The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-09
ITS AIMS.
Mission of the
Art League.
RAPID GROWTH
Of the Movement Indicates
Good Results.

purpose OF cultlVatlng the love or the
artistic in the school children.
Instituted in 1895, through the efforts
of Rev. A. S. Carver, it was officially
recognized by being put under the su-
pervision and control of the school COM
mittee, although having its own Off
GERS and bylaws, and having but two
members of the school board upon its
rolls.
The object of the league as set forth
in its bylaws, is ito cultivate in the
people, through the influence of the
public school pupils, desire for finer
life by creating among them a love fol-
the beautiful, promoting and strength
ening this love among the pupils by a
more extended and artistic decoration
of the school rooms"
1t is also the work of the league tc
promote this end by the raising OF
funds to furnish suitable works Of arr
to the schools
In its comparatively brief existence
the league has succeeded in making ex.
cellent Roadway towards the goal al
which it aims, namely the furnishing
of the walls of our graded schoo
rooms with works of art that will be
an inspiration to the budding manhood
and Womanhood that occupies them
but, as in every good work there has
been certain amount of hamperine the
progress by the lack Of necessary
funds.
The art exhibit that is now in pro.
gress in the Office rooms formerly or.
oupled by the superintendent Of pub.
TIC schools, at 476 Main street and which
has been noticed before in the columns
or The Spy, is an effort that the league
is making towards the attainment Of
Its ends and one that happily Is meet
ing the cordial support of the people
of the city.
Lest there are those who are NOT os
yet familiar with the Character of the
exhibition, it may be outlined some.
thing in this fashion, There is now on
oisp4ay at the place mentioned a ool-
lection of reproductions of all tbe hest
works OF art Of all ages, which have
Deen chosen especially with reference
TO their suitability for decoration Of
They represent all the schools of art
from the beginning Of the earlier civil
lzations of the world down no the
present time. These are framed to
the number of five hundred. and hing
about the walls of the room so as M
be easily inspected and studied. Bach
picture is numbered, and is by This
means readily looked UP In the cata-
logue winch may be obtained by the
visitor. The catalogue explains the
picture in brief, telling the subject. the
artist, his time Of birth and death. the
school to which he belonged and the
place IN which the original of his
painting now hangs.
In addition to the hanging pictures.
there is collection of over ten thou
sand unmounted photographs of noted
at No
adults or by the children under the
direction of the teachers or parents
The object of the exhibit is to aid
the work of the Art League in several
ways. The principal one is by obtain
ing money with which to place works
of art in the school rooms of the city.
To this end the small admission fee is
charged, the entire proceeds going to
the object stated.
The other most important object of
the exhibit is to aid the work of the
league by interesting the people of the
city in the work that it is doing. The
desire on the part of the officers and
members of the league is very strong
that the people of Worcester should
awake to a better realization of the I'M
portance of encouraging artistic study
in the schools.
By placing suitable pictures and
good examples of pure and elevating
art into the school rooms, results that
are more far-reaching in their effects
than can be estimated cannot but be
accomplished. 1t is too we'll known a
fact to require statement, that the age
which finds children in the public
schools is the most impressionable one
Of their lives, the one in which their
future characters and consequently ca
reers are almost inevitably moulded
At this zine they are ready to receive
impressions as clay in the hands of
the potter, and 1t behooves the one
who would elevate the condition Of the
whole race, to look to the public school
room for the fulcrum point of his
lever.
The idea of making the study of art
an important and vital portion of the
public school curriculum is compare
lively recent one, but one that is so
well justified by the dictates of common
sense that it is remarkable that it
should have been as long as it was in
gaining its rightful place there. The
advancement of any civilization must
of necessity be aided by anything that
tends to the nearer approach of people
in general to the best ideals of what is
truly beautiful and worthy of notice in
the world that Is about us.
The cultivation of the finer feelings
that the heart is capable of always
tends to higher standards of citizenship
and morality. 1t has always been the
record of history that the high tides of
civilization in the annals of all the
races of the world have conceded with
their highest attachments in the realms
of art and literature.
There are many reasons why the
study of classic art should be encour-
aged in the schools. The principal one,
of course, is the economic one just cited,
which is the best advantage that can
be brought forth by anything educa-
tional or otherwise, namely the making
of the younger generation better fitted
to become worthy citizens of the re-
public. Nearer at hand apparently than
this, there are advantages to be noted
as coming from art study, in the rou-
tine work of the schools. Properly con-
Quoted, 1t may be used to interest the
scholars in their studies as almost
nothing else can.
The power of suggesting the potency
to arouse the imagination that picture
made by an artist that in mind when
he worked more than the mere lines he
drew, cannot be oVerestimated. Into
whatever Of the ordinary branches of
the school work one may look good
reproduction of great picture at the
command Of wise teacher can open up
untold vistas~to the youthful mind and
make even the dry bones OF history,
geography and even mathematics won
derfully interesting.
The thought of the artist as he
worked, the accessories of the scene he
depicts the life and times in which
he lived, and a hundred kindred topics,
can be developed by q teacher who
sees the value of such an exercise to