The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-03-17

{ Il
1 their hotels are particularly great; /
greater than their pictures or their /
books. In the restaurant of the Hotel
de Athenee, I called a waiter and said
to him:
For four months I have been living /
on condensed milk, and goats milk, /
and milk from water bufalO cows. !
Please bring me a bowl Of half and
half-half cream and half milk.
He brought 1t, and I crumbled into
1t the wonderful French bread and
/ enjoyed a feast. And there was but
ter on the table that would cause the
famous butter makers of Atchison
county TO turn green with envy. You
may wonder that I dined so simply In
one Of the best restaurants in Paris, /
but that was my taste.
Saturday, February q.
I have lately been hearing so much
of the cleverness of the ancients that
I have become almost Jealous of them.
therefore, I was glad to visit the Lux
embourg gallery, and find pictures by
! living artists that suited me better than
any ancient art have seem. Every
picture in the Luxembourg gallery was
painted by an artist now living, or who
1 has not been dead more than two
I years, and I say with all sincerity that,
/ In my judgment, this modern art is
/ superior to that in the Louvre gallery,
all of which is old and some of it very
old; no living artist has a picture in the
Louvre.
You have no doubt heard Of the
French academy where a committee
of artists annually decides on the best
| pictures by vote. These best pictures
are displayed in the Luxembourg gal
/ lery. while the artists are living: when
| the artists die, their pictures are trans
| ferred to the Louvre. The best pic
I lures and the best sculpture I have
| ever seen are in the LuxemboU gal
/ lery. The statement is often made
I he's roaf int ms nd a af
! statues are very old. In my opinion,
/ this is not true. (And perhaps It is
only fair for me to say that I am not
/ q professional critic, but a farmer from
/ Potato Hill farm, in Kansas. Much
/ of the good advice I offer is ruthlessly
| thrown away; many Of my deliberate
| opinions are not generally accepted or
! respected.) I am willing to respect
and admire any clever professional in
4 art, but I demand the right to exercise
my own judgment.
In one Of the great galleries have
! lately visited have forgotten which
/ one, I have seen so many-there is a
/ picture showing the apotheosis of HON.
err: the translation of Homer into heav-
| en- alive because of his great art as a
/ poet. Be perfectly candid, and tell me.
Do you admire Homer's poetry? Did
you ever read any of it2 Is not your
admiration for Homer entirely on
| hearsay evidence? When q man takes
up the study of literature, he begins
| the greatest poet that ever lived: he
! gives up his own judgmen, and ac-
] cepts the judgment of some other per-
son or persons who lived many centur-
les ago; for as sure as night follows
day no modern can say that Homer
was the greatest poet.
The same thing is true in art: we are
expected to accept the judgment Of
others, and pay no attention to our
| own So long as I live. / intea7 to nc
cent ny own judg nent. and do justice.
SO far as possible. in the workers now
| living, or who have lived in rlodern
times. I am willing to admire ancient
ar. hut [ refuse to find in il merit
which does not exist, merely that may
sa tisfy a lot Of DenDle who have gone
crazy on the subject of art.
Fncw a woman at home WHO gave
uIi every worthy thing that should at
tract the enthusiasm of a woman IN
| order that she might acquire a lot Of
learning about art that isu't true.
She has great contempt for my opin-
ion, but not any more than the world
has for hers. She has acquired a lot
Z of learning that isn't learning at all;
and the world is full of people like
her.
4 The modern art in the Luxembourg
gallery is much greater than that in
the galleries where ancient art IS
shown I am not overly particular, but
/ have been disguised i'll walking
through galleries where are displayed
necessary indecency. In the Louvre
gallery I can point out an art gem"
by Rubens that is as unnecessarily in
decent as is a filthy word written with
a stick in the snow. I saw nothing of
this kind in the modern gallery, which
is also more human; it exploits good
men and women more, and angels less.
In the galleries of ancient art, the
subjects are usually religious, and
some of them are grotesque and laugh
able. I can point out hundreds OF re-
ligious pictures in the Louvre that are
ludicrous: people laugh at them in
spite Of the sacredness of the subject
/ treated. In one picture is shown an
angel cherub sliding down the sky in a
sled, belly buster fashion; in another.
an angel cherub is depicted as playing
with dog. as human child might
do: in another, angels wearing modern
dresses and playing modern hddles, are
shown A funeral may be made ridic-
ulous; and so may be sacred art. Paul
/ Rubens never painted a human figure
| that was not disgusItngiY naked. There
is a certain part of a woman That
should be sacred 20 her infant children,
/ although it Is made much of in art
I and when women dress deeollete. but
Rubens the nastieSI painter in the lot
; jumps over the limit by painting an an
gel with three sets Of bosoms. This
may not be a very nice thing o print,
I but there is such a picture in the
I L. uVre gallery in Paris, the finest in
man find a corse-2 Art "critics" viii
say gravely that there is much deep
meaning in the picture that ordinary
mortals cannot understand but such
3 art is Iudicrous and silly: that is the
D plain truth of the matter.
= The young girl who accompanied
r me studied art at that famous school
, in Washington, D. c.. and had been
e particularly recommended to see the
S Rubens gallery in the Louvre. These
] pictures were mainly painted to or
: der to exploit Henry " and his wife,
g Marie de Medicis. They are ridiculous
in design, whatever may be said Of the
e execution. One Of them represents
= Henry " being carried alive into
= heaven because of his goodness; an