The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-17
GARDEN MAKING AS AFINE ART
4 DEMONSTRATION AT COLJ HBIi
Or WHAT rs DONE IN JAPAN.
Touches OF the Gardener which Make
Pictures OF Forest and Wasslde Hedge
Studies In Line and Mass anu
Their Influence Oh the Renaissance.

Ptclures Of FOREST ana NaAslue HeuB'
Studies In Line and Mass and
Their Influence on the Renaissance
The art OF garden making as practised
In Japan was the subject of a popular lect-
ure by Arthur Wesley Dow at Columbia
| University yesterday afternoon. The lect-
ure was illustrated by forty lantern slides
from photographs Of Japanese master
pieces, taken by Mr.. Dow in Japan last
year. They included bits Of forest trans
/ formed byFa touch here and there into a
marvellously dainty picture; roadside hedges
made art by the eye for effect Of some road
committee of small japanese town, as
well al the masterpieces of Kobori Enshu,
the greatest of all japanese gardeners.
and Soami, the painter gardener Of feudal
! times
Line and Mass In japanese Gardening
was the subject. These two convention
alities-lne and mass dominate all Jap
anese plastic art, said Mr.. Dow The early
japanese masters Of sculpture are equalled
only by the Greeks in their mastery OF the
power in the simple line. supreme ex-
ample il the great Buddha OF kamakura,
one Of the earliest Of existing Japanese
sculptures. So it is in tie japanese paint
ings Of all schools and ages. Their mastery
of the line in i,s delicate curves. it's sensi-
tive balance OF proportions, comes from
the use OF the brush in writing
Their written language is Geographic,
a conventionalized system of picture writ
ing. II is always next door to painting.
write me a picture. they say And out
of this grew the other beauty Of Japanese
composition otan' The art of light and
shade in masses
Among all peoples the plastic arts are
first to develop. Gardening ma an ar.
follows architecture. The garden il a
supplement to the house. If properly
done. 1t harmonizes with the building,
supplements 1t, leads up to it.. Centuries
ago the japanese learned the art, brought
1t to perfection. Only lately has there been
a revival Of the art in England and the
United States. our modern teachers have
laid down the principle that the landscape
architect should study the ground and
adapt his garden to that. This, Mr. Dow
said, is just what the japanese gardener
has always done
They are a nation If artists. who. when
left alone, bring art to the manufacture of
the most triilng personal belongings. SO
1t is that gardening as an art is not by any
means confined to the homes of the rich
and well to do.
Every Japanese has a garden" said
M. Dow. - 1t may be n back yard q lit Ia
hooN ny t'c NeTahua' II tneTe II no room
Tor mat u Is IN q window boS or even a
Hover pot; but he must have his garden.
IL II part oi Lia furniture. hen he moves,
1t moves with the house. He ha mt much
20 move anyway out ne Wouid ieaVe his
furniture before he eft his little dwarf
trees ana now.rng shrubs. Most houses
1Ial l.. a1s.
are ~alleo Win siding panels. which ar'
thrown open IN warm weather. making the
Eerden really part Of the house.
into their gardening the masters brought
the Japanese appreciation OF line and mass
IN composition. Greatest OF all in this
art was hobor Enshu. II Il told of him
that. when one OF the Shuguns asked him
70 beautiiy his palace grounds, hobori
tnshu agreed on three conditions that
he should have no limit a. 10 time aud none
as to expenses, and thnt no one should see
ne WORK unul II wa finished To these
ideal conditions for an artist the Shotgun
conSenied-ior TINS was Japan.
Mr. Dow preiaced his exhibition Of Jap
anese gardens with few views of paintings
by Della Francesca. Fra Angelica and
other Renais ance painters, showing how
which they loved to use as backgrounds.
appropriated the Japanese mastery of
me ana mass. composition Of pine
trees and stone work in the Villa Borghese
was shown TO illustrate the point In an
actual garden This was followed by a
few Chinese examples notably the famous
garden from which the d sign for the will I
low pattern OF China was taken. and a
Bw examples of mass and line in the work |
Of the early Japanese painters
No wonder that men who could compose 4
like that could compose a garden T. said
Mr. Dow Of thou and-year-old mountain
study by painter OF the Sung dynasty.
The views represented all parts Of iapan.
the by ways a. well as the travelled routes
although sacred Niko. ancient home of 4
the Shoguns and the art wonder of Japan. 4
came In for the most attention There
was an old pine tree which a Japanese 4
gardener had made picture in itself bv Z
a few strokes OF the pruning knife. There I
was a gnared pine from the castle noat I
oil Toxic. an old. old, tree. which was treated /
in the same fashion centuries ago. and /
has been kept in form ever since bv sue 1
cesslve generations of landscape artists
-l'm little afraid. though said the /
lecturer, that it has got 10 20 before long
TO make room for a trolley line
There ia the old venerable tree at Kava.
sah known az Rain by Night 10 called I
a. a term of poetic affection. because The I
japanese poets love the sound Of rain i'm 4
the trees az ours love the wind. The
Japanese Government has built a wall I
about it's roots propped up it's spreading