The record-union., 1893-01-06
A PLEA FOR ART.
What Pupil Of California Art
School Says.
A Potent Factor in Writing State His
tory Neglecred-About the Sac
ramento School of Design.

the generous gift of Mrs. Margaret Z.
Crocker to the city of Sacramento. The
school opened in 1856, under the able
management of w. f. Jackson, who still
continues at.its head.
THE DRILL
And instruction given is modelled some
what after that of the leading schools of
Europe and America. The course opens
with cast drawings Of simple objects, like
vases or cubes, leading by gradual steps
! to the study of hands, masks, ETC., and
then OF the entire human body-a
/ 'N enus, Milo" or Gladiator" This
| preliminary course is interspersed by
still-life studies and out-ot-door sketch
! ing. Then follows a course in painting
| landscapes from nature, heads, hgures,
genre; tinally, for the most advanced, a
life class' for studying the nude.
ALL WORK
Is done from objects or nature. No fiat
subjects are used. Copying is not allowed
until the pupils are advanced sufficiently
to be able to profit from the study of Il
| figure by Raphael, head by Murillo or
bit of landscape by Thomas Hill.
The schedule calls for six hours of
work daily, although the enthusiastic
students often put in eight or nine
| hours, and then leave their work grudg-
ingly, only because the wretch" who
locks them out cannot be cajoled longer
into waiting for them.
ENVIRONMENT.
Hammerton, in his intellectual Life"
says that "the surroundings of him who
would create in literature, art or aught
else must be either the elegant and
beautiful or the baro and nude. never the
commonplace" The art student at the
Sacramento school has an environment
that could scarcely be improved The
! building in finish is a perfect harmony.
Its massive and richly carved doors, its
! tluted Corlnthlan columns, its exquisite
! trescoes and arabesque traceries, would
! have satisfied even John Ruskin, ween
! Add to this foIios of inestimable value
containing original drawings from the
| masters, some line modern work. and
original Murillos, Rubens and Van
| Dykes, and some idea may be gained Of
the aids and incentives the student NAV
have in his Work.
EXAMPLES.
The rates for instruction in the school
are low, and have been an important
factor In drawing to it pupils from all
parts of California and from the sister
States of Oregon, Nevada and Utah. Two
incidents rise before me as characteriZing
much of the spirit of the pupils. One. Of
a young man, who, talking of the
struggles and difficulties that lay before
him, said, with kindling eyes and his
sensitive face all aglow: Il know the
artist need count on nothing save pow
erty, but am willing to be poor always.
| ana work away. Art is enough"
Another, from young woman: In
reply to a laughing, "WeII, if we fail in
art, there are other things left" there
came the response, with quick drawn
breath, as if a wound had been inflicted.
"Oh, there is nothing else! Ii cannot
paint, there is nothing else ~
FAITH.
That spirit of faith and worshipfllness
without which the great English art critic
claims there can be no high art, has not
been wholly missing in the school. And
the school has ever been factor for good
| How much? Who may estimate? Its
influence has been in the right direction
and tar-reaching. And yet the school
has been handicapped by lack of means
and has accomplished but little of what il
could and should ACCOMPLISH. The
Museum Association, some public
spirited citizens, and Mr.. Jackson, have
| worked hard for its success, but the peo-
| pie of the coast as a whole have never
seemed TO awake fully to the inestimable
| value Of the school.
Great nations write their biographies
in three manuscripts-theb book of their
deeds, the book of their words and the
book of their art . = Ofthese three
the only quite trustworthy one is the
| last" And yet we of America, boastiup
of our advancement and civilization, have
but just begun to write the last. If Rus
| kin is right when he says, art has only
| been produced by nations that rejoiced in
/ ii; fed themselves with it, as if it were
! bread; basked in it, as if it We're sun
shine; shouted at sight Of it; danced with
| delight of it: fought for it, and starved
for it," we are lar from the goal of the
noblest in art.
ART NEEDS.
| Art needs, and all great art has always
! had, fostering care. If the individual
| has too often missed it, as in the cases of
| Turner and Millet, the body, the whole,
of which they were parts, has not. In
deed, the worlds history were sadly
changed with the influence Of her patrons
OF art removed. Wipe from the records
of Florence the influence of Lorenzo de
Medici, and how stripped does she ap-
| pearl What tales untold-what songs
unsung! Had there been no MeGician
gardens, where the arts were nurtured
and tostered, mayhap there would have
been no Michael Angelo. And who can
estimate such a loss? Pope Julius H.
! lived, and Raphael-an emblazoned Vati-
cana st. Peters, is. TO Charles V. and
! the Venetian authorities we are indebted
| lOr mucn OF IAe rIcD heritage tnat lItldn
/ and TintorrettO left us. France has her
Louvre, her Salon and her Pantheon
! that noble monument devoted to the
genius Of her children); and who can ad-
| Just the nice relation between those and
her position as mistress of the art world
| to-day.
HELPING HANDS.
! What is our Western commonwealth
doing for her children? Her private cit
/ izens failing in this great work, why does
not California herself take it up? The
State recognizes the wisdom and Justice
OF furnishing to her sons scientific train
ing in medicine and law, in science and
| belles-lettres. Why should she not en-
dow school of design, an academy of
painting?
Why is the line drawn here? Why ex-
clude the factor so potent in writing her
history, in perpetuating her noble and
| 4 n,i1lc lanAs in rnnnrAirncr hnr.