Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-01-02
INTELLECTUAL AND ART CULTURE.

concerning the growing of citrus fruits.
INTELLECTUAL AND ART CULTURE.
DIR. Charles Waldstein has, in the cur
rent number of the Century, an earnest
plea for art culture among the people of
America. He points out that what made
Greek art what it was, and so closely re-
lated it to the life, government and culture
of that people, was the fact that the artists
partook of the higher education of the age.
And by this he does not mean that they
were book-worms or vastly learned, but
that their compositions were characterized
by their feelings and thoughts, which were
refined by the intellectually of the period.
They were representative of the intelli-
gence and taste of their environment. 1t
follows that the first step toward the produc-
ton of the best manifestations of art, is the
general appreciation by the people of such
forms of expression. The doctor is clearly
right when he pronounces as false the idea
that Americans are materialistic people.
on the contrary, we are inclined to be art
istic. So those who pursue art studies
should foster, so far as possibility permits,
intellectual culture. That Is, rs we under
stand the criticism, there should be a closer
relation between the intellect and the
hand, stronger tie between the school or
university and the schools of design and
the art galleries-an inner relation be-
tween the university and the art academy.
If we understand Alright the scheme of
Governor Stanford. the university he
POUNDS will aim in this direction. That is,
art students will have facilities for attend
ing the lectures of the university, and
classical and scientific students for attend
ing art demonstrations and dissertations.
Not that the art student is to apply the
fruits of higher education directly to his
art, or that the artist is to be learned. as
DIR. Waldstein explains, but that by study,
reading, hearing, observation, the whole
character and intellect is to be broadened,
in order that technical skill may be made
representative of the age. The doctor be-
lieves that under such system we will
develop an American style or school, for
he deprecates the tendency to initiate
French art, for instance. at is vicious
and futile" he exclaims, to do so. We
are to be ourselves, expressing what is in us
with the greatest truthfulness." 1--WE
have" he insists, the freshness of inven-
tive power, and the delight of self-expres-
sion, and we lack only confidence in our
power as regards intellectual products. y
Now all this reduced to its practical mean
ing is, that communities and States ought
to foster :" all that leads to the civilizine
amusement and the intellectual edifica-
ton of the people" For instance, School
of Design is about to be opened in this
city. 1t is assumed to be in response to a
demand; to the artistic spirit to the sen.
timent among the people that we will be
bettered in all ways by cultivation of ar.
tistic tastes. Its success or failure must,
therefore, be taken as the measure, in de.
gree, OF the art sentiment in the commu-
nifty. Along with this effort then. we
should do all that in us lies to broaden
intellectual culture. As Dr. Waldsteiu
says, museums and art galleries generally
follow art schools; they are the natural
developments of them. Now, not all com.
munities can bring university and art
study together But there is no commu.
NIFTY that may not expand its intellectual
opportunities. By the lecture lyceum. by
molding and fostering the reading habi,
in youth; by doing in the many WAYS
open to us all We can to augment civilizinp
influences, and to lift ourselves from the
mere everyday of commonplace to ele.
vate the taste for dramatic expression
to enlarge the popular Judgment of natu.
raj science and discovery, and the better
forms of music and literature; to quicken
sensibiiity for natural beauty to augment
knowledge in the people of mechanics
science and architecture-all these are
things possible to any community, in de-
gree, OF course and such culture, or what.
ever progress can be made in such direc.
ton by home guidance, the lecture ros-
trum, the library, the school, the museum.
the art gallery, the work shop, the field or
the wood, will just that far augment orr
happiness, and just that far the better fit
our children for the battle of the dav in
which 1T is brain and not Drawn that will
soonest win; in which the hand guided bv
intelligence best does battle in the strug.
gle for existence. We shall lust that far
be the less materialistic, without being q
whit less practical, while we shall he inst
that much more useful TO ourselves and the
community. And by these remarks we
are not to be understood as holding tina,
all are to be educated to be artists or
architects, or sculptors, or designers
or that "dabbling" in painting or
other art work to be ENCOURAGED
but that the ability to realize and feel the
artistic should be the culture of all i: that
the people should be brought to the high