The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1919-12-11
ANTIQUITY OF
DECORATIVE ART
Strange Sources From Which
Pigments Used by Modern
Painters Are Derived.
PRESERVATION OF SURFACES
Crude but Effective Processes Employ
ed by the Egyptians and Greeks Of
Piiny's Day-Noah Prudentiy
Waterproofed the Ark.

Whether paint was invented In an
swer to a need for u preservative or TO
meet a desire for b~aut. is a question
fully as knotty az the ancient one about
the relative time OF arrival OF the
chicken or the egg. Ii was invented,
though, and II serves both purposes
equally so whether II IL an offspring
OF mother necessity or an adopted son
of beauty remains forever q disputed
question.
The first men, covering under the
fierce and glaring suns OF the biblical
countries, constructed rude huts OF
wood to shelter them. The perlshable
nature of these structures caused rapid
decay, and It is probable that the &C.
cupants, seeking some artificial means
OF preservation, hit upon the pigments
NJ the earth In their search. II Is per-
hars natural to suppose that It was
the instinct of preservation that led
men to the search, although the glories
NJ the sunsets and the beauties of the
rainbow may have created a desire to
initiate those wonders In their own
dwellings.
The earliest record Of the applica-
ton Of a p~reservntlve to a wooden
structure dates from ne ark, which
WIS, according to the Bible. pitched
within and without" The pitch was a
triumph Of preservation whatever IL
lacked as a thing OF beauty.
Decoration applied to buildings first
comes to light with ancient Babylon,
whose walls were covered with repre-
sensations Of hunting scenes and of
combat. These were done In red and
the method followed was to paint the
scene on the bricks al the time Of
manufacture, assuring permanence by
baking. Strictly speaking. this was
not painting SO much as II was the
earliest manifestation of our own IA
mil'lr kalsomining.
The first Hebrew to mention paint
ing Is Moses. In the thirty-third chap
ter Of the book Of Numbers he In
structs the IsraelItes, when ye have
passed over the Jordan into the land
Of Canaan. then shall ye drive N all
the Inhabitants Of the land from be-
fore you and destroy all their pic
lures. . . ="
At later periods the Jews adopted
many customs Of the peoples who sue
ccsslvely obtained power over them
and In the apocryphal book Of the
Maccabees Is found this allusion to
the art OF decorating, For as the mas
ter builder Of a new house must care
for the w.iole building, but he that
Indcrtaketh 10 set It out and paint II,
must seek out things for the adorning
thereof"
Although Homer gives credit to a
Greek for the discovery OF paint, the
illusions TO II In the books OF Moses,
The painted mummy cases Of the Egyp-
dams and the decorated walls of Baby
Ion and Thebes Ak its origin ut q
period long antecedent to the Gre AN
FRA. The walls of Thebes were paint
ed 1000 years before the coming Of
Christ and 896' years before "'Omer
mote his bloomin' Tyre"
The Greeks recognized the value Of
paint as a preservative and made use
ef something akin to II on their ships.
PlIny writes OF the mode of boiling
wax and painting ships with 1t, after
Ehich, he continues, neither the sea,
Tor the wind, nor the sun can destroy
he wood thus protected"
The Romans, being essentially q
garlike people, never brought the dec
,ration OF buildings to the high plane
{ had reached with the Greeks. For
] al 9Iat NhA R.tHa " 0.n h~uu
many structures whose mural decors-
Ions are In fair shape today. The
.olors used were glaring. A black
background was the usual one and the
combinations worked thereon red. yell
ow and blue.
In the early Christian era the use of
nosaics for churches somewhat sup
planted mural painting. Still, during
the reign OF JustiniIn the Church Of
Saint Sophia was built at Constantine
pie and Its walls were adorned with
paintings.
In modern times the uses of paint
have come to be as numerous as It's
myriad shades and tints. Paint IL
unique In hat Its name las no syno-
nym and for II there Ia no substitute
material. Bread Is the STAFF Of life, but
paint Is the life Of the stan.
No one thinks Of the exterior Of q
wooden building now except In terms
OF paint coated. Interiors, too, from
painted walls and stained furniture
down to the lowliest kitchen u%tensil,
all receive their protective covering.
Steel, so often associated with cement
reinforcing, is painted before II goes
to give solldity to the manufactured
stone. The huge Orders Of the sky
scrapers are daubed an ugly but eff
cient red underneath the surface coat
Of black. Perhaps the best example
Of the value of paint on steel IL found
In the venerable Brooklyn bridge, on
which a gam OF painters is kept 70
ing continually. II In scarce possible
Z o think Of u single manufactured ar
ticle which does not meet paint some
whore In the course Of Its construc-