New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-07-20
CITY OFFICIALS AND CITY ART.

| At the regular meeting of the Park Board
| Yesterday resolution was received from the
| Fine Arts Federation, in which that body ex-
| presses regret at the action of the Park Board
| in refusing to adopt the recommendation of the
| committee which reported upon the plans OF the
Botanic Garden. 1t does seem surprising that
| the Park Board, having asked advice OF skilled
| commission, should reject its counsel without
doing It's members or the public the scant cour-
tesy of giving some reasons for its action.
Or, rather, 1t would be surprising if it had not
come to be understood that this is the regular
mode Of procedure adopted by city officials, and,
indeed, by many men of fair cultivation when
questions OF art are considered. II one wants
his leg amputaed he goes to a surgeon. If he
wants legal advice he consults a lawyer. But
in any matter where art Is the predomnating
feature he rarely thinks it worth while to ad-
wise with an artist.
Take the melancholy Illustration offered by
the proposed Soldiers AMI Sailors Monument.
Certain city officials have been intrusted by the
Legislature with a quarter of a million dollars
to expend In concentrating the patriotic valor
of the men who gave their lives for their coun
try. They deserve the nobest structure that
can be erected and it is due to their memory
that the highest artistic skill should be secured
to direct the movement at every step. But, on
the contrary, this Board taking counsel with
no one, except perhaps the representatives OF
real estate associations who We're very eloquent,
selected site without any careful study The
Fine Arts Federation at once wrote convincing
protest to show just why the plaza was a bad
location for the monument, but the committee,
went. straight ahead as if the unanimous con-
domination of the cty's architects and painters
and scuptors was too trivial thing to be heed
ed An indignant letter from the leading officers
of the Navy, who find enough in a single para
graph Of the Federations protest to convince
them that no adequate memorial can be built
on the plaza, is fouted in the same fashion.
At the last meeting. too, each member of the
Commission named an architect, and these six
are TO make competing designs for the work.
Now, we have no intention 10 speak with dis
respect Of any one of these architects; in fact.
we know nothing OF The majority Of them, and
they may all be men of the highest taste and
training But il would be absurd TO claim that
they have earned a position among the leading
architects in this city, and one cannot help won
derlng why the men who have already achieved
renOwn were not invited. And finally, after
these designs are presented. this Board, which
has gone steadily wrong at every point. is to
sit in aesthetic Judgment and pronounce which
one Of them deserves the prize Of beauty.
The sum Of the matter is that commonplace
or ugly structure will probably be erected. and
it will certainly be badly placed. That Is.
$4,000 will be wasted, and worse than wasted;
for, unless we gre to have monument of which
the city will be proud, and unless it Is set in a
location where its surroundings will enhance It's
beauty and usefulness and where 1t will not
mar another impressive work of art like Cen
trail Park, we had better have no monument
whatever 1t will do no adequate honor to the
memory Of the dead. for they deserve the best
that American art can give. II will commence
rate one thing, however and that is the crude
and unciviliZed way in which a commission to
construct an important work of art for the city
carried out by the city's own officials i'm
the last years OF the nineteenth century