The morning call., 1891-03-31

The exhibition Of pa thugs at Shreve's
TO- the benefit Of the N ia Kip Orphanage
and tie West Oakland ONE for destitute
children closed on Saturday evening" and
the results are now partially known. How
many thousand persons visited the exhibit
bilion during the four or FIVE weeks that it
was open is not possible to state; but about
5000 was taken in at the doors, $500 Of
which was clear gain to the charities. This
implies two things; first, that San Francis
cans, and especially ladies', are eager for edu-
cation in art, and secondly, that it is in the
power of our rich people who possess artis-
tic treasures TO raise considerable sum for
charity by admitting the pubic to view OF
them.
On this occasion over nine-tenths of the
good pictures exhibited were the property
OF Mrs. William II. Croker and the Crocker
estate, and the only work of sculpture be-
longed to w. Z. Brown. Mr. Irving NJ
scott, Mrs. A. Z. Head and one or two
others contributed each picture or two.
But it was remarked by those who are
familiar with private collections in this city
that many of them were unrepresented and
that some excellent canyase5 in the owner
ship Of persons of wealth and taste were
absent That is a matter of regret If
every one who owns coed work of art had
loaned it for a month to the ShreYe exhibit
ton the receipts might have been larger
and certainly the work of popular education
would have been more thorough.
The cultivation of sound taste in art is far
more important than is generally supposed.
Art is a very important branch of civlizs-
ton. Proficiency in art ripens the intellect
and antidote5 pravincialism. If once a year
every person in San Franci-co was priv
legged to study the paintings and sculptures
Will Il are hidden in private galleries, the
re>u would be a general development of
culture which would be felt in innum5rable
ways. The discussion that has arisen over
the Rubens, and the 'Man With the Hoe"
has been au education in itself. Is the
Arion a real Rubens, or merely picture of
the ma Ster's manner? To take either side
if the discussion requires a knowledge which
is not possessed by all graduates of colleges
and academies, in seeking that knowledge
the disputant acquires lot of useful fn-
formation by the way, and inseDsibly deYel-
OPS his mind. DID Milet choose wisely in
selecting his peasant as theme for his
brush, or is the painting simply repulsive?
This discussion opens up the whole range of
the ethics Of art. How far may realism be
carried? There are some realities which
are obviously not fit subjects for artistic
portraiture; and yet the conventional arti-
Fatalities of the old schools naturally pro-
yoke the honest artist to fly into extremes
in order TO get back to nature. a line must
be drawn somewhere. Those who seek by
the light of Ruskin and Courbet to discover
where that line should fall, and who apply
the rule to Millets masterpiece, will find
when they are through that they knew more
than they did, not alone of art, but of other
things as well.
The isolation of San Francisco from the
intellectu Il centers of the world may not
prove an unmixed misfor .une. 1t compels
us 10 be self-dependent. 1t Is not always
convenient for our brightest men and women
WHO are not invariably the richest-to
pursue Il. cir eduation in the East and in