The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-25

How shall I begin? I puzzled sorely
| over this question when THE CALLS re-
quest for an art essay reached ne. Finally
the answer came. quite as an inspiration
at the beginning. So / turned back to the
days of MARBLE and Young to the early
|. days of art in San Francisco. Ought 1 to
say "art"? / am in doubt, for 1 mean the
early SOS and that period Immediately
succeeding the close of the war. But /
will let it stand.
Everything and anything in the SEM
hlance of picture sold then. An art
wave swept over California; shall stick
70 the word now-and everybody bought
pictures. Those were the halcyon days for
painters IN this City. The people had
money, had more of it than they needed,
so they bought art works generously. Even
chromos commanded big prices. I remem-
Der that Marble copied a chrome of Bier
stadt's "Sunset in California" and sold it
for handsome sum. HEIDI not even pre-
tend that it was more than copy. Those
were also Bierstadt's haleyon DAYS. Men
who could mix colors and put colors on
canvas had no trouble in selling the fin
ished canvas. Some OF those who sold
pictures here IN those days could do
more than mix colors, and some few could
even paint pictures that were deseryedly
ranked as art works-but the latter num-
Der was not large. / like to dwell upon
those days, because San Francisco artists
found home appreciation then, and, what
is better, home market. The wealthy
people of California bought pictures
no tod nVrG a1
was young then and men could see the
poetry and the romance and the art that
lay at their own doors. And yet there was
not such a wealth of it as there is now.
| am not signing for those old times to
come again, because see greater prom
Use in the future, and because-because
San Francisco's wealth of true art is far
greater to-day than it was then, and l sup
pose if we had to have the old DAYS over
again we would have to take all their con-
ditions, and some of those conditions were
not pleasant.
Things have advanced, art has pro-
crossed. The art school has done much to
forward art in San Francisco. Then, too,
our young men have gone abroad and
looked upon the works of the masters.
have been able to draw lessons from the
galleries of Paris, Munich and Rome as
well as though they had been born on the
effete side of the Rocky Mountains. They
have returned to California and put on
canvas lasting works of art. I wish
could get the rich men, not only of San
Francisco, but of the whole United States
to believe this. And I wish l could get
them to believe it as we'll of all art and
literature as of painting. Our lacking in
both is only commensurate with our lack
Ing in population - nothing more anu
nothing less. Our young men and women
have had the same advantages as those of
older States. Their work is as good. Man for
man California artists are as gifted as those
of New York, and those of New York
as those of Paris. Yet when great man
is wanted California looks eastward for
him; New Workers look eastward for him.
California has lost the faculty of seeing
the wealth at her own door, even as the
East long ago began to look still further
east for its wants in art and literature
This is painfully apparent to artists, and
more notorious yet in the matter of liter
ature. Think of books like those of Bierce
falling fat and pro6tless because they bear
the imprint OF San Francisco publishing
house. Then think of books like those
ground out by-well, will mention no
names-bearing the imprint of an Eastern
publisher and bringing wealth to the au-
thor and authoress. When Miss Cool
BIRTHS book of poems first made Its APP
pearance it was printed by local firm.
Recently the Riverside Press has printed a
book of Miss Coolbrith's containing the
same and some added poems. The first
edition brought its authoress nothing. The