The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1889-08-15

girdle), and hastens to manifest its
freedom by escaping from its bonds
and returning to its own chosen sym
Dol, the oval. Thus a work of art
even a vase, a mere vessel of capacity
expresses freedom.
The human race, in all its stages
and conditions, loves freedom and the
expression of it. But the civilized
races far surpass the savages in Their
appreciation of the highest order Of
the beautiful. The savage does
not get much beyond taste for
what is regular, like fringe, or a
string of beads in geometrical shapes
The next stage of culture gets 50 far as
to admire symmetry. Not finding the
human body entirely symmetrical he
thinks to increase its beauty by tat
tooing symmetrical figures on it. In
his images of his gods he makes them
symmetrical by adding face to the
back side of the head and placing
another pair of arms to the back, etc,
so as to correct the one-sidedness OF
the human body which seems to him
so lacking in beauty because it does
not conform to symmetry.
With the insight into harmony the
nude human body becomes beautiful,
Just as the Greeks modelled it i. e., the
appreciation of its true beauty, as
found in gracelulness, has begun. The
statue must express action, or the in
tentiOn to act. Even the seated figures
of Pheidias have all their limbs under
control and are apparently just on the
point of action Every limb is thus
subordinated to an internal purpose,
and this produces what is beautiful.
Even the lack of symmetry in the hui
man form aids and assists the expires.
sion of harmony, which is the adapta-
ton OF the visible form to express and
execute an ideal or motye-.a spiritual
purpose.
Industrial art sets out with the laud-
able purpose to educate its pupils so
that they may make our manufact-
ures more salable by tasteful Orna-
ments. 1t is evident that more must
be done in the direction of educating
the ideals of taste, and perhaps less of
mere hand practice. The pupils must
not be kept on lessons in regularity
and symmetry as though any high or
der of the beautiful could be achieved
in these. We shall never command
the markets of the world by adding
such rudimentary style of ornament
to our goods. The soul of civilized man
loathes mere repetition or mere SYM
metry. Only the Chinese taste can en-
dure the mOnotonOus music of tin pan
through a whole day. The cultivated
races love to see gracefulness of shape
in their materials for food, clothing,
and shelter, and in all their nipple
ments.
Gracefulness is that appearance of
freedom which we have already dis
cussed. The soul in its depths feels
its freedom and loves to see this
heaven-born attribute revealed in ex-
ternal shapes and forms. This is the
significance of the beautiful. Things
must seem to be for themselves, and
not merely useful for others. We do
not like to see vulgar use stamped on
objects, even on the most useful of
objects; but we must feed our eyes
with the appearance of seli-activity
and freedom, az q sort Of reminder of
otir own ideals, suggesting that we are
immortal souls, and not the slaves of
our bodies, selling our heavenly birth
right for II mess of pottage and toiling !
in thraldom for mere food, clothing |
and shelter.
These reasons for the beautiful seem |
very transccndental and impractical |
to our average educational reiormers.
They think that children "should be |
taught to earn their living by acquir-
ing skill in carpenter work and black |
smithing." Their mistake seems at
first ludicrous. But it is more than
this it is serious. "Production," said |
one OF our most astute economists, Mr..
David A, Wells, in 1884, "was never so
great in this nation in relation to pop
ulation rs it has been in this last year
of depression and want. The East is
glutted with goods and wares; the
West with corn and meat; the Middle
States are burdcned with coal and
iron; the South with cotton and grain,
and each section has all that the world
needs"
We are producing too much raw
and manufacturing too much
common goods OF coarser quality.
If We could put more taste
into our manufactures, employ
fewer people i'll raising the
raw materials, and fewer in
coarse goods, and more in pro-
lucing finer quality of ornament,
The balance would. be restored. AS it
IS, only one-twelith of our laboring
population are engaged in the wood
trades. In the twenty-five
trades that belong to woodworking,
and in the twenty-five trades that be-
ong to metal work, there were, in
1880, 1,349,307 laborers. These pro-
vide more goods than we can sell at
home and abroad. We cannot get
md hold foreign markets unless we
put more refined, aesthetic taste into
)ur ornament.
This is the practical question. We