The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-01-30
. ROBABLY every artist and art
. student in town has already
drunk deep ut the well spring

N every artist ana art
student in town has already
drunk deep at the well spring
Of inspiration supplied by the Ballet
Russo. We may expect and we must
prepare to face philosophically guam
titles Of Ballet Russo pictures. 1t Is
possible some Of them may even turn
out to he good, at which the angels
In heaven and the mere mortal art
critics will rejoice exceedingly but l
believe as n matter of fact that the
angels in heaven never rejoiced ove
any of the several thousand paintings
that the Ballet Russo inspired in
Paris.
The difficulty seems To be that the
Ballet Russo is too perfect. The mr.
tist has nothing to invent. 1t is like
the landscape at Capri. which james
Addlngton Symonds says is II perfect
picture from every viewpoint, yet
which is cheapened by every modern
artist who attempts it. To touch it at
all Is to take from it.
Those artists who will profit most
by this new and sensational enter
tuinment are those. no doubt, who
will profit indirectly by mere soul en-.
richment. So much pictorial sug-
gestiOn operating in the community
quickens artists in their turn to en-
deavor and accomplishment. 1t Is
like II segment Of early Florentine
or still earlier Greek life that Is Of
fered us by the mere presence In the
E city of So many gifted Russian per-
sOnalities.
Art may not he u contagiOn, yet II
has been nO'iced that great artists
are seldom isolated and geniuses al
ways appear lifted upon the Shout
derS of communities who have pro-
ducesl them by their own rich SYM
pathies with matters of art. Who
could not have been an artist In the
days of ~Savonarolat Who connected
with The arts in New York will not
he benefited by the exercise of the
imaginative faculties that the ballet
imposed upon its audiences?
The extent of the mental apathy
into which our people had drifted
WAS we'll enough illustrated by the
behavior of the fashionable audience
at the premiere of "ScheheraZade,"
who seemed bewildered. i'll NJ ease,
almost frightened, by n spectacle that
an average child would have cottoned
. to instantly. When the curtain fell
upon the splendid and swift punish
ment of the guilty ladies of the Sui
tan's harem there vas practically no
applause. The curtains parted me-
chemically To permit the artists to
bow acknowledgment for the appre-
citation of the public and closed again
upon the dancers quickly when IL had
become painfully apparent that the
furious acclaim that the Ballet Russo
had become accustomed to in Paris
was moi To be expected here, mt least
not upon the first night. No such
helplessness upon the part of an au-
dirnc had been @ since the
first night Of "Rosenkavalier" at the
opera.
Art makes its appeal to minds ut
ease, AT leisure. to the individual free
from worry to him who can enter
whOleheartedly into the idea of an.
other. The truth is that in America
we have los the faculty for imagina.
tive effort. The passion for figures
hard facts, money making, have de-
strOyed for the time being all of our
powers for play. The people whl
used to respond to Augustin Days
productions have gone and they have