University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1913-09-29
MISSOURI HAS MANY ARTISTS
A State Which Teaches Principles of Design
and Color in Schools From kindergarten
to University.

A Missouri town was one of the first
in the United States to place in its pub
lie schools instruction in any branch of
art. st. Louis was one of the first
American cities to realize the import
ance of teaching drawing as a means
of training the child in observation and
accuracy of eye and hand, and to sup
| ply the children in her schools with
an adequate elementary training along
| such a line.
| And as knowledge of the technique
of any art furnishes means of appre-
citation of that art, it is a matter of
little surprise that Missouri should be
among the states which can point with
pride to art museums, travelling collec-
tions of pictures and teaching of the
principles of design and color in her
schools from kindergarten to state
university; and that native Missouri
ans are adding to her fame and to
the progress of art both at home and
abroad.
Perhaps the best known and most
typically "Missourian" of the artists
which the state numbers among her
sons was George c. Bingham. He was
the man who made famous the pioneer
life of Missouri in colors as Mark
Twain did in words. Living as he did
when the state was in the making,
from 1911 to 1879, he lied the scenes
which he painted.
Bingham was a fatherless boy, ap-
prenticed to a cabinet maker in Boon
vile, when his ambition to paint pict-
ures was awakened by a travelling
portrait painter who came through
the town and gave him some encour-
agement. AS man he was politician,
soldier and artist. He served as state
treasurer and adjutant general of Mis-
souri,, fought in the Civil War On the
Union side, and still found time to
paint for posterity pictures that are
valuable contributions to the history as
we'll as to the art of the state.
Bingham's earliest works were por-
traits. He painted portraits of John
Quincy Adams, Jefferson and Clay.
In the capitol at Jefferson City may be
seen equestrian figures of Jackson and
General Lyon, the work of Bingham.
In the Mercantile Library in st. Louis
are hanging full length portraits of
Baron Won Humboldt and General
Frank P. Blair, while a full length fig
ure OF James S. Rollins painted by
Bingham hangs in the University at
Columbia.
More famous than any of his por-
traits, however, are his delineations of
the life of the early Missourians. THE |
jolly Flatboatmen," Stump Speak
ing" THE County Election The Re-
suit of the Election" the titles all
tell of the scenes depicted. They were
"all Western scenes, Missourians as
typical of Western character, and all
'A-14 "DAN iiiuSIlollOlS vi Tree, TuuG, !
robust life in the West as it was in |
Bingham's day." Perhaps his best
known picture is a political one. |
Order Number Eleven" protest
against the cruelty of the political
of that name.
Bingham lived at a time when the
facilities for gaining a good technical
foundation for work in art were few,
not only in his state but in this whole
country. In spite of such difficulties,
he produced work that has lived be-
cause of its fidelity to the life he knew
best, the life of the Missouri settlers.
Among living artists of Missouri.
stands Frederick Oakes Sylvester, of
st. Louis. Mr.. Sylvester was born in
New England and educated at the