The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1901-09-04
THE ART. SCHOOL.

OF q summer art school In this city met on
Wednesday evening at the Wood Art
G liery for the purpose OF organization, 10
famliarize themselves with the scheme and
to plan for beginning the work contem-
plated. There was much enthusiasm for |
the project and all were of one mind N
favor of establishing school in this city.
Mayoc j. @. Brown presided and Miss Anna |
Phlnney acted Is secretary.
Addresses were made by PRO-. j. W. |
Burgess, Hon. j. A. DeBoer, Mr.. O. A. g. |
jackson, Rev. w. u. O'Sullivan and Hon. |
W. p Dillingham;. The speakers called al
tention TO the advantages the Wood Art |
Gallery afforded for conducting a school Of
the kind IN question. The speak srs all de-
clared their belief in the feasibility Of the |
project, its desirsbiity, from all points of
view, to this city and pledged 1t their hearty
support. Prof Burgess remarks were more
at length than those OF the other speakers.
He outlined the project, reviewed its OF
jecls aud its possibilities, and in view OF
the value and importance OF what was said
his remarks are here subjoined:
The Trustees Of the Wood Art Gallery
nave appointed me committee OF one TO
superintend the enrolment and provisional
organization Of the Associate members OF
the Gallery, and to explain the ideas and
purposes OF the trustees in originating this
=, movement. / will take these duties in
inverse order, and expound, in the first
place, briefly, those ideas and purposes.
Six years ago,this month, this Gallery was
| established in one of the rooms of the sec
| ond fl1or Of the Vermont Fire Insurance
| building. Four years ago, it was moved
| into this building, built specially for 1t, aud
| its contents were largely increased, and
since then valuable additions to the col
| lection have been made from time to time.
| And do not hesitate to say that you now
! have the best Gallery in the United States
| for the purposes OF art study and ilustra-
| ton. All the great schools Of painting are
represented here-the Italian, the Spanish,
the French, the Dutch and the English, and
| American art is represented in the portrait
. ure work Of the founder OF the Gallery, and
| the landscape work OF Mr.. Wyant. Exact
aud excellent artists copies of the old
masters from all of the great galleries of
| Europe from the Hermitage in st. Peters
burg to the Prsdo in Madrid are to be
| found here.
Twelve New York artists, chiefly one,
aud four other persons, two citizens OF New
| York, one citizen of tho District OF Column
bia and one citizen OF Vermont, have con =
trIOuted the entire contents of the gallery;
and the trustees of the gallery, consisting
| of seven citizens Of Montpelier and tw o citi-
zens of New York, have prepared this per-
manent home for the gallery and have main
tanned the same at their own expense down
| to the present moment. Naturally the first
concern which they feel is in regard to he
future maintenance and development OF the
gallery.
They are not tired of the burden which
they have borne, and they have no desire
to lay it down. They know that they are
discharging duty to civilization aud that
is, to men OF their way Of thinking, ample
Tecompense. But they wish to do things
now which go beyond their unaided powers.
They want to see this building doubled in
size. They have the land for it, and there
IS the door purposely left to connect anoth-
o. large space like this with what we now
have
To accomplish this, they must have the
cooperation Of the good people OF the COM
m unity. III they can have this, they can
get that. Ii they can have this, they know
that some generous man will appear, who
will give the building. This is Just the sort
Of thing that men like Mr.. Carnegie do.
MI Carnegie never plants completed in
stitution any where. He demands the CO.
operation OF the community in every pro-
jet OF the kind. de knows that without
such cooperation it will languish and die.
Aud 80 he gives funds for building and
requires the community in which it is to be
located to furnish the contents and provide
for the running expenses. And we know
that this is what will happen here sooner or
later II the good people OF this community
will heartily cooperate with the trustees in
the development OF the Gallery. Then
the trustees want to see this collection OF
works of art doubled in five years and
quadrupled in ten. They know that they
, Can accomplish this also, with the &C
operation of the community. A dozen fine
. paintings are lying now in studio in New
York awaiting frames and hanging space
aud the strength and encouragement which
1 cooperation will give will enable US to
: procure many more.
3 Still further, the trustees desire to make
: this Gallery potent instrument in the dis
semlnation OF esthetic culture They desire
q to establish summer art school here fol
= the teaching Of drawing, painting and mod
r cling, school which shall not only edu-
q | Iha m and N n thia m
!, munity, but will bring hundreds OF stu
r dents here from without. We think tina
o We have, now, the opportunity and the adj
4 vantages for accomplishing such work
o and that now 10 the time to make use o
z them.
! There are some five or six thousand ar
d studen in the art schools of New York
8 Philadelphia and Boston. Hundreds o
these annually FOLLOW their instructors L
= summer schools in the country. AS ye
. these schools are solely for landscape paint
h ing. AS yet no summer school for fgur
= painting aud sculpture has been establish
a ed outside OF the large cities. The reason
a Tor this Is that no place, outside OF the grea
q cities, and we'll fitted for summer sojourn
has, down to this time, possessed the neces
=. sary advantages and outfit for such
:, school. These necessary facilities are al
:, art bulldog with rooms suitable for cles3 20
! and containing casts and paintings OF o
4 from the old masters. Montpelier has now
~ lbo w OOu olt odlloEJ VI tucbc bHluSo
q Moreover this vicinity offers advantage
for landscape work. 1t may be that tn
summer verdure here is a little on the mon
It otone, but our evening skies are unrivalle
n in my Judgment, and l have seen then
If from the brilliant heavens OF Gibralta
= to the misty and mysterious atmot
II phere of the North Sea and the Baltic.
?, With all OF these advantages / canno
). see why, If we move promptly, We may nc
r have the first sumner school for fgur
d painting and sculpture, both in time an
1. quality, outside OF the large cities.
t. Well, why do we want these things?
Of answer We want them first of all, becaus
+. they will advance esthetic education. K,
"a thetic taste is the flower OF the mind, as al
B. Is the flower OF civilization. We Amer
cans have conquered our country and 81
tracted largely Of its wealth. We are no'
coming to a new period in our civilization
"a the esthetic period. During the next fit
r years everything will have to be done wit
|. more taste and in sitter form than durin
10 the lrlt fifty. Even the commonest bus
ness will have to be done more neatl.