Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-11-17
THE rELFA1R ACADEMY.
What the Board is Doing-somethinR
About the Opening Minister Jackeon
Expected In the Spring.

What the Board is Doing-something
About the Opening Minister Jaokeon
Expected In the spring.
Probably there are few OF the citizens
OF savannah aware of the possible effect
Of this institution on the taste OF the ris-
ing generation. or on the pecuniary inter
ests 10 be advanced by an influx of art
students and winter residents from the
North, and from the West Indies and
Florida IN the summer. We Ofthe South,
impoverished by the war and emsar-
raised by the tolls demonstrating socie-
ty on a new and heretofore untried basis,
have little time TO think Of aught else
than that which puts money in the purse,
but thousands out of our limits, and
few within them, realize that 1t is the
touch Of grace and joy that the arts alone
can bestOw that the life of the American
people lack. Therefore, as Savannah bas
heretofore ignored art and artists, she has
no attractions to draw strangers to her
hotels nor students to her schools. This
Gen. Jackson and the trustees of the
academy perceive, and are lending to MIR.
Brandt all the assistance they can give to
make the work he is so ably and success
fully carrying on effective.
The annex. containing the picture gall
lery above and the statue chamber below,
will be a building unsurpassed in the
United States in the art line, and, If my
recollectiCns do not deceive me, the pic
ture room is equal, if not superior, to the
famous Salon Care, or square chamber,
opening into the gallery # the Louvre,
quarter OF a mile long. 70 make the new
buildings in unity with the old, by a slight
addition to the Old. which will alter none
of its original features, Mr.. Brandt has
made designs for raising purapet walls
about three or four feet higher, having fiat
pilasters, arranged in such way as will
permit the Introduction Of bas rellets be-
tween them.
1t suggested itself to Mr.. Brandt that as
the artists were well repr. scented by the
statues in front Of the Old building ana
panels prepared for others in The new,
these should be appropriated to men OF
science, whose labOrs had proved bene-
fetal TO mankind. He therefore prepared,
while at ms home on the North river this
summer, two of the requisite number Of
heads, Aristotle and humboldt, in the
form Of models, which when properly eX-
pressed in permanent material and in
pos ton will, with the statues. make the
facade OF the old mansion the most beauti-
tul and attractive part of the whole edihce,
as MIR. Brandt designs it to be.
Time Will be required TO DO all this; TO
finish the interior decorations of the halls
and archWays between the buildings,
putting up the "Farnese Bull" much bro
ken, and like the other pieces of statuary,
50 numerous and equal y injured, only to
be repaired by Mr.. Brandt's own hands.
None but an artist can appreciate the
very eXhausting labor involved in such
work, but In spite Of this, the gallery
might be opened in an unfinished state
were il not for two reasons, viz:
First. In March or April Gen. Henry
r. jackson. to whose zeal and liherality
the present promising state of the enter
prise is mainly due, backed as he was by
an intelligent directory, viii spend short
time IN this city, and it would be no I'M
deserved compliment to him to defer the
opening till he arrives.
Second. The New York spring exhibit
ton OF the National Academy of Design
viii be in progress at that time, and at It's
close we may secure the loan of some Of
its best pictures for the opening OF our
gallery. it took the great COrcOran art
collection and building seven years to
reach point little in advance of that to
which the energy and skill OF Mr.. Brandt
has brought the Telfair Academy of Art
and Science, which bids fair to be Savan-
nah's greatest ornament. The part Of
wisdom in this matter is TO make haste
slOwly.V
The statues of Phidlas. Rembrandt and
Raphael are also to be put up, and now
lie boxed up before the building, so that
very soon all the pedestals now bare will
support their proper burdens in these
fine works of the sculptor.
AprOpOs of this: 1t is suggested by
some that there is an architectural defect
In the superior height Of the central over
the front building. But this is in accord
ance with the general design of the edi-
fee taken as a whole. In consequence of
a want of space in the lot, the
two galleries of sculpture and paint
ing are one under the other, and
therefore of great height. The new
opera house Of Paris, which cost the state
or city 10000, 600 francs, is built on this
plan, for TIE simple reason that the front
covers the staircase and reception rooms
only, while the central part incloses the
auditorium, with its many galleries, and
the stage, still higher in the space above
and below for the mOvlngOf the scenery;
all of which is strictly in accordance with
the architectural rule OF shifting the eXte-
rior form Of an edItice to the requirements
OF the interior. Il. w. IL.