Milford chronicle., 1893-06-23

About one half of the whole number are
| paintings in oil, the remainder being
statuary, water colors, pastels, engIray
/ incs. etchinCs, pen and INK
/ charcoal. black and white and
other drawings. There is not dull
or uninteresting work in the lot. Every
one has had to run the gauntlet Of a jury
ofadmissiun; the whole collection Is an
example of the survival Of the httest.
There are hundreds and hundreds OF IA
nous paintings and statues, many OF
which will tempt the visitor to inger a
/ half hour or an hour.
But suppose you start out to see the
, whole display, piece Icy piece, determined
| to allow but a minute to each one. How
much time will be required7 One hun
dred and thirty-fve hours, or twenty-five
and Lalf days OF six hours each.
The ART palace, therefore, Is tremendous
in size. II represents the best the artists
of the world can do. Those who are IA
lniliar with the art displays of past exposi-
tions declare this to be by long odds the
finest and most representative collection Of
works ever brought together under one
roof, and we may easily believe them.
What most Gstonishes the average visitor
is not, after all, the magnitude q the dis
play. This may be the GTst Of his sensa-
tions, but after an hour or a day or two
spent in the gallerles-there are lS1 dis
tinct apartments or alcOves in the palace
be Is overwhelmed with consciousness
that until this minute he has never
realized what modern art IS. Having
been too busy earning his bread and butter
to give more than passing, careless atten-
tion to such things, lie had in general
sort Of way formed the idea that art con-
sisted principally Of nude statues, busts,
figures based On mytholOgy;Of pictures Of
nvmpls, madonnns Eathers, bits Ofscenery,
peasant life, wiudmills, fishermen and
Ships. He never Lad had an idea that art
goes forth to every walk of life, and
transcribes TO canvas everything there is
in the world that has character, feeling,
SOUL beauty or drama in it.
To go about in this palace is like being
n place where master minds and skill
NJ hands have portrayed the world and
,-,,-.,sq tents for your inspection. Here you
ave die world oBasa wall. it is not only the
world of nature tpf her beauties, not
,lone the world of Nee beautiful and the
deal, but the world realIty, Of drama,
Of tragedy, of comedyN Modern art ls not
with the el8 zeal, nor with
scenery, nor with studiesW folorand action
furnished ny collACdpAaC " tAaNAViNA"A
subjects 1t ransacks all IN tory for great
events, for crises, for occuSs,enees which
have stirred the world audNeent their
echoes through time. 1t hGntS Through
all literature for scenes and chara4ters. 1t
goes to the prison, the worlssllop, the
poorhonse the morgue, the hospital, the
rolling mill, the locomotive, the steam
ship, the railway, the mine, the scat
fold, the army, the camp, to the desert
and the ice field, the surgical clinic and
the operating room, to the death bed AID
the baptismal font-it gees every place
where feeling OF passion may be found
for its inspiration.
The tendency of modern art seems to
1 don't claim to know much
about it-tOward the intense, the drama
tic At any rate, this palace is filed with
paintings and statuary which fire the i'm
agination, warm the blood and stir the |
soul And some day 1 hope to write you |
. letter about the pictures here which |
have this dramatic feeling in them.
WALTER WELLMAN.