The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-11-05
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HAaKIN. Director.
Washington. D. c.
PICTURES OF WAR.
Washington. q. c.

|
to offer in artists to the front. the war
will be over, and this nation will have
no pictorial record of it-at least. none
that can compare with those of other
nations"
This is the opinion voiced by Joseph
Pennell, famous American artist and
| illustrator, as he sat in the ONCE OF
| the secretary of the navy the otner
day, waiting for permission to sketch
a new war invention. Mr.. Pennells
work is as well known in Europe as
it Is here, and in the beginning of the
war the British government employed
| him to sketch its various war indus
tries. When these remarkable sketches
were exhibited in this country, they
created a sensation, and the artist was
Immediately asked to serve on the PIC
torial publicity section of the public
information committee, which so far
is the greatest honor that the govern
ment has paid an American artist. AS
a member of this committee, Mr.. Pen
nell has been touring the country,
making sketches or our munition
plants, our shipyards, our aeroplane
factories and our environments. But
the government has not sent Mr.. Pen
nell to the front, as did the British
government.
The policy of the government is to
send to France only artists of draft
age. Naturally. this excludes our best
American talent-men like Sargent,
Hassam, Weir, Davies and Pennell,
who are all over go years old.
THE British, French and Italian
governments have had no such pecu-
liar scruples." says Pennell. 'They do
not measure an artists value by his
ability to hike long distances or
shoulder a gun, but by his talent ana
experience. There is Paul RenoUard,
for example, man 10 years of age
I, IL, =, E.
ing marvellous sketches. Sargent
our American Sargent-has also re-
Gently been sent to the front by the
British government, it Is reported"
All the military leaders who have
figured conspicuously in the war are
having their portraits painted by we'll
known artists who have been espe-
cially assigned to the work by their
governments. General Pershing's por-
trait is now being painted, but by a
| Frenchman, not an American.
The few young American artists
who have been sent to France by the
American government are serving in
the engineer corps. and do not enjoy
the independent status that has been
accorded the artists of other nations.
In short, in tn. opinion of our artists,
the government has absolutely failed
to appreciate the tremendous signifi-
canoe of talented portrayal OF the
war to be passed on to the future
, generations of Americans. A photo
| graph now is something that any
3 American bureaucrat can appreciate
z AS one government official said, '1f
y you can get anything as complete and
!, accurate as that in a photograph Ut
was the photograph of a battleship he
held in his HANDY I'll hanged If
e see why the government should
| hot with ~
lists. who take a week to complete g
sketch of one gun. and raise a ter
rible row if somebody comes along
and moves it,
Il This is a good illustration of the
popular attitude toward the artist il
y war. People do not stop to consider
q that photography, while remarkable
f does not last. If the history of the
r Egyptian dynasties; the glory Of an
:. cient Greece and Rome, and the splen
dor of the Renaissance had merel!
been recorded by the camera. it il
y doubtful II the twentieth centur.
n | would have known anything abou
:, them. 1t is the wonderful art of thes,
periods that recalls them for US. Ever
: the African Bushman and the print
n tive Tasmanian-now practically eX
d tinct races-have achieved immortal
g | ity in their art. In their pottery
. their decorated implements and theil
:, left ineffaceable records Of their ex
: istepce.
But will the world. a thousand year,
from now, ever know that the United
n States of America took an active par
Joseph Pencil, it will not, unless i
discovers the fact from the pretoria
T records of other nations.
T The indifference of this nation to
: ward its native talent is also unfor
j, tunate for another reason. Presen
indications point to tremendous com
r petition in art products after the war
n With all their burdens of war. Franc
r and Great Britain have found the tim
to appoint art commissions; to sub
y sidize are schools and to assist risinl
: artists in every possibly way Afte
s the first year, these two government
;, called their artists back from tn
trenches and placed them where thei
IS lives were not endangered. Even Ger
+ many. with the lowest record of ex
@ emptions from military service, ha
managed to keep her artists at home
While the artists themselves have no
II always been pleased with this policy
IS it shows that these nations place
high value upon their art.
Moreover, the sketchings and paint
ings of European artists have beel
IT grouped in collections and exhibited al
. been exhibited in our large American
- cities. and have made a deep impress
) sion upon the public. 1t is not I'm
= usual to hear an American bushes
n man refer to some sketch. of "tha
English artist, McBey," or some vivi
II picture by "Steinlen-that guy the
n call the Millet of the Trenches"
IS is possible that the business man ha
4, also seen Joseph PennelFs- wa
sketches. but he Usually mistakes hir
l. for an Englishman. He is also awar
IS of the fact that Mr.. Charles Dana Glib
n son is in some way connected with tn
~ government-but>t that is all.
Nevertheless, with all these discour
II aging factors, the outlook for Ameri
le can art and American artists
brighter than it has ever been before
THE war has not changed the artist
style" declared Mr.. Pennell. "as sew
e eral prophets have predicted that