The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-02-05

| seized upon n everything that spelled
art with a capital a was made use of.
Even pictures from magazines u illus
trated papers were utilized. When they
had got together a big COLLECTION, they
sorted out the best, mounted them uni
forlnly on cardboard, labeled them, pasted
envelopes for cards on the back, packed
them into a top buggy and started out to
rouse a sense of the truly artistic in the
country districts.
At first they went to the schoolhouses
where they interested the teachers in the
movement and enlisted their aid. The
plan usually followed was to call a meet
ing at the schoolhouse, exhibit the pictures
and give a little talk concerning them.
These art talks proved wonderfully popu-
lar, and the young women were kept busy
furnishing speakers. After the talk the
pictures were distributed, each family
taking one picture and agreeing to return
it after q certain length of time and ex-
change it for another. And that was all
there was to it. In June the pictures were
called in and stored until the following
fall.
After the first season the Women's club
of Stevens Point took up the work and
has since taken charge of it. OF course
the collection has been materially added
to, and the collecting and distributing are
in the hands of a competent committee.
4 More than this, the State Federation of
Women's Clubs has decided to start a trav-
cling gallery for the use of art clubs and
in various parts of the state different or
CARNATIONS are taking up separate phases
of the work. State Senate Stout is to
add pictures to his travelling Libraries in
Dunn county, too, which is a iattering
Endorsement of Miss Tanners work.
The state federation has appointed an
art Interchange committee for the purpose
Of collecting reproductions of masterpieces
for circulation among small clubs of wom-
en- who are emot from art eenters. Club
women in other states are becoming inter-
ested in the movement and it has been
suggested that a national art interchange
for the federation would be a feasible prof.
ect.
Miss Tanner, to whose energy n en-
terprise the success of the movement is
due, has come to be looked upon as an
authority on such matters and is frequent
ly asked for advice in regard to the start
ing of such enterprises. She believes that
if the selection of pictures is made judi
ciously much can be accomplished toward
creating an aesthetic impulse in country
districts.
cor curse it depends a great deal upon
the class of people among whom your
work lies" she says. "If they are not
well educated, / doubt the ACCESSIBILITY of
giving them pictures Of buildings or his
toric places. What they want is a picture
which tells a story, such as Millet's An
gelus' and others dealing with genre
types.
pictures Of landscapes and flowers
always prove popular. Accompanying
each picture should go a slip telling the
name of the artist, something about his
life, and, If possible, a little story about
that particular work. That is where the
educational side of the scheme comes in.
Surely it will lead to good things. Even
tho desire to know more about the man
who painted the picture may lead on to
the reading of books which would other
wise never be opened. Some day / want
to see pictures circulated in every public
library, just as books are now"