The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-05-31
Art in India.

inquiry as to how far its craftsman
ship is now available for the uses of
western civilization and luxury.
"Yonr eclectic schools, ''he might say,
"having exhausted classic. med feval
and renaissance art found piquancy
and freshness in the quaint iancies
and exquisite workmanship of
China and Japan, and now, grown
tired of their toys, would fsin add In
dian art also to the fashions that pass
away in your restless world" This
would be an unreasonable answer TO
a most reasonable question, but that
reflection of this kind should be
possible indicates the first and most
important quality OF eastern art-its
unity of character. In the presence
'of still living system of decoration
which inherits its code of design in
direct succession, its comparative fix
ity and permanence,its perfect union
with the life Of the people. and
mysterious quality of organic fitness
to the varying aspects of the country
impress tie mind with a force that
can not be appreciated by those who
have not lived in India, .
The best OF these qualities. are in.
capable of expectation, and no selsc.
ton of its workmanship could convey
an adequate idea OF the peculiar
genius and character OF tne Indian
people. Scarcely so muoh ss this is
asked for. 4 brick may not give
fair representation Of the house from
which it is taken, but, since bricks
are in demand, let them be'giVen, by
all means. Nor need the sentimental
reflection that, while it is possible to
export shawl or cabinet, We can
not put up into any marketable shape
the mystery and glamour of the East,
hinder us from the attempt to make
some of its productions better known.
The subject has pathetic interest
from the fact that some of the arts OF
the country, being accessories of
priestly and feuda! systems now
crumbling slowly away, are dying
out, while others are suffering from
competition with machine made
products of Europe. The piotur-
esque pessimism which is the key
note of some nodera art criticism
has been heard in dirges over the
grave OF Indian srt, aud has, indeed,
psssionately accused the British gov
eminent of It's willful murder. No
one is half so yea GUS for creed as a
new convert, and the good people in
England who have at last awakened
to the grievous spectacle of the de
cay Of Indian art. forget that it has
been going on since before the time
Of Aurungzebe, and that it is only
one phase of an organic change
which has for many years been
creeping over the country-a change
over which conscious human effort
can have but little more control than
over the fading of the rainbow or the
decay of the forest tree. The heaped-
up splendors Of the Indian museum,
the spoil of many periods, have given
an exaggerated idea of the artistic
wealth of the land. and some writer's
have formed an ideal picture of q
halcyon time when the hid treasures
OF princes palaces were common ia
every 5azaf.
The young Aryan of the present
day looks back to past like that de-
scribed in Mr.. Edwin Arnold's Light
Eof ASIA" when life was uniformly
beautiful and adorned with every
grace of AIT. The remains of an
cient Hindu cities testify to the exist
ence of centres of civilization, bat it
seems probable that these were few,
and separated by wide intervals both
of time and space. In the Hindu
epics it is noticeable that when once
the heroes of the story pass the city
walls, they are in open forest, where
they wander for years. Modern in
quirers, seeing the remains of the
Yu4ufzai Valley, OF Hallibeed, Kan
aui, Gaur, Bijspur, and Fatenpur
SikFi, are apt to forget that each be-
longs 10 s. different epoch in vast
period. And when they charge the
British government with destroying
Oriental art, they ignore such causes
as the spiritusi degradation of Him
duism and the decay of the Moham.
medan power, both of which are far
out of the reach OF any government
control. It is clear nothing Can re-
store the pristine earnestness and
faith of the older days, nor the dea-
potisms which kept thousands of
skillful craftsmen in worse than
Egyptian bondage, nor the whips
that were freely used to stimulate the
dilatory artists. q milder rule has
replaced this tyranny, while faith is
being undermined by the spread OF
education.
Unfortunately civilization and inn
.pYovement are associated IN the ORR.
entail mind with notion of art Of
which the Angio-Iudian drawing
room furnishes fair example. In
those eeen by native Christians and
educated Hindus there are TO be
found the usual chimney ornaments
and furniture of excellent mission
aries and others who have not time
20 think OF artistic refinement, with
the iuvsriable addition Of much
crochet and Berlin wool work. taught
WITH praiseworthy intent to uatiya
ladies. If zenana missions have
5onn T7othj1oy elsa fbav hava y,at1r