The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-05-01

use oi. III Is from
Chicago that have
come large proportion of the
part publications that have
portrayed the great fair. Some
OF them have been admirable. Some have
tugged very hard at the canons OF per-
miSslpie art, and some have utterly
smashed them. The work has been use-
iui' however, in that II has developed the
inexpensive reproductive processes to q
wonderful degree of perfection, so that it
possible to commend The latest-and also
the most admira BILE econceivsd-series with
scarcely reservation. Two parts OF six
! pictures each have been issued, with yery
concise textusl accompaniment by Mr..
stanley Wood, giving in few lnes-on
separate sheet-the barest facts regarding
author and picture. The subjects thus
Tar selected for this series cart Idols of
the Paris Salon." the White City Art
company are all the finest examp ples
OF the nude that have been recently ex-
hioited. The seventh picture is the ia
nous bougueresu "Le Guipier," owned
oy hothschild, which is assuredly one of
the hnest nudes that has been put on
canvas In recent times. II was shrewd
piece OF editing to put 1t in the second
number OF the series, which is often an
index Of the decline from the opening
part TO the level OF the series. In these
two parts there are pictures by
Fleury, Rochegrasse, Le Quesne.
Wencker, Benner, Bouguereau, Con.
cannier, Coosmans, Ballavoins and
Carolus-Duran. The plates are 1lx14
inches, with adequate margins, and the
printing Is admirable. The reproduction
by some one of the Photographic processes
Is very successfully exeeuted-the best /
have ever happened to see. Altogether.
the series promises to be nota bic success
bringing some of the high and most
admirable specimens of modern art within
the easy reach of almost every body having
taste Tor them. The fact of the entire
reliance OF the editor upon the nude may
De regarded as challenge to that
prurient criticism of pure art which
mas Its vogue among those persons who do
their best to discredit purity of thought
oy sssiduously pointing out how un-
natural appetite may feed upon the pre-
serves OF healthy and eievating influence.
nave never been able TO understand the
force OF the criticism OF the nudo in art,
NO nude has ever seemed to me 60 power
fui!y suggestive of things better uncon-
tempIa'ec as many draped subjects. |
Clothes do not-in art-either reveal or |
conceal suggestion OF lust, which is the |
quaiity the wrongheaded purists disap-
prove oil In the nude, suppose. The most
lsscivious pictores / have ever seen
nave been fully draped and conven-
tionaiiy posed. But do not set up "a an |
Rrt critic, nor as an authority upon the
moral influence OF that most beautiful of
Ill the living things God has created--the
female human figure. The influence of
such things upon persons depends upon
'he persons; art objects are sure to sug-
gest to the beholder in the tenor his mind
md heart are responsive to--their senti-
mental and moral clothing is furnished
~ the nature of the beholder, and their
rt value Is estimated according to the
'eholder's degree OF culture.
The true relation OF religion to science
has occupied the thoughts of many able
nen, and there have come from the press
number OF notable books upon that
opic, during the past ten years. Pre-
iously the authors who sought to recon-
lie them were looked upon as venturing
pom field that required at least bold
ess, IL not hardihood, to exploit. Mr..
ohm Fiske, and few others, we're not ,
ackward about setting a mark that is
et above the popular comprehension
revious to that, but they were looked
pom as little better than infidels, and are ,
ven now not wholly emerged from the fog
'tense conservatism settled about them. :
iske wrote In 1888 in his preface to "Ex- q
irsions OF an Evolutionist": "If we 7
ould fain learn sonnet hing of the Infinite =
Q must not sit idly repeating the FORM !
as OF other men and other days, but n
ust grid up our loins anew and dill 1,
ntly explore on every side the finite
aim through which still shines the | q,
ory OF an ever present God for those | Il
at have eyes to see and ears to hear" v
1t has gone on from reluctant admis-
'n that science and religion might pos Z,
bly, be In some measure reconciled to a
o bold ground taken by Mr.. Edmond n
lily In his Evolution and Effort" I'D. n
'pleton q co.,, just issued, which in b,
is that religion must be regarded as lie
mighty working factor in evolution. Jt
:. Kelly's book seems TO me to At ad- tu
rably In the chain OF intellectual evo- Bi
ionsry development that is leading fr
nsistently toward the only true position th
religion and science in evolution-that kr
their absolute and unseparabls one III
Is. am sure, and have been sure for lir
Irs, that the day will come when men
! cease to endeavor to mark q separa- | ST.
n between science and religion which CO
Is not and can not exist-will cease to liz
lsider them distinct forces. That Mr.. be