The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-16

should be taught that they were born
to be beautiful, and that they should
not wear eolOrs that offend the eve.
Some OF my best friends sin against me
by ofend1ng my eye by wearing I'M
becoming colors.''
Value of Drawing.
Miss Gertrude Stoker followed with
short address on the subject Of the
value Of drawing.
"The child at BIRTH she began, "is
circumscribed in that the number Of
its brain cells can never be increased
The growth Of the brain depends more
on environment than on heredity.
Every effort on the part Of the child
to express something causes the
brain to grow. He should see and hear
that which shall strengthen him and
his brain.
When a child comes to us he can
neither read nor write, but he can
draw. We tell him g story which he
tries to tell through pictures. The eff
fort gives him a sharp idea and his
powers of observation are increased
Definite seeing leads to definite think
ing, and accurate observation to &C
curate thought We would delight to
make artists but that Is not our OBJ
ject. We mean to train the eye and
Judgment. When I give the paint pot
to a child of the flats and get him to
paint the sky I have taught him to OBJ
serve the beauties of nature and have
lifted him from his environment which
Is his salvation
Oliver Crosby made a few remarks in
a similar strain and was followed by
relation of art education-to good citi-
Zenship.
Judge Willis said that the most artis-
tic people were VIGOROUSLY the least
fitted for good citizenship. He in
stanced Italy and Spain, and said that
the nation that produced Rafael was
the most corrupt in history. On the
other hand the Quakers, who abjured
art and all things artistic, were splen-
Gid citizens. The Bible forbade the
making of craven images. Yet in mod
ern days an artistic taste was not in
consistent with good citizenship.
Reynolds might not have governed
England as we'll as Pitt, but Pitts
friendship for Reynolds did not make
him a worse governor for England. He
said that the Chicago exposition was a
triumph Of art in which the American
nation gloried, and it showed that art
and good citizenship went hand in
hand
Prof. N. K. Brewer. spoke of art as an
interpreter Of nature.
MANY professional men, said Prof.
Brewer, ARE uncertain where to draw
the line between the real and the
Ideal. Art is not necessarily a trans
script of nature. 1t must be ideal as
well as real. 1t must convey the art
lists impression Of nature. The stu
dent must learn to truthfully transcrbe
his impressions. If reality is the high
est art, then photography is our high
est effort. Then art is useless for we
cannot improve upon it.
Man must build and construct from
the materials offered by nature some
thing that expresses his feelings. Any
thing superficial mars the impression.
Suppose you see a sunset. What do
you take with you? The little things in
the trees? No. You take the entire
thing-the tout ensemble. Details cut
no figure. They are lost and the artist
must see this and paint it. Turner low
ed to paint the moon and it's mystic
effects Corot loved to paint the
morning: its grayness; its GOODNESS and
it's mists. He caught the larger mood,
not the details. His trees are brushed
in with a few strokes. Nature is the
basis of art, but art is not a faithful
copy of it."