The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-17
GLOVE AND LIFE"
Tue Question Of the Propriety OF Hanging
Mr.. watts's Picture I'm the white House.


To THE EDITOR or THE SuN-Sr: I'm
doubleday, MS An Artist who writes in THE
Sun to-day says. there are many people
who admire the nude in art for arts sake"
but whether they are many or few. am one
OF them. At the same time, ! am disposed
to agree with Mrs. Martin Of the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union that the
White House il not fitting place in which
TO hang such picture as Mr.. Watts's Love
and Life"
II is true that that painting, rs the Ewn-
ing Post OF last evening SAYS. IL zone Of Mr..
Watts's finest conceptions" and also that
il was a gift TO the nation from the artist
himself Neither do find in IL any offence
to purity and morality Such offence
must he in the conception and intention Of
the painter of a nude picture. must Turk
in his mind, or It may be caused by the
deficiency Of idealism in him. 80 that the
appeal OF the picture Is to carnality. Some
times, as we all know, there are paintings
Of figures fully clothed which are Of infinitely
coarse suggestion. have seen portraits Of
American ladies painted by French artists
OF fashionable distinction which were an
insult To them and to their families because
Of the vileness which lurked in the mind Of
the painter, and. perhaps unconsciously,
found expression In the portrait.
Nowhere else may ideal purity be found
more completely than in nude picture,
and such a picture is Mr. Watts's Love
and Life II makes no appeal 20 carnality,
awakens no evil suggestion in any pure
mind, nor stimulates the impure in minds
Of impurity. and therefore it offers no
offence 10 purity and morality" Neither
in the mind of the artist nor In his expression
Of his ideal Is there revealed any feeling or
purpos" not purely artistic and wholly
moral
The q,icsticu Of hanging up a picture
like Love and Life" in the White House
is another matter. II is n question Of taste
and DrOpricty. and consideration OF public
sentiment, even If II he the sentiment of the
untutored in art. should reasonably, If not
imperatively. influence judgment on il q.
A feminine costume which il suitable and
congruous and wholly modest and becom-
ing at a ball or AZ a dinner, NAV he offensive
TO decency. certainly 10 propriety, under
other circumstances and on other occasions
in the street, for example; in a church,
in the glare Of daylight. So. also, a paint
ing which NAV fifty adorn a picture gallery
may be out of keeping with purely domes-
tic surroundings, III n plaC. OF business, or
in an official residence
IL Other words, the proper place for Mr.
Nntts's Love and Life IL not IN the White
II ni-e. hut in tho Corcorhn AT G. lllery At
Washington. from which IL Is understood
that it L. t. ba taken to be hung in the din
ing room of the President at the White
House II j. not a painting for a dining
room anywhere. Like many other pict-
ures. both nude and draped, II is not
adapted to such surroundings. II had It's
proper place in An art gallery. and there is
no such gallery in the White House, where
the pictures stand out individually a. ex-
pressions Of the national taste and sense Of
fitness. or are on the walls "a illustrations
Of events and personages In the national
history.
a frail woman's form steadied along
n mountainous pathway Ivy the sturdier
figure of Love- both nude" may best
cypress the artists high thought" that love
sustains when otherwise the path of life
was too difficult TO bo trod, rs tho Erenino
Post of Last night said hut 1t is not in the
official residence of the President provided
by the American people. that that idea
and that sentimental lesson should be
expressed. IL is an incongruous invasion.
ont Of keeping with the idea represented
in tho White House and bv this nation.
] am not prepared, therefore 10 cast rid
lery 10 the White House. though that the
picture is intrinsically offensive "a morality
ond purity is wholly untrue. Many Of the
greatest works Of art tho word contains
would ba offensive on those walls. hut not
To morals: only 10 Coner,iity and TO tha
purpose and character Of the Official resi-
dence provided by the American poopo
for Ihoir President ART LOVER
NEW YORK, Dec. 10.