer
nOlTished my fancy. animated my
dreams, awOke me in the morning,
watched with me, sailed with me.
taught me morals, taught me languages,
taught me music, philosophy, and war
! 10 Homer" says Frederick Schlegel, ..;ts
much as 10 Alexander is due the pres
vation and extension of the fame OF
Greece" Thus was poetry given to the
world, and in this early age held sOver-
eighty i'll great Gre &c. After the age of
poetry, when the ocean of Homer and
the nultitudes of streams and foun-
tains which sprang from it had
bathed the length and breadth of the
land, refreshing and beauIifying where
ever their Influence was felt, Greek cul-
ture and calm philosophy were favorable
to the development Of sculpture-the
most thoughtful OF the arts. Then came
| Phidias, the master. The blessed gods
of High Olympus were his models. and
into every feature he breathed his high
eS: feeling OF what that exalted nature
ought to be which he StrOve to repre-
sent. He made sculpture all that its ca
pabilities will allow, and brought it to
its height. All the world has studied
Greeian models, and they have been the
Inspiration of all later genius. But
sculpture is limited in its power, and un-
able to bring OUT the whole soul. 1t
cannot reveal to us all that man is capa-
bic OF and aspires to reach; it cannot
portray him as a being of feeling and
emotion, us we'll as of mind. The beauty
OF the statue is superhuman. Ii is too
cold, too elerated, to awaken our SYM
pathy. Sculpture, us it brought To per-
lection form, held the candle for the
broader art of painting its sister. Puro
| form does not satisfy. We then ask for
color to give it life and breath.
Florence, the beautiful. the city of
| great and hallowed associations, threw
| OPEN her arms and matte a home for
| painting, and Raphael arose AMI poured
out his genius Lpon her alter. Italy WAS
a fit abode for such an art-tlIe land OF
| luxury and languOr-whcre the sun Went
down in pure gold where the very ut
fmOsphere WIS filled With love and poet
ry, "where Dante HAD just sliilg,e and
Beatrice passed by Sllci IA Iand was
enough 70 inspires, heat open to the
power OF bellHy. Painting found many
masters. Floreils:e and Rome were
glorioas witllartists. Titiai Lcalards
land Raphael fiiiea all Italy with the
might anil splet1tlOr OF their genius
Every Cathedral and chapel Was magnlfi-
cent MitllIir and without with orilamciii
. and device, The Bible was "a living
reality under the l;l;lstei br,islIcs Purify
and holiness We're set before lie peopls
lin legiODS Of Madonuas ald s.tilitS.
Painting cannot, like poetry iad music
develop Il situation; il must necessarily
. seize upon a single moment, but it MAJ
| choose the mOment anil conceiirate th'
whele might and power of the transac
ton into that Que. With til. constimma
ttion- OF aint.ns, form and color wer
perfected alid then changs was demanS
led