The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1906-05-05
Copyrighted

Dear uncle" said little Dilly with
an anxious look, tell me. what Is
Art?"
cart, my dear nephew" replied
Uncle George, vigorously busting the
ashes from his nickelodeon of his
waistcoat, sis all that makes life worth
living, and art is also the bane OF our
existence. 1t gives employment to
many deserving men and women, and
causes the treasury department untold
anguish. AS handled by Velasquez or
Rubens it is ethereal and taken care
of by Mike Clancy and Pete Fogarty
1t Is dipthereal, the difference being
that the first two are not in posi-
ton to reap any reward for their work,
and the latter are clamoring hungrily
for more work at $3.50 day. Done
by a man who needs the money, art is
worthless, but If produced by some
gilded imbecile who has more than Is
good for him, 1t becomes at once OF
extreme value-to some persons.
Turned out by a printing press the
picture is not art, handled by a long
haired gazabo attired in a soiled vel
vet coat and vandyke beard, who
slaps wads of color on good canvass
with an air brush or a whitewash i'm
plement it becomes an impressionistic
symphony. There is a line of de-
narration somewhere, Dilly, but you
get three guesses, and no one puts it
in the same place"
do all artists paint, dear uncle?"
asked Dilly.
mo, my dear boy" replied Uncle
George. "Some of them merely touch.
Others, again; fuss about on a pine
board with a piece of hot metal; still
others are to be found upon the stage,
and others, again, are in jail; but all
are artists. Augustine DAILY once 70
marked that an artist without temper
ament was Of no value, and that II 10
had temperament he was crazy, SO that
the patron was stung either way he
played 1t. Yet there are many wise
men in the art game, and It is these
who make the coin trip merrily In
their direction. To many OF us art
Is game; sort of catch-as-catch-can'
l-saw-it-first proceeding. Good. Master
Pierpont Morgan goes abroad and pur.
chases largely of works OF art and
| pays enormous sums to have them
brought here. Then some rude per.
son points out delicate1y that Mr.. Nor
lsgan has been stung, for hts object OF
| art was turned cut in Jersey City OF
Mayayunk by a garlic eating artist
with some plaster of paris and fine
sense of humor.
ITO great extent art depends upon
It's antiquity. What would be the
soul of art if done by Michael Ange
10 would be but a paltry effort. when
TUNED out by your friend, Algerner
st. Leger Dubbe, down the street. that
lis IL the public knew it, but II Alger
non was foxy enough to break the les
Of his statue or crack the varnish Of
his picture and let some one discover
| Il in an excavation or an attic as tht
Ease might be, it would become rea
art. To the mind of many thinking
persons, Oily, the old masters were
the bunco men of their day. To man!
others they were all the goods. Yo,
never can tell Much art comes from
abroad, and the native artists ar
;lathering considerably over the Ques
tion of duty upon art. If they are Il
be put in competition with the paupe
art labor of Europe they can see -thei
dinner pals dwindling, but If we ar
to have high protective tariff on art
they think perhaps they will be. abb
to. buy enough coal to heave' at tn
wolf that is rubbing the paint, fror
the door post 1t is a sad thing, m.
usar boy, to think that the foreigl
trade Is driving our artists to tn
wall" s =. -
Does all art come from abroad. dea
uncle?r- asked Dilly.
Eyes, Dilly."- said Uncle George
sArt is always distant from where "
tive. To the resident OF Oskaloosa; tn
Eonly artists live in. Paris. To tn
American in Paris ali art comes fror
Rome, and II You cans get far enoug
east you will And. that the only tru
art has its. habitat somewhere. betwee
Tarritown. end Coshohocton. =. w
ytAve just discovered. my boy. that tt