The Evening dispatch. [volume] (Provo, City, Utah) 1891-1895, 1895-04-25
PROVO CITY. APRIL 25, 1885,
THE NUDE IN ART.

Just now the above subject is receiv-
ing attention all over this country and in
New York especially, where the legis-
lature is wrestling with bill designed
60 correct the evil. We are glad to see
the attention which this subject is eX'
citing, because in all probability the
means will be developed in conse-
quence, by which the evils will be
greatly lessened. if not entirely wiped
out, and more correct idea of true art
be developed. To say that to this
cause is aGeribable much of the prevail
ing immortality of the aga, is but the
utterance of tTuisn. For many years
the advanced and enlightened nations
of the world, recognizing the baneful
influence of impure literature upon
public morals, have sought by severe
laws against it to drive out or greatly
lessen the evil. This policy has been
attended by the most satisfactory re-
suits. The principle underlying the
" al Ol AhOC AL oAb SAOAA VIZ
same motive, and it will, it must
have the effect of sooner or later
greatly lessening this form of gross
immortality. Il will go even farther, it
will eventually assist upon "dress re-
FORM which will compel even the
habitues of fashionable life to at least
decently drape the nude in nature as
well.
This is essentially the age Of immor-
slity, and not half of it has its origin
in the drink halls of the land. Fash
ionable people, ultra fashionable people,
give routs, Assem- blies, receptions and
parties of various kinds which are at
tended by all the people having entree
60 fashinable circles. On the walls OF
the rooms are found specimens of
"high art so called, which freely ex-
pose the bosoms Of ladies represented,
and the more ultra the fashion of the
host and hostess the greater the eI
p1sure in art and the more scant The
uTdpSIf. LIE 10 AOb 6lis pub ~ dll ROC5
for nigh art and there must be no
groaning. 1t is all fashionable and it Is
treason to utter word of complaint.
Turn from the pictured nudity on the
walls and note 1t on the sofas, divans
and chairs or whirling in the "mazy
waltz" What discomfort the pictured
nudity fails to bring to the pure and
tle modest, surely the flesh and blood
article will mora than supply. All this
Is done in the name and at the behest
of fashion, but is it less evil in it's eff.
fects than if 1t is found in dives
and haunts of vice? Is it not
even more deIeterious because
in fashions halls the utmost?
care is taken that little else that is
coarse or repulsiVe goes with the mere
nude exhibition? Thus is 1t mora in
sidiuous and therefore more dangerous.
This same may be said of all the
amusements which shorten or abbreyi-
ste in any way the modest coverings of
woman, or serve to expose the form TO
the wanton gaze of the public, or
which, indeed, drag fair women un-
necessarily before the promiscuous
crowds of jeering, careless and, if you
will, immoral men.
ASK honest and capable men, OBJ
servers, if the percentage of immoral
ity, of divorce, of unhsppiness and the
dism 2l consequences of these, haYe not
vastly, nay, alarmingly increased in
the last twenty fye years, The an
swer will come from all over chrlsten-
dom, indeed it has. Indecent pictur-
ing, nudity In art, as well as nudity in
fashion, 10 say nothing Of the twin Sis
ter Of these, bad literature, will be
found figuring, as the one, or rather as
the trinity of exciting causes. Few of
the people really understand what We |
N can when we talk Of bad literature. |
We do not mean the grossness of !
Smollet, 0uida and the French school |
of literature alone. Such books as
rriIby, many Of our modern poems,
slay their thousands where Smollet
and the grosser schools count their vic.
Tins by hundreds only. 90 to the pal
aces OF siu in our great cities and take
the backward trail of the fair, frail
sinners present and note what fear
fully large per cent. of them come from
the very circles of society where in the
nude in art and nudity in real life are
not only tolerated but demanded by
Dur ultra-fashionable customs.
Here is a far broader field for the
reformers OF the age than is to be
found in legislative halls, our courts or
even constitutional conventions. All
The evils of this life do not spring from
having deprived lovely woman so long
IF her political rights at the ballot box,
lor do they come from the open drink
lslls. These will not be lessened
either by the ballot or by prohibition.
Which one Of our earnest reiormers in
he constitutional convention has
,ffered provision restraining these
most potent agencies of immortality
nd crimef Does it not look as il
here was good deal of humbug
Ibout some of these reforms, to say
nothing of the reformers themselves.
When we haYe gotten through with
egislation to make men sober, pious
md God-fearing, we can surely devote
! little time to the immoral agencies
Ying behind all these crimes, but i'll ;,
lain open sight Of thinking and OBJ a