The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-07-28
LACKING In ART.
Spain Is Not Up to the Coun-
tries About Her.
ER EXHIBIT AT TIE WORLDS FAIR

Although il One Respect Il Is Spain,
Exposition Her Showing Is Not Up L
the sIark-5Eore ATTENTION Devoted f
Agricultural Products Than to the Ar
Piled Arts.
WORLDS FAIs. July a7.- [Speciall -
In one respect this is SPANS fair. It 4
i held in conamemoration Of the discover
| OF America by one CT the voyageurs sen
| out by her royal rulers. One OF her prin
cesses, Eulalia, has been a l.Ies5 of hone
| here. One OF her dukes, descending q
! Columbus himself, with his family, wer,
warmly received as guasts OF nation, cit
and fair. Spain might have done bet
| ter at the exposition, but she has don
well. Her government made liberal ap
! preparation to aid tho manufacturers ani
| producers in their work OF giving credit
able display Of Spanish arts and industries
Spain erected here national building
True. it is not SIS fine a building as that
! Of the Germans, nor that Of the French
nor even that Of the Brazilians. It con
tains no exhibits, but it is nevertheless i'm
| pressive, with It's vast cathedral interior
| its ecclesiastic paintings, its decoration.
of the period in which Columbus sailed or
his memorable voyage.
| If Spain fails TO make as interesting &
| showing here as the other European ma
| tons her failure need Lot be ascrihed tt
| lack of effort. The simple truth is, sh;
does not possess the arts and industries
which oarasa1a of "a
worthy and impressive exhibit. Spain /:
very largely an agricultural country, ans
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 OF
Europe, saving only tue work OF the Span
tsh school OF painters. These painters,
though not great numerically, nor prolific,
have sent to the exposition Art gallery
some of its most striking canTases. But
In the applied arts, in ceramics, carvings,
engraving, work in metal and wood, the
Spanish are notably inferior In textiles
they strike n high note, and produce some
elegant plain silks and a great variety of
serviceable 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 is 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 a
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 in 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 be the Chipango of which he had
read in the books of travels written by
Marco Polo. Yet these few dried leaves Of
tobacco have poured more wealth into the
lap OF Spain than all the gold which has
been mined in her western colonies.
Yet the Spanish section III the Manu-
features building is by no means dull or
uninteresting. 1t is not Respondent with
beauty. glittering with polish, like the
displays of France, Italy, Germany, Aus
tria, Belgium, Denmark, Russia, but it
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
post Of honor. She was, instead, as
signed to space somewhat remote from the
grand central avenue which runs through
the building, and this section, still more
unfortunately, is more Or less buried under
the floor of the broad gallery. The cree
ton of q facade was impossible under the
circumstances, and the Spanish commits
sioners contented themselves with filing
the space beneath the gallery floor with
arches of Moorish type and coloring Ike
the vaulted ceilings Of the Alhanbra pal
ace. The effect is Moorish to high de-
gree, and by this simple means the 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 IS vases renaissance"
One, some five feet high and of graceful
Is valued at SO, go. 1t was
made by q woman, Madame Felipa Gui-
sarola, Of Madrid. She was seven years At
her task. The material Of the vase Is
FURNISHED steel, and on this are TnagEiti-
cent gold incrust2tions. No other metals
or materials than steel and gold are used,
and the effect is inaescribably zach. a
smaller vase, which represents two years
OF Madame Guisa-ola's rosl. IS valued at
$1,000. As yet neither OF the pieces has
been sold, and l fear viii not be. 4 pho
tograph CT Madame Gnisagola is shown
near the vase, and q charming Spanish
Is there TO answer sill questions,
l asked TIE Spanish commissioner what
was the most artistic thing his couutTy-
man had 10 show here. 20. answer lie led
me to carved cabinet IN which nearly al
the native woods OF Spain hare been used. !
He pointed to it with evident pride, and /
indeed II is g beautiful piece CT work, ep- +.
pareatiy worth the prics sss upon It, :! 40. /
But it hears little comparison II Grtls13c /
value with the cars ings OK the Italians and !
other EuFopeaaa- Il IS coid ard hsz2. /
lacks finish and ane toueh. Is one lo'3ks 4
az this pisce, eoufasssdlT the best thing /
the Spanish have besa able 70 do. and ti,sa I
glaness overAeGd as.d t5g2s gets tbs sag
gestion OF the glory CT that Alham's-a /
which the 3ocrs lost ID the SpaEiarxzs II !
the gage Of battle. the taoagEt cunaes /
strong that civilization entered n ti2Es /
defeat and harisAn1ens q race This 1