Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-08-15
Commission Not Silly Enough
to Let Painting by
Contract
NO IOWA PAINTER COMPETENT
One Painting at Head of Stairway
Will Cost $4,000, and None But Fin
est Decorators in tho. World Will be
EmpIoyed-Funks Doing the Best
He Can.
Special to Times-Republican.

W
commission, only the present one is
able to profit by the bitter experience
Of the commission which went wrong
When the Iowa state capitol was COM
menced there was clamor that Iowa
| industry must be patronized to the ex-
| clusion Of all others. Iowa products
| for Iowa people, was the cry; and
as u result Of this the original COM
mission started the capitol with stone
quarried In Iowa. It was just as good
as any, declared by experts to be all
right, and the cIamor for Iowa mater
| ial was satisfied. But after a year or
| two it was found that the stone was
crumbling. All that had been put In
WAS taken out at an enormous ex-
pense, the commission was legislated
out Of existence, and a new start was
| made under new commission. The
commission which built the capitol
was not restricted to Iowa material
nor workmen nor artists. In lowa's
great capitol there Is material repre-
senting the finest the world produces.
and the workmanship corresponds.
The building will long endure as a
monument to the Observation-Disclosures OF
the builders. 1t may be said. also,
| that very little OF the material which
entered into the Iowa capitol was pur-
chased on competitive bids. but the
commission bought what Yves best and
| paid prices which the commission de-
cided was fair for the same. All the
skilled work and that which required
artistic treatment was done by the
best workman engaged direct and UNI
der control of the superintendent. But
the policy Of making use OF the Iowa
capitol as a place for experimenting
with Iowa industry was never taken
up after the unfortunate and costly ex-
pertinent of the first commission.
Recently there has been some clam
or to the effect that the present CAPT.
| toll commission should confine itself to
Iowa artists in the matter OF the dec
grafton of the capitol 1t will be re-
called that the commission when first
| organized investigated personally a
large number OF the finest decorated
buildings OF the country and secured
| information on which to base intelli-
gent action, and it was decided that
| the only way to do was to follow the
custom elsewhere of employing an arr
| fist or artist of we'll established repu-
tation, known to be capable OF the
best work, and to give him carte
blanche to work out the designs for the
entire decoration This Is what Is
done by the United States. and by the
u ri :
leries. This was decided long ago.
and made known and the legislature
acting on this knowledge appropriate
ed sufficient amount to cover the
probable cost OF proper decoration.
There is to be one $4,000 painting at
the head Of the stairway and num-
Der Of mosaics, then rich decoration of
the interior of the dome and rotunda,
and corresponding treatment OF the
corridors and halls. Every part of this
work must be artistic, and all parts
must correspond. There will be no or
binary painting and decoration by
stencils such as has been done else
where in the capitol. All Will be orig
inal hand work, under direction of a
master artist; and when 1t Is finished
the decoration of the capitol will be
fitting to its grand exterior. The cap
itol commission has practically decid-
| ed that this work shall be entrusted to
e. +. Garnsey, who is now finishing
the Minnesota state capitol. and who
has done work on number of the
most notable buildings of the country.
The commission has been embar-
raised by the persistency with which a
| firm of dealers In wall paper and decor
ations, in Des Moines, has insisted on
| having chance to bid on the contract
| for the ornamentation of the capitol.
| The theory OF the firm is that an Iowa
firm should get the contract. They
proposed to take the contract and then
employ the artist. No one artist was
mentioned. The firm knew of a man,
| however, who could be got to plan the
| work. He could be got cheap. Then
the work would be done by Iowa men.
The profit would be retained in Iowa.
| The matter of securing the contract
should be made matter of bidding
between contractors OF course decor
alive artists never enter into competi-
| lions of this kind. AS we'll try to in
duce painter Of established repute to
bid against others for the production
of an oil portrait. The commission de-
cided that this was not what was con-
templated by the designers Of the CAPT
/ toll, nor by the legislature, nor desired
by the people of Iowa. Some harsh
newspaper criticism OF the COM
mission has been induced thru the ac-
tivity and pull of the aforesaid firm
| of local decorators. But there will be
no graft allowed. no big margin be-
| tween a high priced contract and dec
orative work got as cheaply as posi-
| BILE.
The employment of Mr.. Garnsey, II
he sould be secured, would be to do all
| the decoration of the capitol and this
| would include the supreme court room,
where the decoration was entirely de-
stroyed by the fire, the painted frescoes
alone being saved. 1t would not include
| the hall of the senate, which Is now the
most artistic spot In the capitol. The
large painting for the head of the stairs
and the mosaics would be entrusted to
different Individual artists by separate
arrangements.
II would just as soon think of hav-
ing the historic painting for which
SIC, 900 has been appropriated, and the
large mosaics all done by contract as tc
have the general scheme of decoration
of the entire capitol done under con-
.-g 1Hxyl Ia al