Evening star., 1915-11-14

| ory of those by no means elderly the
art museum was established and con-
Quoted with the sole object OF acquir-
| ing and preserving exhibits 1t was
| primarily a storehouse for treasure
| The public was admitted as a privi-
lege. Little change was made from
year to year: being comfortably
! tablished, it simply continued to exist.
| What 4 contrast to the present day!
The art museums are now in almost
every instance centers of activity. Not
only do they open their doors freely
| to the people. but they devise ways of
inducing the public to enter. They
are great educational Institutions.
keenly alive to both opportunities and
needs
| The Metropolitan Museum in New
York has not only a notable collection
exceeding in size and importance that
of any museum outside of Europe, but
is continually striving to make it's col
lection available and serviceable in the
highest degree to all sorts and condi-
tions of men. 1t correlates its exhibits,
provides lectures and teachers and
guides. publishes handbooks as well as
catalogues. sells photographs and pic
! ture post cards of it's exhibits. invites
| trades people and designers to make
use of it's eXhibits-in short, it is a
source Of learning as well as enjoy
i ment to the heterogeneous population
i of. Greater New York.
The Art Institute of Chicago is con-
Quoted upon similar lines. but is. IL
museum on the lake front is located
near the heart of Chicago's business
center. and has become meeting
place for many organizations. Con-
certs as well as lectures are given in
it's auditorium; everything is done SO
far as invention has gone to popularize
art
| 10 Ut there is reason to believe that
~ more changes and still greater i'm
provements will be made in the next
| decade. Quite recently Henry Turner
Bailey Of Boston lectured here on the
subject Of an Educational Museum of
the Arts" and presented some sugges-
| tions that were both novel and engag-
! ing As teacher his interest has
been aroused by the possibility of CIV
/ ing visual instruction through an or
derly and chronological display of ex-
| hibits. The museum that he would
! like to see established, not merely here,
I but In every prominent city, must have
| as its chief feature a hall 500 feet long,
| the floors and walls of which are to be
| crossed by lines one inch apart, each
| of which will stand for a. year in time:
| The hundredth line in every instance
| is to be red, thus marking the centuries.
Of which there will be represented 40
BIC. and 20 AID. Running lengthwise
| of this hall are to be three showcases,
| one In the center. one On each side. In
| the middle one will be models of repre-
sented architecture-frst the pyra-
mids. then the Hall of Karnak, then
, the Parthenon. Cologne Cathedral. st.
Peters at Rome. and. finally. the Wool
/ worth building in New York-begin-
J ming. Mr.. Bailey said, with mere
piling up of stone in which material
was supreme and ending with a
demonstration of spirit wherein mate
rial was of minimum Importance Each
OF these was to be placed at precisely
the right spot on the scale of years
The wall case on one side was to con-
| tain ships and implements of warfare
from the earliest time to today; the
| case on the opposite side was to con-
| tain the tools of art, or rather the
! arts. Over the first case on the wall
| were to be placed the life lines of
great rulers and conquerors: over the
| second. on the other wall were to be
| the life lines of the great artists
! At glance almost, in such a hail.
the evolution of art in relation to the
| history of man would be demonstrated
and In passing it's length one would
naturally follow the course OF time
from the earliest record we now pos
| sess to today. Such a hall would Ger
| tainly be unique and interesting, but
| would not the space measured by the
| 1000 years BIC. be, on account of our
| scantier knowledge, rather vacant Of
exhibits and would not certain spots
in the space measured of for the 1000
AID. be rather overcrowded? The idea
of sequence and correlation, however
, is excellent
Besides this main hall Mr. Bailey pro-
poses for the educational museum Of the
arts of the future numerous halls
smaller in dimensions, each devoted to
a single subject-one, for instance to
portraits. another to jewelry, a third
to pottery. etc. In these collections
would be reproductions as well as orig
inals. which would be arranged chrono-
| logically. An innovation would be
| penny n-the-slot machines under the
most important exhibits, from which
| those of inuuiring minds might obtain
a card giving a reproduction of the
exhibit and telling wherein lay it's real
interest and merit. Mr.. Bailey beliey es
that a great many people go to art
museums today eager to admire, but
lacking expert guidance and sufficient
knowledge, and leave feeling bewil-
dered and confused.
| Doubtless to a great extent this is
true. but 1t refers more specifically to
1 educational exhibits, works of art
which are not intrinsically beautiful
but are Of value on account of his
torical or other reason. The great
works of art of all time have neither
had to be explained nor commended to
! the common people They manifest