The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-05-12
Podsnappery.


Mr.. PopsNAP, in all the glory Of q
liver colored waistcoat (pattern 1909
stood with his back to a brisk sea Goa,
fire which cracked on the PodsnaI
hearth. y note" he remarked severely
to Mrs. PoDsNAP, i note, he repeated
as if to nail the wandering attention OF
that lady with the rocking horse n~ostrils,
that across the waters. at Pittsburg,
U. s. A., there has been considerable
agitation over the exhibition Of an un-
seemly painting, by n SAUrER, pre-
sumably a Frenchman. This picture
is called The Bridal Morning Shock
ing Even il it were not a nude Il say
a nude, Mrs, PopsNAP!-the title would
be an offence; but it is a nude, and that
makes the offence the greater. Where
are We drifting, madam Let us re-
joice, in common with all persons OF
good taste and morals, that the Eastern
League of Art Students, worthy young
women, fed from the spot wherein
was exhibited this scandalous so-called
work of art, OCulture. what crimes are
committed in thy mann in benighted
America .
Let us not seek TO alternate the
preachment of Mr.. PopsNAP. His senti-
ments will be echoed over the land, for
Podsnappery is again in the ascendent
and not the first time since the days of
DICKENS. 1t expresses itself variously
and with intensity. Naturally the fine
arts must be, if not abolished, at least
regulated. There is nothing 80 terrible
to some people as the human form
divine. Banished from our literature
it is barely holding it's own in painting
and sculpture. Didn't that godly mar
Senator BERENGER fight the plastic
demon in Paris and almost exercise it2
Now it is Pittsburg. which according
to a local socialistic clergyman is
wickeder than New York. But the
Pittsburg case has had preoedents. We
recall, not so many years ago, the case
Of WILLIAM MACBETH, a reputable art
dealer, then on Fifth avenue near
Twenty-seventh street. He had placed
in his show window a picture the sub
ject Of which vas a group Of nude chill
dren playing, the oldest perhaps ten
years Of age. It was too much, this
innocent painting, for the nerves Of an
outraged publio-representsd by half a
dozen prudes and iconoclssts. Tho
picture was withdrawn though thou
sands annually visited the old Hoffman
House Cafe, where BoUGUEREAU's
-Nymphs and Satyr' was on view.
When EpouARp MANEr's breakfast
in the Open was shown many years
ago at Paris the indignation Of certain
critics was refreshing. One realized
how pure minded a Partisan critic
could become il he didn't like a par
tioular painter The offensive part Of
the picture consisted Of a nude woman
in the midst Of a company clothed and
in their right mind. This motive is
familiar to students OF Renaissance art,
but Paris was deeply offended, though
CORA PEARL and OFFENBAcH's indecent
travesties continued to delight it's
aesthetic temperament. So it is with
the Sauter painting, whose principal
wickedness may be its title. Salome
dancers may come and go, but the back
Of q shrinking young woman-the back
Of the human slate, as MEREDITH calls it
set forth in not a remarkable style, is
censured by too nice minds.
To MIR. SAuTEB's picture, THE Bridal
was awarded the second
prize at the Carnegie Institute, Pitts
burg. 1t is a harmless theme treated
with propriety by the artist, and as such