The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-12-30

line of accord escapes us. One age
may emphasize idealism, while the
other stresses realism, still neither ex-
aggerated idealism nor excessive real
ism or naturalism constitute really
great art. The truth lies in the mid
die. OF course, we are speaking of
concrete art, not of the metaphysically
beautiful which does by no means
coincide with the artistically beautiful.
While allowing ample elboW-room to
the individual artist, whether painter
or architect, the Church nevertheless
sanctions only such forms as are sub
serYient to her religious ideals, and
rightly SO. The same applies. to,
music and the decorative arts. This
must be kept in view if we are to
Judge religious art correctly. The
beginning of the nineteenth century
witnessed a unique revival OF religious
art. Out of somewhat vague aspira-
tions and ideals the Nazarenes
evolved a distinct type of religious
art, the prime object of which is edi-
| fication. No school of art has been
| subject to so many ill-humored at
tacks, from the day of it's first appear
ance to the present time. The main
reason for this is the positive Chris
Iian standpoint of this remarkable
school, which insists on art being
esteemed as a religious service, not
as a fetish, in other words, the mod
ern art for arts sake is unknown with
in its precincts.
| The Nazarene Madonnas are famil-
lar to every one; they adorn our
churches, our homes, our prayer
books, they are reproduced over and
over in religious literature. England,
France, Italy, and even Russia felt
the influence of the Nazarene ideal:
art as religious service. 1t remained
for Ruskin, the magician of modern
| English prose, to make the Pre-
Raphaelite Brotherhood, an English
school of the middle of the century
possessing more than one point of
contact with the Nazarenes, the best
known and most widely discussed
artists in English speaking countries.
| One thing is certain, despite its vagar.
les Pre-Raphaelitism has notably con-
tributed toward religious earnestness
In distinctly religious art of modern
England. For the appreciation and
diffusion Of worthwhile religious art,
however, the Dusseldorf and Munich
i successors of the early Nazarenes
have done the most in recent times.
The end of the century witnessed
also the rise and growing apprecia-
ton of a type of religious art, the
Theological correctness, aristocratic
distinction, and moral earnestless Of
which may fairly be said to be with
out peer in the history of art, we
mean modern Benedictine art. Beu-
ron art is art withaI in the strictest
acceptation Of the word: an exquisite
flower of artistic perfection, no matter
lhow little the general public knows
! of it. Egyptian and Asyrian motives
predominant in the older products Of
the school, while recent creations
show the marked influence OF medieval
art. It's very exclusiveness and arts
I tocratic aloofness naturally enough
initiate against ii ever becoming a
popular art, which indeed it is not
meant to be. Aside from religious
considerations, its artistic appeal
seems to us to be akin to that OF
Japanese art. The comparison must
mot be stressed, still Beuron art
seems to us to radiate kindred
appeal. In vain does the Western
spectator look for any production in
Japanese art that will astonish by its
life-likeness, its fidelity to an actual
J scene, says a noted critic. Eastern
art has never attempted to compete
with the work of photography. It's
paramount function il the function
which the European public grants tc
lpoets but not Always to painters
| the seeking out of subtle and invisible