The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1906-12-29
Millions DOLLAR HOME FOR
AMERICAN ART COLLECTIONS

Neu, Building.

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With thousands Of Americans go
ing abroad every year to visit the art
galleries of the Old World, it is inter
esting to note that Europeans who
como to this country often express
surprise at the excellence of our art
collections, of which nearly all of any
consequence have been gathered with
in a generation. The great galleries
OF Europe represent in many in
stances the growth of centuries, while,
the really iHapor tant permanent exhi-
billions Of wofks Of painting, sculpture
and the applied arts in this country
have been mede since 1870. In that
time so rapid has been the advance
that predictions are already heard of
a day when European students will
visit American galleries for the pur-
pose of becoming acquainted with.
some Of the most important of the
worlds masterpieces. Such institu-.
lions at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art in New York, the Art Institute OF
Chicago, the Corcoran Art Gallery in
sWashington and the Museum of Fine
Arts in Boston have already gained
international REPUTATION while Phila-
delphia, through the consolidation OF
the John G. johnson, William L. 81
kins and p. 81. B. Widener collections,
is destined Very shortly to have one
Of the most notable museums of the
country. At The same time, in smaller
cities, there has been a similar awak-
!ening, 50 that the place Of 100000 in
habitants without some kind of an
art cole ctionso penSto the public is ex-
eeptional.
Y While American museums have
necessarily drawn largely upon the
treasures Of the Old World in build
ing up theirS collections, it has re-
manned for this country to take the
lead in providing Suitable setting for
art treasure new point of view in
the housing sof tie great collections
forming in this country appears in
plans which haVerecently been adopt
ed in Bostons fora group of buildings
to accommoda te the Museum of Fine
arts, found ed in 1870 and situated for
many years passtsIn an ornate struc-
iture fronting on Eopley square hard
by the famous Boston public library.
new m1Sseun3 will, it is said, be
NEST peE1seb designed institu-.
When, three years hence, removal
from the present overcrowded and I'M
suitable building has been made pos
sible, the immense treasures in the
keeping Of the museum will be housed
as art collections never were before
and entirely in a way to make them
accessible to the American public.
The modern art museum is much
more then collection Of painting and
sculpture gathered at random It COW
ers so wide a range, both in time and
place, that it's collections become an
epitome of ancient and modern civ.
ilization as revealed in art. There are
objects, for example, in the Boston
museum which were fashioned when
the ancient civilization in the valley
of the Nile was still at it's dawn Wis
itors see statuettes in limestone and
wood which were carved and painted
nearly 5000 years before the birth OF
Christ. Of the later date is recent
accession, the sarcophagus of King
Thothmes l., who lived from 144O to
1915 B. G. The great stone. one Of the
first to be so used, which was hol-
lowed out to receive his remains and
was covered with quaint carving, was
found in 1904 in the tomb of his
daughter, Queen Hatshepsut, in the
Valley Of the Kings at Thebes.
Together with treasures discovered
in excavations on the banks of the.
Nile are others which represent the
art of China and Japan from early
times to the present. The collections
of Chinese and Japanese art which
the Museum of Fine Arts has in its
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