The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1920-12-16
Pictures in the Home
by Miss Mary Il. Welsh, Professor Of
Greek and Fine Arts, Berea
College

clean and wholesome, but II Should
also be beautiful. A few well Sc
lected pictures, a few flowers in the
window, a few pieces Of comfortable
furniture will transform a house in.
to a home.
We cannot over-estimate the cul-
tural value Of good pictures in the
home. "The eye is the first avenue
TO the soul as II is the shortest, the
quickest and the easiest" Psychol-
ogists tell us that the child learns
eighty percent more through the
sense of sight than through any
other sense. How important, then,
that the eye Of the child should meet
in the home only things that are
we'll selected.
A home in which good taste pre-
walls will do more to keep the boys
and girls at home and to promote
family love than volumes Of sermons.
Such a home will have an elevating
influence on the whole community,
for art is infectious, good taste
spreads.
Picture study should be taken as
seriously as the study Of literature.
The influence Of a good picture Is as
powerful as that Of a good book and
much more easily and unconsciously
felt. Browning has said:
We are so made that we love
First, when we see them painted,
things we have passed
Perhaps a hundred times, nor cared
to see;
So they are better painted, better to
us
Which is the same. Art was given
for that.
But the artist not only discovers
and interprets beauty, he can create
II. He adds the glory to the common
place.
We should study pictures as we
do books, not to pronounce learned
criticisms upon them, but to enjoy
them and to appropriate what they
have to give us. A great picture,
like a great book, is the judge Of
our capacity. II without knowing
hat a certain picture is by n great
artist, we find ourselves liking It,
hat pictures verdict Of us is favor
able.
In choosing pictures TO live with.
We should choose only the best. As
among books, so among pictures,
here are many good. but few best.
We should learn TO know these. II
S possible to know them even IL we
,annot visit the galleries where the
originals hang. for we can buy excel
ent reproductions Of them all for a
lew cents each. For a dime a girl
an hang a Raphael in her room and
east her eyes on something worth
while, OF a boy can delight his soul
n the glories Of the Parthenon. In
any good library there are TO be
'ound books which will introduce US
% what is best in art.
The framing Of the picture is OF
treat Importance. We frame a pic
ure TO give II prominence, therefore
o make the frame more ornamental
han the picture is absurd. In gen
raj, gilt frames should be used for
,olored pictures, oil paintings and
water colors. while photographs and
prints should be framed in narrow
lands Of plain wood TO harmonic in
'olor with the prevailing tone Of the
picture.
The hanging Of the pictures, as
we'll as the background on which
hey are hung, makes great
Inference. No picture however
rood looks well II poorly hung. A
plain wall paper is best. Bright
,olors may be used in the bedrooms,
warm tans, grays, greens or browns
n the living-room. Pictures OF
various sizes and shapes may be
hung on the same wall, but the bot
.oms or the tops of the pictures
should be on the same level. Pic
.ures should not be hung too high,
Tor too many on the same wall space
20 that the effect is that Of crowd
ng. The choicer pictures should Of
course be hung in the living-room,
portraits may be hung In the dining
room, photographs Of trends, bits
II our own handiwork in water color
Dr. crayon should be kept for the
more private rooms Of the house.
But all hard and fast rules are alb
,urd; in general, pictures should be
lung where they look best.
Walls without pictures are like
houses without windows. Pictures
.fford an opportunity for the mind
% escape for a moment from the
routine Of work and 10 become re-
'reshed and delighted.
"a room hung with beautiful pic