The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-04-23

to the arts, he will begin making drawings
from memory (this, too, before he knows
how to draw, and during the whole FIVE
Year, Of durance vile In school rooms will
constantly have rome work Of competition
upon hand.
But those FIVE yearsi Can Q student
with possibilities of originality Of char.
acter survive fire years in an atelier. /
wooder3 Think Of FIVE dutiful years Of com-
plete submissioni Some teachers insist
uron seven. II seems to me no n could
survive seven. OF course in the old days
most Of these seven years were spent In
Paris, and 40 our students were shy on
French. the criticisms Of old Bouguereau
Of 0erome were not especially harmful nor
especially copious. Every artist Of maturity
recalls with . grin the p~erfunctory "gardes
lee masses' meted out with cold regularity
to the American students. No need to
inquire Of ones French chum what the
professor had said. One knew II only too
we'll by heart. How much did n actually
learn from the professor How much does
any one learn from Q professor7 One
learned something nevertheless, chiefly be-
cause one was left alone.
But think Of seven years tutelage with
. professor who not only speaks your "
language but who thinks you should make
brush strokes the same way he doesi
Thu fifty or sixty young artists who
have been filling the principal art galleries
all winter long with exhibitions Of modern
art should read the April Bulletin Of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. They will
find in It matter of the deepest importance
directly concerning themselves. Modern
art, It seems, 10 wrong. Dr.. Robinson q y
in an article upon the museums new
Greek marble, that modern art 10 "vainly
endeavoring to represent that which cannot
be represented"
Since the game 10 impossible, why should
these young people waste their time upon
.it7 Why not give it up at once and do
Greek art7
DR.. Robinson points out that our artists
have turned their backs upon the estab-
lished and well trodden paths, ito which
their art" ne adds, will certainly return,
soone Or later, either under their own in
fuence Of that of their followers. possibly
all the saner for the experience through
which it has passed"
The belief in circles is as prevalent a.
the belief in cubes. The world has a dis.
concertins habit of turning upon an axis.
and fashions of thought and feeling recur
in history with such regularity that one
can almost foretell their Temperament
with the certainty that astronomer ptac-
tise upon comets. Many comets, how
ever, after absences Of centuries, reappear
with signs Of wear and tear. Their tails
are sometimes awry or they are fatter or
thinner. So. too. with fashions in art or
religion. They reappear, but often 20
changed that We scarcely recognize them.
Greek art has many times reappeared on
earth, but only for comparatively short
visitations. In the museum there 10 an
other marble head made in Rome centuries
after the great day Of the Greeks. The
Romans felt DR.. Robinson's yearning to be
Greek. and the museums archaistic head
is one evidence Of it. Our scientists are very
quick to tell Us. however. that it 10 not
really Greek. When Canova flourished
somewhat nearer our own time, he too. no
doubt, felt that he was reviving the glory
that was Greece. Curiously, though, we do
not value his productions very highly at
present. Flaxman was Greek in a very
English way. and his originals still sell we'll
in the auctions.
When our own Greek revival begins Il
second DR.. Robinson's motion that we be
Greek, with all my hearty I suggest that
we incorporate it largely into our daily
living n give up our habits to music,
physical exercises and calm debate upon
such subjects as the anonymity of good
ness and beauty. With a large portion
Of the public thus proftably engaged surely
we could eclipse Flaxman and Canova in
being Greek and contribute more thar one
such artist to future museums. The calm
beauty Of the Greek Athlete which the
museum has just acquired, does indeed
suggest the great distance to which our
artists have drifted away from former
standards. 1t also Enthusiastically susge SITS
the great difference in the manner of pres
ent day living.