The Spanish Fork press. [volume] (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-current, 1907-09-05

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 browning the hills OF
Greece were but mans expression OF
his belief in the deities that ruled his
fate. In Italy the palette and brusf
were laid at the feet of the church o
Rome, serving TO add to her glory, t.
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 immorta |
art-the expression in color of hi'
ideals.
With searching for the ideal, mar
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
rem 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
It's history and service, to life, to its
Nnf In hn b
ing of its God, but to broader and
more comprehensive service, the high
er expression of which-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 we'll 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, arous
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 un
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 I At is self-sacrifice and uncon-
scious beauty to lay all at the feet oil
her hearts religion-a new interpreta.
ton of her God?
In Genesis 1t Is the earth, the plants.
the animals, man. and then-woman,
that follow one after the other in the
order of creation. more perfect, more
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 a
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,
but original work. trying to weld 10.
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.
Ii 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