Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1893-08-01
LACKING IN AIT.
Spain 10 Not Up to the Coun.
tries About Her.
HER EXHBT AT THE WORLDS PAR


Erpositioa Her Showing IL Not Up d
the dsrk-SGors Attentieu Devoted "a
Agricultural Predasts Thaa 70 ths Ap.
piled Arts.
WORLDS FAM. July Especially =
In one respect this IL spain's fair. Il !,
held In commemorstion OF the discovery
Of America by one OF the voyageurs sent
out BY her royal rulerh One OF her prin-
cessss, EulalIa, has bssn guest Of hono'
here. One Of her dukes, descendant ol
Columbus himself, with his family, wers
warmly received ~ guests Of nation, city
and fair. Spain might have done bet.
ter at the sxposition. but she has dons
well. Her government made liberal ap
preparation TO aid the manufacturers and
producers In their work Of giving credit
able display Of Spanish arts and industries
Spain erected here . national building
True, II IL not a. fne . building a. that
of the Germans, nor that Of the French
nor even that of the Brazilians. Il con
tains no exhibits, but Il hnsverthsless I'm
pressivs, with its vast cathedral interior
its ecclesiastio paintings, its decoration,
Of the period In which Columbus sailed on
his memorable voyage
Ifspain falls TO make - interesting
showing here ~ the other European M
tions her failure need not be aschbsd Il
lack of effort. The simple truth Is, she
does not possess the arts and industries
which arc capable Of producing . note
worthy and impressive exhibit Spain !,
very largely an agricultural country, and
In none Of the arts does she excel The
French to the north Of her and the Ital
ians to the east appear to have absorbed
most Of the artistic instinct Of that part ol
Europe, saving only the work Of the Span
ish school Of painters. These painters
though not gr,at numerically, prolific
have sent to the exposition Art gallery
some Of its most striking canvases. Du,
In the applied arts, In ceramics. carvings,
engraving. work In metal and wood. the
Spanish are notably inferior. In textiles
they strike q high note, and produce some
elegant plain silks and great variety Of
serviccable woolens, but they everywhere
lack In design. Their coloring Is faulty.
and the art Of chemistry evidently has not
made much advancement with them In
the last century.
Spain on the whole n rather disappoint-
Ing. The best thing she has to show US,
aside from her paintings are wool and
cigars, two agricultural products; and for
the latter Of these she is indebted to her
progressive colony Of Cuba, about the
only thing Spain has left In the western
world which the courage Of her navigators
lifted out Of obscurity and offered as .
great gift to civilization. The first thing
Of value Columbus encountered during his
voyage Of discovery was ''some leaves Of q
weed which the Indians smoked In pipe"
The admiral paid little heed TO this native
treasure. He was hungry for gold, and
lost no time I'm steering his vessels for an
island In which the natives told him much
of this weed could be procured, and per-
haps gold, and which Columbus thought
must DO the Chipango Of which he had
read In tho books Of travels written by
Marco Polo. Yet these few dried leaves Of
tobacco have poured moro wealth into the
lap OF Spain than all the gold which has
been mined In her western colonies.
Yet the Spanish section In the Manu-.
fsctures building Il by no means dull or
uninteresting. II n not resplendent with
beauty, glittering with polish, like the
Of France, Italy, Germany, Aus
tria, Belgium, Denmark, Russia, but IL
has characteristics and details worthy our
attention. Spain was unfortunate In her
assignment Of space In this building.
Though the foreign nation most directly
concerned In the historical aspect OF the
Columbian celebration, she was not given
q post Of honor, She was, instead, a..
signed to space somewhat remote from the
grand central avenue which runs through
the building, and this section, still more
Is more or less buried under
the floor Of the broad gallery. The erec-
tion of facade was impossible under the
and the Spanish commis-
sloners contented themselves with filling
the space beneath the gallery floor with
arches OF Moorish type and coloring Ike
the yaulted ceilings Of the Alhambra pal.
ACC. The effect Is Moorish 10 q high do
gree, and by this simplo means tho Span.
ish give character to their section and call
attention to that ancient conquest OF
theirs which perfected their empire far
moro than Columbus discovery OF Amer.
lea.
At what might be called the en-.
trance to this Spanish section are displayed
two vases which attract much attention.
They are known a. "vases renaissance" I"
One. some five feet high and Of graceful
proportions, Il valued at 5000 II was
made by o woman, Madame Felipl Gui.
sarola, Of Madrid. She was seven years nj
her task. The material OF the vase n
FURNISHED steel, and on this are magnia.
cent gold incrustations. No other metals
or materials than steel and gold sre used,
and tho effect Is indescribably rich a
smaller vase, which represents two years
of Madame Guisarola's toll. IL valued ut
$4,000, As yet neither Of the pieces has
been sold, and fear will not be. Apho
tograph Of Madame Guisarola is shown
near the vases, and charming Spanish
signorita Is there to answer all questions.
asked the Spaniah commissioner what
was the most artistic thing his country.
men had to show here. For answer he led
me 10 carved cabinet In which nearly oil
the native woods Of Spain have been used.
lie pointed to IL with evident pride, and
indeed It is beautiful piece OF work, ap
parcntly worth the price set uponit, ", ,2n
but it bears little comparison In artistic
value with the carvings OF the Italians and
other Europeans. II n cold and hard.
lacks flnish and fine touch. A one looks
at this piece, confsssedly the best thing
the Spanish have been able 10 do, and then
rlances overhead and thus gets the sus.
gestion Of the glory Of that Alhambra
which the Moon lost 10 the Spaniards In
the gage Of battle, the thought comes
strong that civilization suffered In that
defeat and banishment Of o race. Thh
thought n intensified when one takes q
look at the Moorish and Algerian pavl'
Ions near BY. Poor ~ these people are In
their African land, almost exclusively pas
torai, with the yoke about their necks anf
rsversion. manifest ip every product o
their hands. they are yet inhLitsly mors
skillful and artistic than the spaniardn
The Spanish exhibit u strong IN lsAther
work. In saddles, harness ware, boots
and shocs, embossed leather for walls and
they touch o high note. In
they are lamentably weak. The
few specimens Of pottery which they show
are rude and inartistic. TAere Il no ex.
case for showihg them at oil. Inpoint OF
fact, the art Of clay-working has degsnsr'
ated In Spain. Every other nation In Eu-
rope can sxcel the Spaniards In this noble
art.
To my mind the most Interesting 70 fs:tur.