Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-22

PROF. FENoLLoSA'S LECTURE IN
HUBBARD MEMORIAL HALL.

A lecture Of absorbing interest on the
Great Epochs Of Chinese and japanese
Art" was given by Prof. Ernest T. Fen
ollosa on Thursday evening, at Hubbard
Memorial Hall, before the National Society
of the Fine Arts.
Many false impressions prevail, he said
in regard to the art Of the orient, largely
through lack Of available information.
Often 1t is declared that the life Of the
Chinese nation has flowed on uninterrupt-
edly that socially, morally and artistic
ally 1t has been for thousands Of years
merely on a dead level But this, he insist
ed, was not so, and to set the contrary
clearly before his audience he displayed a
chart which In graphic manner exhibited
the relation and height of the several art
periods both in China and Japan.
The earliest art Of China, he said, was
similar to that Of Alaska, of New Zealand
and Of the islands Of the Pacific-that is, the
first art impulse probably came from the
east, but the next was from Messopotamia
and the next from Greece-the Greco Budd-
histic, brought in by way Of India. Pottery
bronzes. carvings and statuary, admirably
reproduced by photography, were shown to
Illustrate these derivations and relation
ships. Then arriving at the time when
painting came in vogue when the need Of
color seems to have first been felt, Prof
Fenollosa showed examples of the works Of
the greatest men and traced in them an
analogy to the productions Of the famous
western painters. He told, too Of how the
several schools found their inception and
development; Of how after the great re-
ilgious painters came those who turned to
nature and rendered both landscapes and
flowers with religious and poetic feeling.
Continuing the history, he made 1t plain
how the five periods in Japanese art were
as waves passing over from China perhaps
by way of Korea, and recresting with fresh
Vlgor and slgnificance-not an art revived
but an impulse continued. Touching briefly
upon the aristocratic school Of Japan he
treated at some length the pIebeian schools
which are accountable for the famous print
makers, to whom the occident is already SO
deeply indebted, and in conclusion placed
upon mis- screen the reproduction Of a work
Dy whistler In whom the traditions of both
the east and the west have, he declared,
found expression.
Mr.. Fenollosa is not only the leading ALL
thority upon Chinese and Japanese art in
tnls country, scholar and expert but he
has been closely associated with Mr.. Freer
In the assemblage and ARRANGEMENT of the
latters famous collection Many of the H.
lCstratlons that he used were of works in
ME- freer's possession, and as they will
eventually find a permanent home in this
city. ne concluded his lecture with q short
explanation of Mr. Freers purpose in
making both the collection and the gift.
II was on account of the relation of the
art or the west and the east and of the
certainty that the great art Of the future
must be the product Of the two. that he
had made the effort, Prof Fenollosa said.
20 demonstrate the value Of the least
known' and to place his evidence, as tools.
~ III 'nS hands or the nation for the profit of
all. The suggestive color of the lotteries
ana their translucent glaze was not onIv
stmulat1ng to future endeavor, but the kew,
note OF certain past works, and as whistler
and Dewing and Tryon and Abbott Thaver
mad In measure continued the traditions
OF the eastern artists. so would Others
through their inspiration, develop it still