Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-08-07

American Appreciation or Arts.

Amcrican Appreciation or Arts.
The higher culture aud enlightenment
of = people are in a measure evidenced
hy their appreciation Of the fine arts.
This appreciation is entirely inconsist-
emit with course and merely material
development A strict adherence TO the
;utilitarian principle in education is re-
puenant to 1t. A rigid reliance on the
efficacy of law and legislation can never
produce It. Not even the purchase of a
hundred thousand dollar painting Of Mil
lets can add one jot or title TO our artistic
culture and taste il It be not in our edu
cation and life. The purchase of the
celebrated "Angelus F" was in itself no
evidence of our appreciation of art. IL
was purely speculation and for that
matter II might just as well have been a
white elephant from Siam or Bengal
tiger from the jungles Of India. II will
be exhibited to the gullible public with
the same motive in view.
Art culture in the highest sense of the
term comes late In the development Of u
nations life and civilization. We had u
continent to subdue and for century
and more our people were pioneers
breaking away the primitive forest. The
development of distinctly American
literature has been tardy for reasons that
are apparent, and even at this late day
in the minds Of many il IL matter of
grave doubt whether we possess such a
thing. Such things as literature, music
and other of the fine arts are civilizing
forces at work in our national life. A
genius long ago said Let me write the
songs of nation and ! care not who
makes the laws" There Is much truth
In this, for after all we are moved great
deal by things that work on our imagi-
nation and fancy. This higher appre-
citation and culture then are matters Of
considerable Importance in our life. We
do not live only to earn money to buy
bread. The building Of railroads and
cities are important, but they are not all
Of life. We are gifted with higher quail
ties Of the mind and soul which yearn
for something more than these. The
cultivation of the beautiful and the good
IL a duty every man owes to himself as
well az TO his fellow man. This higher
the rich either, for II is thing the rich
cannot buy. A Vanderbilt may buy au
art gallery filed with the masterpieces
Of the best painters, but he cannot buy
an artistic appreciation of the beauty
which his money has placed around
him.
American art distinctly so called is as
yet I'm an embryonic state. There are n
few struggling painters, some of note,
huddled together In the studios ofRome
and Paris, but rs yet they have produced
little that might be called strictly ma
tionsl. There are museums and gal
leries in some of our larger cities, which
contain fair works ofart, some excellent;
but the artistic appreciation Of even our
educated people has hardly developed
sufficiently to make that much of Il
civilized factor. Such people as Cath
arine Wolfe and Mr.. Marquand con
tributed much when they placed their
collections of paintings in the Metro
politan Museum in Central Park, New
York. Here they are within the reach
Of every one who desires to behold them
buch benefactiOns ought to be encour-
aged as valuable aids to the develop
ment Of this appreciation of the beau-
tiful. They are n real permanent bene-
mt and infuse good force into our ma
terialistic civilization.
Art appreciation is a difficult thing TO
stimulate because to the practical mind
II Is not easy to see direct beneficial re-
suits. II brings not wealth; rather that
s hindrance. 1t apparently does
nothing to forward our national advan-
vancement. But 1t does more than all
this. 1t makes our life purer and
sweeter. 1t lifts our minds away from
the grossness Of the materialstic world
and develops the higher qualities of the
mind and soul. 1t gives a finish to
education that makes it good for its
own sake. Ii infuses all this into our
every day life. We say nothing of the
fact that a proper appreciation and cul-
tivation Of the beautiful brings us nearer
TO the great source Of the beautiful and
the good and ministers TO the highest as
pirations of the soul
In material prosperity we rival any
of the nations of the world In science
we have made tremendous strides and
our electrical display AT the Paris
Exposition is gazed at with wonder.
In literature we point with pride to our
few novelists and historians of note.
Let us now aim to develop the latent ap-
probation at least of the fine arts. We
are at peace with all the world. Let
our educated people turn their minds
and attention TO the cultivation of that
higher culture which does so much TO
polish the crudities of our national life.
Our mission is not complete when we
have built the largest cities and laid the
longest railroads. There needs to be a
cultivation of the fine arts, which will
generate among the people that higher
appreciation which broadens and deep
ems and makes purer our national life
and character.
Haytian Atrocities.