The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-22
THE ART EXHIBIT.
Last Words About the Pictures, with
Casual Views on Art i'm General.

No one living is benefited by criticism.
It makes people cautious and distrustful,
and they fear to give way to brave rallies
of admiration and kindling emotions, be-
come fastidous and cynical, surrender their
own independent taste and learn to like
and dislike at secondhand. They do not
value their own opinions until they hear
others express them. Any one can learn
the entire jargon of the studio in about
three-quarters of an hour; any one can
talk of science, burnt lumber and lake and
can say that a picture is "dryly painted"
'ls dried in too much" has too much dry
brush work. is fiat" ''papery," and
"stringy," and, If painting is
daub from every point of view,
can call it "impressionist," and so on.
But all such talk is not worth one
honest opinion. Indianapolis people are not
generally given to talking art" and are
apt to receive this sort of jargon with a
grin, but they are quick to see the good
points of a thing. They perceive the broad
calm of Mr.. Steele's style. especially in
whitewater Sands" and his glamour of
the mildly beamng misty sunshine of
southern Indiana. They do not miss the
point so well set. of the green pumpkin
in Mr.. Forsyth's imposing large landscape.
If there is anything good they have the
lis agacity to see it, without any make-be-
lieve and without having it pointed out
Miss Rudisells garden picture is much adj
mired. A waled-in garden, shut in with
the sky. has a charm of quiet and Seclu-
sion that no unfenced ground can possess.
A garden is good for nothing unless you
can lie down, lounge, sit carelessly, sew
on large work, read piles of newspapers
and books, think, talk unreStralnedly and
dress roughly therein. A garden where sick
folks may sit wrapped in wadded cloaks,
where small children cannot run away,
where tramps and peddlers cannot enter,
where bills and circulars cannot be deliv-
cred, is an earthly heaven. The strangest
and most maniacal fad that ever befogged
the human understanding is the American
notion that all garden fences must be cast
away. The time will come when the high
walled garden, with the locked and bolted
gate, will be again appreciated Miss Rudi-
sells garden picture represents the unseen,
hidden beauty of a walled garden, close to
other gardens whose profuae flowers nod
over walls, and she depicts the neat trim
ness and rich variety of heads of blossoms
in French cottager's demesne. Mrs. Ham
mond shows water-color OF Maryland
tree by a Maryland road. Here we have
the ruddy Southern SOIL This soil is seen
in every landscape of the South from
Texas to the Atlantic coast, and it con-
tributes a tinge of red quite unparalleled
for brilliancy In some of the cotton States,
Southern en LANDS The South has 'I not as y a
be sn celebrated by painters and poets. NJ.
Taine said that talk in a picture gallery
was like broomstick waved In the midst
of flock of butterfiies-,it scattered all the
ideas evoked by the works of art A picture
gallery. TO be enjoyable, must be silent
Generally, when people begin to talk about
art they sooner or later work around to
the nude. Indignantly against or enthusiast
tically for 1t. The truth is that taste for
art can never be rooted in a community
until the, notion that there is anything OBJ
jectionable in the human frame is first root
ed out. The nude is the finest art
because it has TO be perfect. Anything out
of drawing in the figure is noticed at once,
whereas If a tree, house or animal is a
little wrong 1t passes as well enough. Peo-
pie love the human figure; what delight
the crowd at a circus takes at its spring
ing poses. The second discussion in the field
of art is whether a model is always neces-
sary. Well, the model must be there be-
fore the eye of the painter, even if he be
at work on nothing more than barn; 9TH
erwise his work will not be we'll done. The
tales about artists who work without
models are generally rubbish.
The Propylaeum exhibit closes tonight. A
number of visitors from out of town, bust
ness men and others have dropped in to see
the pictures, especially in the morning be-
fore business hours.