Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1912-12-05
TALKED ON ART
MRS. FRANCIS PEAKE GIVES IN.
TERESTING SKETCH OF
HISTORY OF ART.

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art was given by Mrs. Peake of
jamestown. The event was called
forth by the exhibit of etchings and
paintings now being given at the Ii
brary rooms. Mrs. Peake began her
remarks by saying that she trusted
her hearers were not there expect
ing a learned discussion on art, as
when she consented to speak on the
subject it was on condition that
merely an informal, off,hand talk
would serve. Among other things
Mrs. Peake said: E
'tIt was also Influenced by my love.
of art. have always loved it SO
much that there came, time in my
life when it seemedsto me that II
could not exist any longer without
seeing the originals of some of the
worlds great art.
You will be told by certain lee
turers on art, that art reached, it's
climax in the 18th and 10th centur-
les, then decayed and died, and that
there has been nothing worthy the
name of art since the 10th century.
This seems to me to be almost IA
natical. do not agree with it. II
it were true, none of the pictures
here today would fall in the category
Of art, and thousands of other beau
tiful things would be condemned.
Art did not die. Times changed
and conditions changed with the ad-
vent of the 18th century. Italy,
which had been first, failed and de-
cayed. She no longer produced work
of merit, though she continued to
influence. What had been lightness
and grace in her art became trivial
ity and affectation. What had been
strength and grandeur became heav-
mess and dullness. Germany SEEM
ed to have outlived her own ,art1 but
the Netherlands forged ahead
such artists as Rubens and VanDyck
whose work seemed the more bril-
liant on account of the eclipse of Ital-
ian art. Holland gave birth to a
school of painters at whose head
stand Halls, Rembrandt, and Ruys-
dael
At the same time France which
had hitherto concerned itself more
with the patronage of Italian art
than with founding a school of her
own, gave to the world style of
painting born of classical traditions
and initiated by Claude Lorraine
and the Poussius. In this same 18th
century, Spain, though almost un-
known in the world of painting,
brought forth two artists of widely
different genius in Velazquez and
Murillo. Velazquez was by far the
more original of the two. He is
called the father of modern paint
ing. But Murillo possessed exquis-
ite charm. And then, in the 18th
century, when art everywhere else
seemed to have exhausted it's re-
sources and to have lost its spontan-
city, England for the first time ad-
vanced into the arena and under Ho-
garth, Reynolds and Gainsborough
enjoyed late renaissance of her
own.
Lastly, in the 10th century, the
age Of industry and commercial ac-
tivity, we find general revival of
the art of painting throughout Eu-
rope. The tendency Of 18th CEN
tury art has been to assert its in
dependence OF. the centuries that pre-
ceded 1t, to rely no longer on tradi-
tion with which the times were out
Of touch; to look forward rather
than back, to learn from nature
rather than from the old masters.
Hence it's chief characteristic is its
endless diversity, its almost unlim-.
tied scope, the fearlessness with
which it attacks problems unassailed
by the old masters. Hence, too, the
difficulty Of formulating its tenden-
cy, a difficulty enhanced by the close
proximity to our contemporaries
which forbids our seeing them in
true perspective. It remains for the
future critics of art to correctly place
the art and artists of the 18th CEN
tury.
During the 18th and 10th centur-
les religion seemed to be almost the
sole inspiration of art. With the
18th century the modern spirit be-
gan to be felt. Interest in various
things developed. A closer study
and observance Of nature led to the
rise Of landscape painting. Portrait
painting and animal painting grew
into distinct branches Of art.