The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-26
From the Boston Globe.

From the Boston Globe.
A BOSTON artist while travelling IN
"a Europe few years ago, ran
4 , across an old painting of Cruel
6xion in an obscure little shop. which he
purcha sed A little later on cleaning the
n;ct,re he discovered that most of the
clothes and draperies on the cherubs and
on the figure of Christ had been painted
long after the original picture had been
painted. Later he discovered that a
former owner of the picture, who had
scruples about the nude in art, had en-
gagged an artist to decorate the figures
in these extra clothes and draperies. The
Boston artist removed these extra clothes
and draperies and found himself in pos
session of an excellent painting-the orig
inal painting as it had been painted by
the original artist
A few years ago the nude statue of a
Bacchante by MacMonnies was hooted
out of the courtyard of the public library
because its nudity offended the sensibih-
ties of some people in the community
These same people probably admire the
same bronze statue in the Museum of
Fine Arts, where it has been for some
time
The pope Paul ", objected to some of
Michelangelos paintings in the Vatican,
because of their nudity but Michael re-
fused to drape the figures which may
still be seen as they were painted
These three instances illustrate the
fact that there is and has been FOR CEN
turies a strong prejudice against the nude
in art, and the people among whom this
prejudice exists frequently ask:
why do artists like to paint and
sculpture the nude, human fgure?'
The artist who is a real artist must
study and know the human figure. He
must know something of the anatomy and
the anatomical relations of its parts. This
is a Fundamental requirement, for it is
not possible properly to draw, model,
paint or clothe a human figure without
knowledge of it's anatomy and construc-
tion--lts bones and muscular covering.
The physician and the surgeon must
also study anatomy, but they do so for
a different purpose. They are more con-
cerned with the functions and relations
of the various parts of the body. The
artists first object is to get accurate
knowledge OF the proportions of the figure
and of its bone and muscular mechanism,
so as to understand the true action in all
positions and emergencies; for the basis
Of real art is truth. The artist may be
born with instinct and genius for paint
ing and drawing, and sculpture, but he
must fortify these fortunate possessions
with that kind of accurate knowledge
which can only be obtained by study and
close observation.
And when the art student has arrived
at this point it begins to dawn on him
that the human figure is the most Won
derful of Gods creations; beautiful In its
form, in its construction and its utility.
And more and more he looks on the hui
man figure in an objective sense, as he
would at a flower, or tree, or some
other beautiful, natural object.
The artist sees the human being lin
much the same way that lover of horses
sees fine horse, or lover of dogs fine
dog. and he has no more respect for
clothes on fine human figure than the
1
horse lover would have for clothes on a
beautiful horse.
But there has always been a desire in
human beings to ornament, decorate and
clothe the human body-to improve on
nature. The savage who does not require
clothing for warmth as well as the saw
age who does, paints his body, and scars
it, and believes that rings in his nose
and bracelets on his ankles improves his
personal appearance; and the more bar
| baric peoples love loud contrasts in their
bodily decorations. They know nothing OF
the wonderful structure of the power
and the beauty of their own bodies.
That sort of knowledge requires little
higher order of intelligence, and that is
why the Greeks were the first real ad
mirers of the human body. They comprs