The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-02-22
WHATS THE use OF
ART TO AMERICANS?
None, Asserts ]. A. StenhOuse
Of London Before the Re.
publican Club.
No TIME TO ENJOY 1T
BOrglum Castigates Saint eau
dens's Lincoln and New
Memorial.

j. a. Stennouse OF London, deputed ~
Arnold Drummer. the architect to repre-
sent him at the luncheon OF the Republican
Club yesterday. threw few gallons of
kerosene on the burning question: Are
Art. Literature and the Drama Declining
In Character and Infiuence?" The discus
sion narsd up merrily and the audience
clapped hard to show Its appreciation OF
Mr. Stenbouse's audacious attack on r.
thetic America.
"There was never q place where there
was more earnest, misplaced effort to
popularise art than In this country Of
yours" Mr.. Stenhouse remarked as a
starter How can any of.these fine things
you have be Appreciated when you don't
take time TO breathe7
Don't fatter yourselves that you can
be doing two things well at the same
time. Art has had a good innings here.
Your buildings were put up to attract
business. and that 10 why architecture In
particular has Jared well.
Art 10 the Kind Of thing that can't
be popularised. therefore 1 advise you to
give UP the effort. ! know well that the
drama IL declining because you can't get
decent drama In London or New York
70 but there are your newspapers. Really
one can't understand many an English
sentence In them. What are you doing
to maintain and keep your language pure
and to make your speech and writing
grammatical?
Prof. Franklin w. Hooper of your
Brooklyn Institute OF Arts and sciences
speaking before me. says there was never
In the history Of the world a monument
so great as the Lincoln monument In Chi
caso. Well-now Everything Is so big
to you. You simply can't realize any
thing small. still. why not see things
40 they are? II Prof. Hooper will visit
the art galleries OF Europe We might
show him monuments comparable In n
humble way with the one he apostro-
phiscs."
The Lincoln monument that Pros
Hooper praised without limit excited
quite another opinion from Gutron Bor-
glum. sculptor.
That statue Il not great interpreta-
ton OF the qualities that made Lincoln
great" said Mr.. Borglum Even n Saint
0audens did IT," Then ne attacked the
-. 600. 900 Lincoln memorial which IL to
arise OIL the banks Of The Potomac.
They are going to put $2,000.oo into
marble. more marble and more marble
Of Greek temple. Forsooth q fine thing
by which to honor Lincoln: but I shouldn't
have word to say II only the story Of
Lincoln were to go into that temple as
the Greeks would have put II in. They
knew enough TO put a thing in art 90
that child could grasp the Significance
Of It."
Benjamin p. De witt OF New York
University extended the castigation TO
current literature.
MY first indictment OF present day
writer's would he that they keep giving
TO the public what they think II wants
and forget the expression or interpre-
tation OF life-lt they have that In them
There are the six best sellers. Pick
up any OF tho tribe and you will lay
II down diaGvsted. no matter how tired
you were at the start. There's flood
Of oommercialised writing The man
with something to express message
u missing"
william NJ. Chase. the painter, saidi
"While more poor pictures may be pro-
| duced to-day than ever bcfore--art Is a
fad now think It's safe to say that
there are not many more poor pictures
than In past periods. Time helps enor-
mously In forming estimates OF the worth
OF art. Whistler tried To tone his pic
lures TO look old, and I am afraid that
| with time his work will disappear en-
tirely. sargent-there isn't one OF his
| works that can't stand beside the mas
terra"