The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-22
Art in America

One does not have to be very old to remember the time when there were not more than three or four art galleries in this country and when art collections were not only small In number, but of small value measured by the standards of the old world
 It used to be a common saying that America was too young to have art, and that 1t would be a century or more be- fore We would have anything creditable to exhibit in that line But the United States has gone forward rapidly in every way. It Is not only marvel in com- merce and mechanicals invention; 1t has produced many great men of letters. American literature counts for much in the world culture of the nineteenth cen tury, and in architecture, painting and sculpture this country has made surpris- ing progress within the past 20 years.
 Twenty-Five or 90 years ago the only art museums were in Boston, New York and Washington. The late w. w. Cor coran, banker and philanthropist, found ed the Corcoran gallery in Washington It was small as art galleries go now and contained few pictures by artists of reputation. But 1t was of exceeding value from educational point of view. It has been added to in the recent years and is now a great credit to the national cap ital. Fifteen or 20 years ago there was not much to be seen in the Metro politan museum in New York, but today it reminds one of European gallery. J. Pierpont Morgan has done much for the Metropolitan-more, perhaps, than any 10 persons put together America has come to be country of muti-milionaires, and among these Croesuses are some real ben efactors. But in the estimation of many persons Mir. Morgan's benefactions are more appreciated than even those of MT Rockefeller or MT. Carnegie. Henry Tyr rell. who contributed the article on Art Progress in the United States" to the World Almanac for 1912. says:
 "The artistic development of the coun- try during the past year has manifested itself, not in the production of individual masterpieces or notable public works but rather in the unprecedented growth of schools and federations, the number and general excellence Of public exhibi- tions, the increasing frequency of large public sales, particularly in New York city-which is rapidly becoming, in commercial sense at least, a world cen- ter and clearing house for art objects of every description-and the huge sums of money invested alike In foreign produc- tions, old and modern, and in the native output.
 "The sale of the collections of the late Robert Hoe brought a total of close upon
 
 was for the library. and the larger pro- portion of the remainder was for scup- lures, bronzes, porcelains, prints, bibelots, rugs, and various objects other than paintings. The total amount obtained for the pictures was s129.195. including s70,5Oo for Rembrandts Girl Holding Medal on Chain A Rembrandt etching, Christ Healing the Sick fetched $4O00.
 Two widely discussed recent purchases of old masters by American collectors were by Henry C. Prick, the Fraga por- trait of King Phillip " of Spain, by Velasquez s5O0,000: and, by P. A. B. Wdener, the famous Landscape With Mill. attributed to Rembrandt from the Marquis of Lansdowne S500,000.
 Pictures by living contemporary Amer ican artists. as well as by tardilly rec ognized native masters who have died in recent years, such as Inness Martin, Wyant, and Homer. and La Farge. are steadily appreciating in value, and al- ready hold their own with Europeans of corresponding rank at the public sales. A collection of IS Inness landscapes was purchased in March, 1911, by Edward B. Butler for $15O.OOO, and presented to the Chicago Art institute. At the spring ex- hibition of the National Academy of De- sign, New York city, more than 20 pie lures sold at an average of 5000 apiece including Charles w. IIawthornes g Clarke prize winner. The Trousseau,' purchased for the Metropolitan museum for S350O: ]. Francis Murphy's Upland Pastures. 5000. and an Arizona landscape by Albert Groll at the same figure"
 Birmingham will some day have a H. brary building and we should have In that building an art gallery. Books and pie lures naturally go together The art col lection would be small, of course, at the beginning, but Birmingham already has half dozen artists of pronounced talent and the number would grow as the de- mand for the true and the beautiful in- creased I am just enough of prophet to say that in 20 years from now Bir- mingham will have an art gallery fully equal to that of the Cororan gallery in Washington as it will be recalled in the early sos.