Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1907-09-05

she would feel arise the power of ex-
preston that is within each one of us.
1t may be she would become interest
ed in woman struggling to become
a painter and thereby would awaken
the powers of a painter within herself
or, encouraging painter, the sleeping
musician or poet or the active prac-
tical worker in the world of progress
would be aroused.
1t was religion that awakened the
first crude effort of man to express by
means of pigments and marble his
ideals. The great statues of the gods
and goddesses crowning the hills Of
Greece were but mans expression of
his belief in the deities that ruled his
fate. In Italy the palette and brush
were laid at the feet of the church Of
Rome, serving to add to her glory, to
portray her beliefs, to seek the spe-
cial blessing that her service be-
slowed, and in the end to crown man
kind with the flower of an immortal
art-the expression in color of his
ideals.
With searching for the ideal, man
awoke to the realization of the won
ders of nature. Perfect in detail,
marvellous in construction, sumptuous
in color, nature surrounded him, beau
tiful even in its bareness-in its bar
ren spots. What could rival the play
of the sunlight upon field and forest,
the mists of morning and of twilight
time? What could mere thought and
canvas and colors do to surpass the
charm that atmosphere breathes upon
and about the homeliest things of life,
giving them character and beauty,
mystery and pathos? What could rival
the charm of life with all its varia-
tions? So art turned from the church,
its history and service, to life, to it's
mirth and sorrow. Not to the forsak
ing of it's God, but to a broader and
more comprehensive service, the high
er expression of wbicA-to my belief
Will be by the hand of the future
woman.
For women are fast making them
selves teachers in the field of religion,
leading and leading well to those
things that heretofore they were per-
mitted only to accept with unques-
tioning faith and never permitted to
Judge; and may not the women who
are painters, those who are touched
by the same religious fire, may they
not give their talent like the masters
of old to the glory of their God, arons
ing not only the eye to see but the
mind to awake to the possibilities of
the soul?
And why should not art, touched
and conquered by the hand OF woman,
give form to her higher intention and
her higher ideals? For the delicacy
and charm of her thought in her I'M
selfishness and love of the ideal she
eXcels men, and will she not carry art,
of which she is fast making herself
master, into her purer atmosphere.
giving expression to her idealism; del
icate dreams and great unselfishness,
love that is self-sacrifice and uncon-
scious beauty to lay all at the feet of
her hearts religion-a new interpreta-
ton of her God?
In Genesis it is the earth, the plants,
the animals, man, and then-woman.
that follow one after the other in the
order of creation, more perfect, moro
powerful, more intelligent and more
spiritual, until, woman having been
made, we reach the highest and most
spiritual of all created beings. We
know that women are more spiritual
than men, and 1t is the spirit that
makes the great artist 1t is the spirit
that is developed by continuous effort,
then that which is gained by arduous
toll stamps itself upon the soul and
personality, never to leave, giving
certain facility or trend to the artists
expression. Painting is not merely
mechanical and technique alone Is
nothing, but the greater master Of
technique one becomes the greater
will be the possibility of interpreting
any subject as the mind desires. And
technique also is not mastered without
work-hard work-constant work.
not merely the work of the classroom,
gether and to weed out, so that what
enc desires to express will be unques-
tionable. The master knows just what
to put in and what to leave out, be.
sides what method will give the de-
sired effect, and that is what the pupil
only acquires by tedious, arduous work
and step by step.
If women painters advance in the
present century as they have in the
past they will outstrip men. Give
women faith in themselves and an op-
portunity to work and we shall see
them rise to the pinnacle of the great
masters of old whom none has eX-
celled and to whom all artists aspire.
We shall see woman, when her faith
in herself is strong, great religious
painter, interpreting that thrill of re-
ligious inspiration which is in the