The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-09-08
GERMAN SEES GLOWING ART
FUTURE FOR UNITED STATES.

1
| Professor Hans Won Petersen Of Munich,
senior representative of Germany on tho
Jury Of Painting. visited the United
States and St Louis twenty years ago.
| Now he comes for a fresh impression.
Have we grown any artisticaIly?"
| asked him yesterday.
"Oh. yes he answered. positively. II
see II everywhere-in the styles OF tho
newer l!v.nS-houses. IN the interest mani
Tested in art. in this Worlds Fair.
think that the Fair Is splendid. beauti-
ful. from an artists standpoint.
! Professor Petersen in appearance sug-
| costs to you 'bIsinesslke" artist II that
kind exists. He has rather a practical
| face: his beard has no peculiar twists.
neither has his hair.
/ He does not seem to be so bothered
with what some call Temperament that
his expression changes twenty times a
second
Train the interviewing "popgun' on
him and he discovers a way OF answering
questions so directly ard simply that 8,
Is almost disappointing. One expects the
! foreigner 20 sputter Ike the lighted fuse
Of firecracl.er. i know a few at the
| Exposition who are better than Pains
freworks-just u little dig and they roar.
Professor Won Petersen answers Il plain
| question in a plain way. and then sits.
pleasantly and politely enough. waiting
! for another. This technical manner Of
| avoiding, exposure Of mannerlsms to
the stranger interviewer is testimonial 70
his good sense. but 1t was 4 serious strain
on the 'pOpsun." Ammunition ran low,
and never shot seemed 10 hit the mans
| self-possession or TO touch off that mine
| OF picturesque enthusiasm which is SO de-
ligh:ful in mdny OF our friends from
| abroad.
Vow. Mr.. Peterson. you say that tho
| United States is bound TO develop. sooner
or later. into an artistic nation VIII Wa
be any the better OF for it?''
This readily might be calculated to
cause an explosion with an artist. TO IN
| innate that We might be the worse with
art Mr.. Petersen merely explained:
The better; oh. yes. You have been
I occupied over here with getting rich. md
with money you certainly want the cui-
ture and rehnements it Will buy. You Will
want the picture, and the sculpture. and
The applied arts to complete your lives"
Surely, the plain and severe architects
ire OF our office buildings and the smoki-
| ness OF our cities must seem very dis
Not like Munich. Of course" was the
answer But then your buildings are So
useful. so practical And then IL seems to
ME that where 50 much business Is, !s
must be a little dirty. More than that,
your residence districts are very beauti.
full"
Where does art begin? How Is an art
loving public created?''
That Is hard to say. In very simple
ways. 1 think Say that several poor and
ignorant families are living near one an
other suppose the one should have q
candtestick more beautiful than the plain
ones used by the others The neighbors
would talk about IL Ii would be much dis
cussed- BY and by. they all would have
some thing Ike II. or better. n lesson in
art would have been had. So a taste
grows Up FOR beautiful objects OF use. and
nnaIly for the more aesthetic phases OF
art-pictures and sculpture
But this taste Is constantly changing.
What you would have thought beautiful
a year ago will seem shallow beside that
to which your taste now inclines. II is SO
in general way with the people at large.
Their taste improves. slowly. but It Inn
proves. 1t IS the experience OF every ma
ton to have had an art period You Will
grow into yours
Il do not yet see. as a foreigner an
American character In American art. But
I think / see the beginning of 1t. There
Is something distinctive IN the American
section. though cannot quite define what
IL Is: but II Is there. 1t will come out
more and more definitely. as your artists
work less under foreign influences.
Yes. they should shake of foreign
domination. They should have both their
own and their national individuality.
They can get that only by studying and
working In their own country. OF course.
/ don't know your schools. don't know
whether they are good enough to permit
OF an entire education in painting or
sculpture here. But / think they must
be- OF course. the students should know
foreign work. should travel. spend some
time in Italy. France. Germany-the art
centers OF Europe. But the American art
ist should never copy a foreign Manners
nor undertake to express foreign sents-
ment He should paint what he belongs
to-"
In this connection Professor Won Peter
sen made u nice comparison for defining
the artistic value of an art work, or tho
financial value. Tor that matter.
a Munich man may do a splendid. beau
country" said he 1t is worth very
much Somebody. initiating his manner
and conception. may do something almost
Is good. II is worth absolutely nothing
painter. and ranks high in Germany as
such He has been three times elected
president OF the Munich Artists Society,"
= leading organization OF Germany.