Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-01-14
BUNTEEORNE'S APOLOGY.
A Defence of Aesfhee;cisns.

A Defence of Aesfhesicisns.
The question is. Are not all these people
really and unconsciously doing a great deal OF
harm? In pretending to laugh down myself,
Cimabue Brown, the aesthetic ladies', and half a
dozen more of US by name, are they not in fact.
though not in intention, trying their best to
crush genuine and important artistic move
| ment in the bud? SO far as we ourselves are
concerned, am quite sure not one of US cares
single jot about it. We are prepared to laugh
as heartily at Patience, to look as good humor-
| ediy at MIR. Du Maurier's clever caricatures in
| Punch as any PhilistiDe among them all Nay;
more than that: the plays and the pictures are
really meant for us to enjoy, and not for the
many -headed beast" which only knows us
| from these amusing buresGues Mr.. Du
| Maurier likes to draw an aesthetic interior, so
| he draws my friend Browns. Mr. Gilbert likes
| to fall in with prevailing taste. so he puts me
| upon the stage in Patience 1t is useless to
| deny it; the man who designed the dragons
| dresses in the lilly scene-Mr. Gilbert himself,
according to the playbill-need not pretend that
| he is not one Of US. This is ali good-natured
chaff of playful kind; it hurts none Of us in
| our personal susceptibiiities: and if we alone
with select body of friends, were admitted TO
| see it by privateview ticket, no harm at all
would be done in the long run
But is not harm being done half uninten-
tional!y by always holding us up to sort of
|
| lie in Gath and Aske!On? You and know that
| there are no dolorous ladies in real life, who
| dress exclusively in Sagegreen and peacock
| blue, and sing dOlefui songs TO the solitary ac-
compartment OF abuge double-bass: no young
gentlemen IN velvet Jackets who devote their
| entire affections to Il vegetable amour We
| know that there is real aesthetic revolution
| now in progress; that years Of slow artistic edu-
cation have at last just begun to bear fruit: that
| the taste OF our people. at least amonr the
N0Q nf or ,,,1t
| rising out of its primeygl crudty, and strig-
| Cling upward toward a higher and more intel
| llGent style OF art and ornament. We know
| that TINS revolution was fltering down from the
| artistic few to the masses of Phsta who were
| ready enough, if left to themselves to accept
| the better des gns and more harmonious com
binatiOns of colOrs which small knot of OK
| Qulslte decorative artists were pressing upon
| their attention. just at this point, however
humber Of clever caricat wrists, who really
| sympathiZed at bottom with all our aims and
| Intentions. began to sec that they could make
attractive material out of the real or supposed
eXtrayagances of our movement. We all
laughed, everybody laughed; the pictures and
plays just hit the fancy of the moment, and
those Of us who were most aesthetic" as they
call 1T, enjoyed them the most. Still the cues
ton arises, is not all this playful ridicule. this
gentle badiEage, this Joking about our lilies and
the hue OF our garments, sure to dsparage the
artistic revolution in the long run? We who
are behind the scenes know indeed that there is
no real sting in the satire, Just as we recognize
that those clever apti-Gsthetic leaders which
appear from time tC time in the DQitj Nt2rs owe
all their point to the obvious fact, which they
bear on their very faces, that their author is
himself an %thete of the aesthetics. But there
is public which will never find this out: and in
the eyes OF that public the artistic revolution as
whole is sure to suffer accordingly.
of course. ii a Dlan goes to a thtater and sees
That the things We have been teaching him to
admire are made the butt Of some very clever
rdcne; il he takes up Punch, and sees them
Invariably associated with the vagaries of i'm
possible ladies and gentlemen in ultra-ciassical
or utra-fIOrentine cCstOmeS-he naturally
comes to the conclusion that the cultivated
world only laughs at his wouid-be teachers. We
have been trying to make him understand the
placeofthe early Italian masters in the history of
arr anc now ne finds that an elimination for Botti-
Cell or Fra Angelica is apparently considered
synonymous with a harmless form Of extreme
lunacy We have been trying to teach him
That red orange. and sky-bluc in large con-
trasted patches are not the best assorted
CO0rs for the internal decoration of his draw
in%-roOm; and now he learns that a taste
for subaued and harmonious tints is gloomy.
and that the persistent use of MIR. Morris
Wallpapers may be confidently expected to
terminate in an early suicide. We have been
linpxessing upon him the good points of Ofien-
tai art-handicraft; and now he discovers that we
want ultimately to dress him up i'm blue coat
bespangled with Japanesz fans, and to crowd
bis maDtelpiece with hiGe0us images of Indian
Jug9ernautS. All this must really tend TO re-
tard the progress of a salutary change, if not
actually to turn the tide of public opinion.
little ridculc OutWeigh5 months of preaching |
know myself that there are several excellent
people who on my recommendation furnished
their rooms as though they were meant for
rational beings to live in and bought little
good pottery and harmless brio a-brac of really
pretty and unpretenti0us sorts to adorn them.
But now, when they meet me they shake their
| heads and say, An, Bunthorne, you aesthetics
are getting dreadfully laughed at nowadays.
Been to see Patience, eh?" And when I
go to their houses, notice that the old
blue and the BenareS ware is pushed into
corner. while the great OrmOlu monstrOs-
ity under glass case is replaced in the
center of the mantelshef. and the big vases with
the Wrggly green handles are set up once more
to mount guard over it on either side 1t is no
| use telling these good people that Mr.. Du Maui
rer and Mr.. Gilbert are only joking in good
natured way; they say, "No. no; this gsthet-
icsm Of yours is getting played out" To their
simple minds, rdicule is rdcule, and nothing
else. II it only crushed out the extravagances
which must necessarily accompany every great
movement one wouldn't really mind. Il sup
pose there are extrayagances, though confess
l myself don't come across them) But it is
also In part crushing out what is truly good and
vital In the movement, at least with large
section OF the people and therefore it seems to
me real pity. We were in hopes that we were
at last getting the thin end OF the wedge into
the compact mass of PhiliStinism if we are
laughed down now the result must be that the
difference in culture between the different strata
of our population will be even greater than it is
at present. And that surely would be an I'M
mitigated evil, not to be compensated for even
by the pleasure of laughing at clever carica-
tnre Of my humble personality for couple of
hours to the lively accompaniment Of Mr.. Suli-
vans animated musc.-Pdu Mall Gazette.
Sensible English Notions About the Care
OF Horses.
TO guard against cIills and colds, with the
loss of time, expense and risk of unsound wind
which often follows, horse owners require to be
on the alert, especially at this season Of the
year Horses alternately sharply worked and