The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-05-05
j. G. W0MAN'S
CLUB.
Closed It's Season Yesterday
Afternoon in Hasbrouck
Hall With an Art
Programme.
DELEGATES ELECTED
Mrs. Scudder, Mrs. Dear, Mrs.
Clerihew and DR.. De Hart
to Represent Club at
Rutherford.

the Woman's Club, and, as 1t was also
the last meeting of the season, the pro-
gramme was not only interestingly brief,
but the meeting opened exactly at half
past three and closed precisely at five,
two Unusual events, in order to give time
for the necessary social in which to bid
each other addeu.
The afternoons programme was in
charge of Mrs. Charles Calvin Stimets,
chairman of the Art Department, who
opened the exercises with a few rTier
remarks upon the subject, in which She
spoke of simplicity and naturalness in
art, saying, Mature is majestic, beauti-
full, sublime, but always simple, and nat
ure should be our ideal"
The Glee Club then gave a selection
and Mrs. M. c.. McKelvey read an ex-
cellent paper on Artistic Advertising"
This is the age of artistic advertising"
said she, and the pictured advertisement
of today is one of the most powerful
forces in the commercial world. 1t oils
the wheels Of trade. and, like the alchem-
list, turns all things to gold. One must
advertise in a most attractive manner
if he would catch the eye, please the
senses and impress the mine of a some
what blase public"
From here she went on to mention the
various familiar pictorial advertisements,
taken from noted paintings, or from the
pen of some we'll known artists, "who
do not think it beneath their dignity to
lend their talents to this work, though
it savors a trife of shop" naming a few
of the more prominent artists with a
short sketch of each, and passed on to
the Objectionable types of advertising.
1.-THE Daughters of the Revolution, "
continued Mrs. McKelvey, ARE doing
good work in trying to restrain business
firms from using our flag as an advertis-
ing medium. AS patriots it grieves us to
see the Father of His Country used to
advertise a watch which claims to be
always truthful, and we feel a thrust at
our National dignity when the portrait
of our President is used to uphold the
virtues of a pen. Our artistic feelings are
narrowed when we see the beautiful
Venus used to extol some article of UNI
derwear, and the statue of Mercury desc
Grated in being used to illustrate the
rapidity of a typewriter.
But worse still than all this. the adj
V6rLlSlIlk IlOIlStGI HAS SlllclCQ tAO -
precincts of a woman's club and has not
only igu1atively but literally dragged its
name in the dust on a shoe! We burn
with Indignation when we think that en-
terprising and unholy man has it in his
power to use the name of our club to
advertise some trifiing warey'
Miss Ada Cadmus, accompanied by her
sister, Miss Cadmus, ave a violin solo,
bracketting ''a, Berceuse, A Simon and
.b, Obertas," Wieniawski, and Miss Amelia
B.. Meyers made the next address on
seTolstoi n His Views of Art" "Tol-
stors views,' said she, in summing up
her remarks, "if we lave understood him
correctly, are these:-
THAT art should transmit religious feel
ing. That his religious perception
changes, hence fresh subject matter
arises. but the standard of one age would
not be the standard of another. That the
time came when the upper classes lost
faith in the teachings of the church and
Their the art of the rich was not the art OF
the masses. That fine art can only
exist by the slavery of the masses. Tnat
the present subjects of art are entirely
removed from the appreciation of the
masses because outside of their sphere
Of life. That art has become obscure and
affected.
ssThat art being the transmission OF
feeling cannot be taught, hence technique
Is disregarded. That the present art IS
doing positive harm instead of good. Art
being the result of a deep feeling on the
part of the artist the production should
hind ali who behold it in a common feel
ing-the feeling of b~rotherly love. Hence,
art teaching a special creed in a church,
or patriotism teaching the love of a
special country is wrong, because it in
culcates strife instead of peace and har-
mony.
tThe cure for all this is the full accept
ance of the doctrine of brotherly love.
Then will art choose for its subjects the
expression of such feeling as are common
TO all mankind and thereby establish a
brotherly union among all men.
Miss Shirley-Turner was the next
speaker. Her address was on Art Prin-
~ciples.o saying, Art IS at once greater
and less than the general idea among
even the cultured, greater in that 1t 10
and always has been the same, with a
life and character separate and distinct
from all other facts and elements OF ex-
istence. Mans success or failure in art
does not affect it In the least, and only
marks the growth and progress or oe-
generation and decay Of the mind of man.
Toward this perfection of expression the
artist strives, happy in the effort though
he sacrifice much for the works sake.
"Art is less perhaps than some would
make it because it is not a means to an
end, that end being virtue, morality, right
living or the expression of religious feel
ing. 1t is none of these. and so may be
considered lower in the forces of life.
Perhaps it will help us to ask what is
| genius. which alone can produce great
art? Some one has said Genius consists
in the owe to take a hint William
NJ. Hunt said, Genius is nothing but love.
If you love to paint, If you love to sing,
if you love to black boots. you are a gem
ius., There is an element of truth in both
Of these, but it would hardly be safe 10
take either as an exact statement. Gem
JUS is a power of invention or or~iglnation
| of any kind. Let us think for a moment
of the works of genius in the different
languages of art, of sound, form and
COLOR
Then after mentioning d few examples
of this, as Be~ethoven's symphonies, Wag-
ner's music, Tennyson's In Memoriam'
and Browhing's Saul, and several fa-
| NOUS pieces Of sculpture and paintings,