The sun., 1916-04-09
Philosophy Of Life and Art In
Terms Of Form aud Color.

Art is a language Of which the two
main dialects are form and color" and
is made by LIsrE MARCH PHILLIPS, in
Form and COior ,SCrihnsrs) TO add It's
testimony To such evidences of the
characters and motives Of man as We
already possess In poetry, painting
sculpture, architecture and music. ana
in the customs o: daily life. East is
East and West is West" and in Their
characters. their faiths. their arts and
enterprises. in whatever aspect they
MAY be comparatively regarded all
differences are related to the rule Of
the Orient by color and OF the Occident
10y form.
Form is. in art or nature. so Mr..
Phillipps's thesis runs, always in its es-
senCe intellectual. while color Is emo
tional. The West is ruled by intellect
the East by emotion. When from n
boat YOU look M the land. with its
line of cliffs. cluster Of cottages at
the base OF them. the curving line of
the beach, boats lying on the sand, an
old gray quay and the capes that shut
in the view on either side. you are a
Wcsterner; but when you lean over the
SIDE of your boat and gaze into the
depths Of the water, you become n seer.
fakir, n yogi-you have abandoned
your Western habit for the Eastern,
turning your eyes from the things of
, sense to inward depths Your "en-
hanced spiritual consciousness" Is "a
taste of the identical emotional ecstasy
| for the sake of which so many auster-
| tiles have been patiently sustained by
the brOoding children Of the Orient.
Form is color intellectualizcd" MI.
| Phillips intelectualizes 1t more: i,
is dependent for effect largely upon as
sOciatiOn. A jaundiced skin or an egg
! stained tablecloth has not the same
esthctc value az a daffodl painted in
! the same tint. Enter n butchers shop
and try, as the author did. to reason
yourself into an appreciation of its
| colors
! The rich red of the flesh was close Ia
| som" Of tho darkest Of the red roses, or
| perhaps stil more exactly Tailed with the
| crimson Of the common peony. The slab
! OF firm yellow tat were of the very Culur
aud texture which Reynolds truly said
thai all great colorlsts' pictures were made
| OF But the best of the colors was the
| white Of the lard. This at once pure and
warm, Is perhaps the most perfect white
| In nature, not excepting the white Of
| ivory. II IL the ideal impasto which all
| great masters have aimed at, smooth but
| not brittle. solid but not hard.
| SO another difference betty form
and color is made evident: color is an
| adjective, the bond servant Of it's noun.
By way of evening matters up. how
ever, the reader will supply reflect ions
of what color can do to form, College
prank players recognize Its power
when they splash green paint over a
statue whose every line shows grace
| or power.
In n more literary hearing. Stevenson
anticipated the philosophizer of com
mOnplace observation. In "The Treas
ure of Franchard," Dr. Desprez says
to the lad Jean Marie, after par
doning him for the vices Of philosophy
and processing despair over his mani
festaton of it's virtues: "'I.ook ther.
at the sky--behind the belfry first
where II IL SO light. and then M and
up. turning your chin back, right ia
the top of the dome, where II Is already y
as blue as noon. Is not that beauti-
ful color? Does It not please tho
heart?. We have seen II all our lives
until IL has grown in with our familiar
thoughts. Now changing his tone
suppose that sky to become suddenly