The Saint Paul globe., 1899-03-28


Partfalfsm - Idealism Calming
| Ground, Both in Art and Litera-
ture-Tribute to Stevenson.
Inc minnesota Congregational club met
| iasl night at Plymouth church and lis
| tened to an address on Modern Art and
| Ctnlcs, by Prof Richard Burton of the
| University Of Minnesota. DIR. Burton was
opposed to the modern shibboleth Of art
for arts sake, and made some telling
| points against it.
Kew. George r. Soper, vice president
Oh the club acted as chairman and among
those present were: Frank H. Carleton
! Dr and Mrs. Crosby, DR.. e. J. Brown
N. f. Hawley, Judge Daniel Fish, w. H
upham, j. G. Alwell, Mr.. and Mrs James
Crays. E. F. Waite, Mr.. and Mrs. ]. A.
Barnes, President Strong, of Carleton
| college; e. r. States, Mr. and Mrs N. F,
Clark, Rev. S. G.. Smith, c. J. Hunt
Lieut.. Gov. Smith, ex-senator Stevens,
Rev. M. Rickes, of Faribault Profs.
Pierson and Magnus, Of Northfield; Rev.
G. D. BLOCK, ]. W. Perkins and Rev. c.
E. Moody.
-Dr. Burton said in part:
which by this time fails stale on our
ear ears, perhaps, has, as you know, it's orr
gin IN the art Of the paints. But it may
be, 1t has been indeed, applied more
broadly and in a metaphoric sense. to
iake e. IN art In Its widest significance, and
II is In this brOadeSt application that I
nose it's care
Art for arts sake, at first the banner
cry Of the Reactionists in France. has
come TO be COnVfQnf Chq tprf ion Of
what is in latter day paintings, sculpture.
@ m.erature' and even music. at once a
the inner circle, the bias and purblind
ness OF the practical worker.
Inc trouble with the art for arts sake
creed is that 1t is narrow and stops half
way, II goes too far in the one direction,
It leaves too much unexplained in fhs
oaint:r osher While it is undeniably that the
sense OF sight, 1t by no means follows
that his appeal is limited to that which
pleases the eye alone. This would mean
3a nc iampncation I9 OF the aesthetics, of the
ciple or doctrinain does not deny that
the sense of the aesthetic Is aimed at in
MS art Why then shut out the mind,
Don't think; feel" is the command.
Art should give you pleasure by its use
OF gamboge greens and chrome yellows
to set you a thinking how gIum Ma
poIeon LOOKS on horseback, after Water
100, according to MeissOnier, Is an out
rageous bid. for the vulgar herd.
| A picture shouldn't tell story or s,,g
gest or demand an explanation That is
6eing anecdotal. literary. and that is
art's-sakist turns with an impotent
shrug from Millet's "Angelus'' because it
mas a literary motive and pities the
unartlst1c OF polloi who stand before that
| canvas and are pleased alike by it's color
ana It's sentiment, even shedding a tear
| OF Two on It, II only green enough.
But Is not this limitation of pictorial
| appeal to blank aesthetics, to the shut
ting out OF mind and soul, arbitrary and
| Illogical? 1t would seem so. Grant that
th there Is an appeal to something beside
/ beauty, and there is no philosophical
| reason for excluding what appeals to
association drawn from other arts or
| from life at large. The connotation of
| painting, it's inevitable suggestion, its
| proper scope, are broader than this par
I ticular creed allows for or comedies
/ Dr. Burton saw encouragement In the
| fact that at the New York academy
| realism was dying out and that idealism
was winning all the prizes. Realism, he
| thought, should be called partialism and
| 1T took the worst part Of human nature
But even in Paris the idealists were hav-
| ing their sway now. The speaker was
| pleased with the idea that in literature
Zola, Guy de. Maupassant, Edgar Saltus
| and others were losing cast while such
writer's as Robert Iouis Stevenson, Bar
ry, Ian Maclaren and Mrs Humphrey
| Wood were coming to the front. In con-
| clusion DR.. Burton said:
| One Of the hardest things to bury in
| this world is the sitting sense your own
commonplaceness. Stevenson is one Of
| the precious minority VINO steps up and
| out of the dead sea level themselves,
| and by contact with us pulls US out of the
| mire, too, and introduce us to a more
| interesting self which lay all the time
| buried under and awaiting it's chance
| for resurrection. And he dCes this for
| us particularly in his essys, unless
| read him amiss. In fine, those of you
| who know Robert Louis Stevenson only
or mostly in his fiction, miss a fine and
| deep part of the man and have before
| you one of the chief and choicest literary
! experiences our time can afford. Here is
| writer who is wise, yet not dull and
| sententious; who speaks truth by para
| dox and poetry offhand with careless
| ease. We owe large debt to this
| slight, sick man, who roamed the CIV
ilized world for health and adventure,
| and who, in obeyance to the good, old
law of serving others while he served
| himself, made mankind rich by the fruit
| Of those far journeyings And the fruit
| smacks not bitterly as the ap-
! pies of Sodom, but Is good to pluck like
those golden apples of the Hesperides
| aforetime. Moreover, we are invited
| merely to stretch forth the hand and
| take without the stress and long deten-