The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-01-19
1.-THE Liberal Art Exhibition.
To the Editor Of the Press:

Two or three central ideas seem to
dominate the work in the su-called
HLiberal ArU Exhibition now omen In
thisscity, and these ideas ara SO import
ant, and apparently in some ways SO
conflicting, that no one can write in
teIligently about the pictures without en-
tering into something of their spirit
In the first place, we evidently have this
notion of the democracy of art Art is
for everybody, the exhibition is free,
and, we are glad to learn, large mum beers
have awaited themselves of the privilege
| offered them. Mr.. Fox undoubtedly be-
lieves with William Morris that it were
better that all beauty were stripped
from the walls Of rich mems houses and
the academies Of art, than that it should
not shine for all. Certainly it is most in
teresting to note the effect OF art--or for
that matter, of poetry or music-upon
fsaIl classes and conditions of men. !"
What appeals to 1.-THE common people?"--
| If we are allowed to have any "common
people, In America, all of us being SO
very individual and uncommon. Ia there
any method of deciding? We'll, human
| nature is all of piece, and rs Mrs.
Browning vigorously says, "nesds one
flannel WITH" of course, proper differ
enoes In the quality" And it is we'll
| known fact that the commonest OF COM
mon people have been hushed ana sawed
before the divine loneliness of the Ures-
den Madonna. But how is il to be with
the far.fetched sym bolism of much Of our
modern art? Will ''the common people"
see this ''gladly"? We must await the
returns. s,.--
Again, there is socialism. This is the
motif of one OF the largest oanyases of the
present exhibition. It's spirit con-
spicuously oolors Mr.. Fox's own
work. 1t is proclaimed from tho vol
umes on table, with card set up near
them bearing this inscription:
''Thers shall come a time when each
shall TO another
Be as Christ would have him, brother
unto brother.
The titles Of some Of these books are
significant: The Martyrdom OF Man,
The World g Sixteen Crucified Sayiors,
White Slaves. Nearb ykuan inscription
from the famous words of the anti-
slavery retormer: 81 am in earnest-and
| will be heard" Certainly, the social
istio spirit is III the air. The pictures
Oh the walls-a few of them at least
are Intentionally wrought for the ad-
vancement OF the brotherhood OF man.
If the purpose occasionally runs ahead
of the artistic eX6cution-no maGGeri
but, also, very clearly the idea OF q
SOUND art education, d training of the
people to understand and to enjoy the
works of the greatf artists OF all time,
contributes It's element TO the place. In
a small way the exhibition is doing
much to train US to study both histori-
cally, and. one might say, crcatiYely,
the differenb schools of painting. We
may recall that last year there was a
representation of some italian schools.
This year we have photographs Of Dutch
ana Flemish works, most interesting in
themselves and Offering an instructive
field for study. We are specially struck
by the ''Fox Studio Leatet, No. 81 ap-
pended to the catalogue, written We are
Gold, by various local Geachers and ar
fists. These comments are most sugges-
tive and, so far as we can verify them,
| delicious and wise. The remarks upon
Rubens, Van Dyck and Rem brandt GER
| tainly show very remarkable keenness
| IA JQNHA4lOEo- kSNOA ~ &AS48 AS
Of very high order.
| Still further in tho line of art educa-
ton, ons of the noticeable features of the
exhi bition is the group of three panels
| from nature Of Mushrooms Of the State
OF Maine, painted by members of the
| Fox Studio. The careful rendering of
the coloring Of th ESQ fungi has resulted
in some beautiful harmonies, and has
emphasized the important fact that all
decorative art is founded upon The
unity of it's color effect. From this point
of view the fungus family is very full Of
suggestions" OF truths
"TheTe ia no great and no small
To tue soul that seeth ALL !"
In addition to the inherent beauty of
these studies in color, the panels and
still further the leafet added to the cata-
logue, Mushrooms as Food for the Peo-
pie, serve an important educational pur-
pose. The aim is not dubious. Art can
serve utility as well as beauty-indeed,
in all its higher relations, the useful Is
the beautiful.
But now to "take the bull by the
horns,'' let us face thu large picture by
MIR. Eox, 1.-THE Working God and the
sower." Evidently, here, We are deal
| ing with symbolism, and touch the
artists favorite gospel of work. Some
examination. of the painters unique POSI-
sion-so far as we are able to understand
thrust be made. The Venus of Milo,
Mr.. Fox has recently said, is not Rhere-
after to De considered n perfect model of
beauty, because she has not enough n
her face. She has not worked anough,
suffered enough, and especially she has
not sweat enough. Millet, he seemed to
affirm. is the ideal painter, largely be-
cause he has painted the common people
at their daily toil-the sower, the reaper
| the aleaner-and has thus thrown in his
lot with the workers of the world. He
who paints for the rich and the great,
the painter Of pleasure, "goes to his own
place, - to confusion and blackness or
darkness. Mr.. Fox, too, in all his latef
paintings, proolaims the holiness of
work. Very good, we find little fault
with his choice Of subjects, though we
still believe that Keats has much Of right
on bis side when he declares that
Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty;'' and
fancy chat the Venus of Milo has not
bean wholly outgrown as an ideal. But
apparently in his devotion to the spirit
of work, Mr.. Fox has grown teadily in
30 worship of the ugly-sven the mon
strous. Why mutt the picture in its rep