The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-02-05
NATIONAL ART GROWTH
Tg Is SLOW IN AMERICA BECAUSE WE
DEPEND on FOREIGN IDEAS.
Art Must he Fostered by the Handi-
crafts and Must Have It's Foundation
in the Home-soIdIers' Monument.

Kant says; IF one should ask. DO we now
live IN an enlightened age? 1 should answer
NO But rather in an age of enlighten-
ment"
This remark Of the great philosopher IS
now as pertinent as ever Notwithstanding
the invention of steam power. electricity
and the stupendous progress made in all
branches of technical knowledge, mechanics,
chemistry, etc. in short, all that which has
given our century the name Of the iron age.
So it is amidst the laundering Of the Pa
eific express, the whirr Of myriads Of swiftly
turning wheels, the shrielKing of steam
whistles and the chaotic clatter of our
neveT-sleeping commercialism underneath
the dense black pail OF smoke from innu-
merable chimneys that we, the children of
our time, in true childish manner feel a
want Of something else with which to oc-
cupy our minds, something which we want
the worse the less our environments are cal
culated to supply it.
If we should attempt to apply the remark
OF Kant with reference to art we would
have to admit that, relatively speaking we
are to-day not even in a state Of enlighten-
ment, but farther from it than ever before
in the history Of civilization This is true
as far as God stretches his green earth, and
nothing could be, or in fact, is Q more Sc
rious obstacle to enlightenment than the
envious belief that our German, English or
French neighbors are possessed Of two
cloalIs, one of which morally belongs to us.
It is not the case; at best their cloaks fit
them and not us, and garment which is
given away is not expected to be a wedding
robe into which one can appear in high
places. This foolish alteration Of ours for the
foreign, the exotic, leads us to all kinds of
extravagances and ridiculous acts. We inn
port French actresses, German and italian
singers and pay enormous sums to possess,
not their art, but it's outward coverings.
would not like to be understood as failing
in esteem for much real good that we really
obtain from these artists. My criticism is
merely directed against the eventual infu-
ence OF their performances; it is vanity of
vanities, show but not production. Their
efforts are not given from hearts artistically
pure, genuinely striving for the redemption
OF the world through the blessing of the
true, the good and the beautiful, but for
mercenary reasons, pandering to a depraved
public taste and catering to the wealthy
few whose support makes their enterprise
a fashionable one and dazzling to the eyes
Of the thoughtless throng. A flower is the
free gift of an almighty nature that can
make it grow on a manure pile, but art is
the highest product of man and man is not
so mighty as to extract eternal harmonies
from a frog pond. for art is not without but
within, the product Of creative mind. Art is
not merely beautiful decoration of the
baroness of life, not mere superficial
solace to enliven a few leisure evening
hours after the labors of the day.
Art is life-life-ennobling work-and the
full meaning of art in life is to give to sub
jective ideals form or substance whereby
they are made accessible to external sense.
How often do we hear the complaint that
our times no more produce masters as of
old? Why is it that an age which turns out
rnillionaires by the carload cannot produce
a single Durer or Beethoven? Hardly ever
was there period so completely devoid of
artistic feeling, an age that absorbed so
much of it's best powers in the sordid pur-
suits of material gain or the mere struggle
for existence. Under such circumstances the
genius of art becomes interpretive and in
that light we viii have to approach the
best works of our age.
THE IDEAL AND THE REAL.
In the old glad days of art especially
those of the Renaissance, we only know
of idealization and ennobling of reality,
weaving about the simplest and homliest
things a web OF mystic charms in our times
we find our great men in lonely isolation
from the world and remuneration of reality.
They have constructed a world for them
selves and shun the touch of the actual
Schopenhauer, Browning, Schumann,
Boecklin, Hauptmann, Ibsen, Nietzsche and
many, many others. The throng gilded or
shabby are always ready to pronounce a
uncontested privilege of this crowd to be
apathetic and dense. Otherwise, they could
not help but realize that the distorted i'm
age they see of those raised on high before
them is due to their own eyes rendered astig-
matte by the abnormal conditions of our ar
tistic life. 1t is a case of hallucination,
sessed of that which actually afiiicts him
self, as the drunken man accuses the lamp
post Of gross intoXicatiOn. l will not carry
this any farther, deeming it unnecessary TO
prove that something is rotten in the state
of our art. L viii merely adduce in corrob-
Grafton few remarks OF two great thinkers
of our time.
with reference to the French revolution,
Thomas Carlye says: This phenomenon of
incipient self-immolation many colored, tu-
multous, writhing the whole world for many
centuries in the flames of chaos, should be
regarded observed and investigated by all
men as one Of the strangest events in the
world history. This millennium of anarchy,
oh hasten its close, sacrifice your hearts
blood 10 hasten its close, We heroic great
who shall come upon the world"
The connection of this remark of Carlyle
with our subject may become more evident
in the light of a declaration of Richard
Wagner, who. asserting that our modern
social conditions are in many ways fully
as bad as those preceding the French rev
oluton, and predicting that the common
people VIII finally rise against their oppres-
sors with our great impulse, asserts: This
impulse VIII carry the common people to a
revolt in which they shall snatch for them
selves supremacy. in which they shall be-
come the ruling power of existence. This
impulse once drove the children of Israel,
slavery. to their triumphant passage
through the Red sea. And through sea of
red mush we also pass before freed of our
disgrace we can attain to the promised land.
We VIII not be drowned in this sea: il is
only the Pharaohs of this world the proud.
superciious PharaOhs, who shall go down
horse and rider.
In the eyes of the thoughtful there can be
little doubt as to the natural outcome of the
present status rerum, and the elimination OF
brutal force or the rule of violence seems to
me impossible as long as there exists a So
cial system whose basis is force and OBJ
preston. In respect to material progress,
our times are deservedly called gigantic,
but lind a subjective parallel in the mytho-
logical attempts Of the giants TO pile Ossa
on PeliOn or the disastrous enterprise of
the tower Of Babel. Our efforts are super
demptive feature Is that coming generations
may utilize and enjoy what we have brought
forth with much travail and which has cost
heeatombs Of human hopes and joys. We
OF our time may yet perchanCe be among
those who pass dFNShOd through the Red