Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1919-05-01
ANTIQUITY OF
DECORATIVE ART
Strange Sources From Whict
Pigments Used by Modern
Painters Are Derived.
PRESERVATION OF SURFACES
Crude but Effective Processes Employ
ed by the Egyptians and Greeks Of
Piinys Day-Noah Prudently
Waterproofed the Ark.

Waterproofed the Ark.
Whether paint was invented In an
swer to need for preservative or to
meet q desire for beauty is question
fully AZ knOtty as the ancient one about
the relative time of arrival OF the
chicken or the egg. 1t was invented
though, and 1t serves both purposes
equally; SO whether 1t is an offspring
Of mother necessity or an adopted son
OF beauty remains forever . 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 perishable
nature Of these structures caused rapid
decay. and 1t Is probable that the oe-
cupants, seeking some artificial means
Of preservation. hit upon the pigments
Of the earth In their search. 1t 10 per
haps natural to suppose that 1t was
the instinct of preservation that led
men to the search. although the glores
Of the sunsets and the beauties Of the
rainbow may have created desire TO
initiate those wonders In their own
dwellings
The earliest record Of the applica-
ton Of preservative to q wooden
structure dates from the ark, which
was, according to the Bible, pitched
within and without" The pitch was a
triumph Of preservation whatever it
lacked as 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 at the time of
baking. Strictly speaking. this was
not painting so much as 1t was the
earliest manifestation of our own IA
miliar 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 We drive out 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
cessively 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 whole building, but he that
undertaken to set 1t out and paint 1t,
must seek out things for the adjoining
thereof"
bAlthOugh Homer gives credit to q
Greek for the discovery Of paint, the
illusions to II in the books of Moses.
the painted mummy cases Of the Egyp-
tians and the decorated walls Of Baby
lon and Thebes tx its origin at q
period long antecedent to the Greciap
era. The walls OF Thebes were paint
ed 1900 years before the coming of
Christ and 800 years before .'Omer
smote his bloomin' Tyre"
The Greeks recognized the value OF
paint as preservative and made use
Of something akin to 1t on their ships.
Pliny writes Of the mode Of boiling
wax and painting ships with It. after
which. he continues, neither the sea.
nor the wind. nor the sun can destroy
the wood thus protected"
The Romans, being essentially a
warifke people, never brought the dec
Grafton OF buildings to the high plane
It had reached with the Greeks. For
all that the ruins Of Pompeii show
many structures whose mural decora-
tons are in fair shape today. The
coiors used were glaring A black
background was the usual one and the
combinations worked thereon red, vel.
low and blue
In the early Christian era the use ~
mosaics for churches somewhat sup
planted mural painting. Still. during
the reign Of Justintan the Church Of
Saint Sophia was built at Constantine
pie and Its walls were adorned with
paintings
In modern times the uses of pa,nt
have come to be as numerous "a ,ts
myriad shades and tintA Paint n
unique In that Its name las no syno-
nym and for It there 10 no substitute
material. Bread Is the stan OF life, but
paint 10 the life Of the stan.
No one thinks Of the exterior NJ +.
wooden building now except In terms
OF paint coated Interiors, too. from
painted walls and stained furniture
down to the lowliest kitchen utensi,
all receive their protective covering
Steel. 90 often associated with cement
reinforcing, is painted before II goes
To give solidity to the manufacturers
stone. The huge Orders OF the skv.
scrapers are daubed an ugly bur 4t1.
cient red underneath the Surface con,
Of black. Perhaps the best EXAMINE
OF the value IT paint on steel is found
In the venerable brooklyn bridge an
which . gang Of painters Is ken, ..,.