Omaha daily bee., 1919-08-22
Beauty Revealed By War
A. Kingsley Porter in scribner's Magazine.

1t IS obvious that the problem OF restoration
(of French ruins) will be an exceedingly deli.
cate one. Moreover, it will differ in respect to
each monument, for they are in all conditions
from complete destruction to the slightest oi
damage. 1t is l believe, today admitted thai
the ideal solution would be to undertake prac-
ticaliy no reconstruction Medieval monu-
ments cannot be rebuilt by modern methods
Artstically, archeologically, historically they
should be left as they are.
A crowd of practical considerations are
however, opposed to this. In general, for pur-
poses of worship the old church can be re-
paired far less expensivey than = new one con-
structed. The French feel, too, that the church
is living thing, which is deprived of much OF
its beauty and poetry il it be preserved merely
as curiosity isolated from the daily life OF
the people. In many cases also repairs are
necessary to prevent further disintegration. 1t
is, therefore, probable that restoration, how
ever regrettable, will in general be carried out.
Every effort will assuredly be made that
this reconstruction be as tactful as possible.
Many fantastic suggestions. like that of cover
ing the holes in the vaults of Rems with glass,
have happily been discarded. 1t has already
been wisely decided to make no attempt to re-
store sculpture. This resolution marks an
epoch in modern taste, a vast step in advance.
The next generation will perceive it is no less
sacrlegious to restore architecture than sculp-
ture.
AS the ruins. stand, they are of singular in
terest from more than one point of view. The
cannons have plucked the heart OF many mys-
terry. Cold-booded as the statement may
sound, the fact remains that murder gives an
opportunity to study anatomy. The archeolo-
gist even at the moment when his grief at the
destruction of all art which he loved, is most
poignant, finds i'll his hands the solution of
many a riddle he had ongibeen seeking to un-
ravel Sometimes. too, the bombardment has
created new beauty. Certain monuments
have regained what reconstruction had taken
away from them, like St. Remi, where the burn
ing of the modern vaults has revealed the an
cient Romanesque proportions, thrilling as
those of Jumieges and hitherto unsuspected.
The city OF Reims has acquired the mystery
and charm OF Pompeii. The cathedral towers
above the shattered walls of houses more i'm
pressive and ma jestic than ever before In its
broad outlines it has lost nothing in beauty.
more living. | always have. indeed, the llu
sisn that a. Gothic church is in motion, gliding
from east to west. At Notre Dame the move
ment is low, ma jestic, but of irresistible force,
like all ocean liner when she has turned i'll the
river and sets out on her thousand mile jour
ney over unknown oceans. Reims, however,
moved more quckly-she was like the same
liner on the high seas running at full speed,
rising and falling on the waves. Today she is
more buoyant and swift than ever The build
ing appears to have been conceived in pro-
phetic vision of great victory.
1t is curious that the wounds of the bonn
bardment already seem ancient. They have
a certain softness which makes them not dis
tressing from all esthetic standpoint There is
nothing new and crude in their appearance.
they harmonic, if the truth must be told, far
better with the exquisite old work than do the
modern restoratons.