Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-01-24

- HOWARD WALKER of Boston,
~ fellow Of the American Institute
Of Architects and lecturer at Harvard
gave an illustrated lecture before the
Washington Society of the Fine Arts
Wednesday evening in the auditorium
of the National Museum. and in the
afternoon addressed the recently
formed Art and Archa eology League at
Gunston Hall.
The address in the afternoon was on
How Art Should Be Taught and was
plea for sanity in educational methods.
Education in art, as in other things,
Mr.. walker said, must be along two
I lines to be SUCCESSFULLY must be along
| the line Of least resistance. and 1t must
overcome. He deprecated the effort to
| force all children into the same mold
and to bring each to the same degree of
proficiency. declaring that only in the
eyes Of the law were ''all men born free
and equal" He deplored also the Char
ity, sympathy and mercy bestowed upon
inehciency, which he termed one of the
tragedies of the age. Art. he defined, as
anything done as well as it could posi-
bly, be done. from the simplest to the
greatest.
His subject in the evening before
| Washington Society of the Fine Arts was
! The Decorative Arts These, he said,
were too often regarded as the little
| N,
poor relations" whereas their impor-
lance could not be overestimated. He
told Of the development Of these arts
and called attention to the fact that
structural art came from the west: deco
rative art, or the art Of surface design
from the east He touched also in the
derivation of design and explained the
union Of the so-called fine and decorative
arts. In showing illustrations he en-
phasized salient merits and defects and
hos nlv,o - n,,4 yv,o
portant point which Mr.. Walker brought
out was the distinction between the
glori1cation of the work and of the
worker. The decorative designers and
craftsmen Of the Gothic period gloried
in their work, he said, yet no one today
knows the name of a single one of these
workmen, whereas in later centuries.
when the work was far less worthy. not
"a single little wiggly scroll was made
but what some craftsman, thinking him.
self great. had signed it," In all that Mr..
Walker said the relation Of the decora-
tive arts to the fine arts was clearly
demonstrated.
+ X
1.-THE Washington Society of the Fine
Arts held its ninth annual meeting
Wednesday evening. Reports were read
by the secretary and treasurer showing
an increase in the scope of work accom-
pllSneo. dS Wen rs an increase IN IIieu-
bership. The society now has 643 men,
bers; among whom are those most inter-
ested in art and civic improvement in
Washington. The President and Mrs.
Wilson have lately been elected honorary
members.
The officers. elected for the ensuing
year were: President, Glenn Brown;
first vice president. Hennen Jennings;
second vice president, T. Wayland
Vaughan; secretary, Leila Mechlin, and
treasurer. Charles H. Bradley. The
council to comprise the three ex-presi-
dents, Charles J. Bell. William Fl.
Holmes and Thomas Nelson Page, and
Richard N. Brooke. H. K. Bush-Brown,
George F. Bowerman, Robert 7. Chap
man. Archibald Hopkins, William Bruce
King, George x. McLanahan and Miss
Helen Nicolay. LEILA MECHLIN.