Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-08-31
Unlocal Color
by Frederic J. HaskIn

| This Is no mere catchy sentence basct
| on few instances it is a literal statement
| OF fact. In two or three New Mexict
| towns, and at large in the surrounding
country, there are probably more people
Of the type called Bohemian than any.
| where else in the United States: except
| in the vicinity OF Washington Square N
New York and that of Tooker Court, the
home Of the Dill Pickle Club, in Chicago
And these strangers have come boldly
in their proper parts. They have not, 10
any considerable extent, taken protective
coloration. Here are to be seen the short.
haired women wearing sandals and far.
away looks, and the men with the long
hair who dream the long dreams and
paint the pictures that look not like the
scenery and write the poetry whereof the
meaning is known only TO themselves and
God
IL would be unfair, however, TO give
the impression that the arty folk who have
come here are all or even mostly diet
tantes and eccentrics. Both in Santa Fe
and Taos arc men and women Of real
achievement. Mary Austin spent q win
ter here and wrote an excellent novel, and
there are dozen artists in the state Of
considerable attainment. One Of the most
interesting Of these Is Gustave Baumann
who has with great success revived the
little-known art Of making color prints
by hand from wood-euts. He paints his
pictures IN water colors, makes a wooden
plate for each color in the composition
and prints perhaps hundred copies
which are much in demand
But limits Of space make il impossible
70 recount the separate achievements Of
the many artists who have found inspira-
ton and congcnial homes in this theo-
retically wild and uncouth country. The
fact Of the matter is that probably more of
real artistic and intellectual life in pro-
portion TO the population is centered in
northern New Mexico than anywhere else
IN the United States. Boston is an in
tellectual fossil and New York is an
intellectual prostitute. Chicago makes a
hamboyant and self-consclous effort 70 be
cultured, and certainly some good things
come out Of its slums and alleys, but Pork
theresits somewhat heavily on Poetry.
THE HACKS ARE HERE.
True, the man who paints primarily
for the establishment OF calendars and
the fattening of his own purse il not I'M
known in these parts, nor is the chap who
hastily manufactures local color into bad
magazine fiction. But in the main the
artists and writers who come here are
sincere folk who are trying to get away
from the noise and strain and greed-pro-
voking atmosphere Of the cities, and 70
find new inspiration. The artists, espe-
cially, have been successful. A number Of
very substantial and worth while reputa-
tons have been made here by men whose
work in other places attracted no attention
Nor is it hard 70 understand what the
artists find here. Certainly one Of the es-
sentials Of artistic production IS an at
mosphere of leisure. II Is hard TO give
yourself up unreservedly TO dreams Of
beauty which probably will prove un-
profitable, when you are surrounded by
people engaged in a desperate and feverIsh
hunt for money. But down here large
part Of the population Is Mexican, and
the Mexicans refuse To get excited or hur-
~ up. They Impart an easy and lelsurely
tone 10 existence.
Even the gringos feel this influence 70
some extent. Undoubtedly New MexI-
cans as a whole take life much more
easily than New Workers.
And the actual cost OF decent living IS
not high here. You can have cool and
quiet room IN an adobe house and saddle
pony and something 10 eat for an amount
that would buy you only precarious and
sordid existence in one of our centers Of So
called civilization. Here are none OF the
costly leshpots that so often induce the
young intellectual aspirant IN New York
to become a high-priced hack OF the big
publishing enterprises. Here. Il anywhere,
he can be poor without losing health and
dignity.
In this country, too, Is natural beauty,
greater part of New Mexfco remains a
wilderness because there Is not enough
water in the state 10 convert it into any
thing else. In the east the artist who de-
rives his inspiration from nature hunts
diligently for unmarried bits OF country.
but here the parts that show any effect
of artificial change are few and small.
here IS unlimited wilderness free 10 the
feet 0fsmen. IL is not hard to imagine
how man defeated and confused by the
complex life of cities might come out
here and sit down under 4 tree and find
himself.
WHERE THE PAST Is PRESENT.
No doubt the rich historical associa-
tions Of the country have much to do
with its charm for the creative mind In
most of America change has trampled
back and forth across the scene IN such a
frcnzied struggle that al trace Of the past
has been wiped out But here the past,
in sense. lives side BY side with the pres
ent. The Pueblo Indians still live almost
as they did centuries ago, and the high
peTched cliff dwellings OF their pre-Colum-
bian ancestors are still here almost intact.
The life Of the Spanish folk in many parts
of the State is unchanged, too. For those
imaginations that ike 60 roam backward
through the year this country is rich in
inspiration. 1t has become the favorite
hunting ground Of archaeologists, and Il
holds a great opportunity for the artist
in words who can tell its long and varied
story.
For all of these reasons there is an un-
mistakahle tendency toward the forma-
tion in New Mexico Of cultural center.
The number of artists, writers and scien-
lists who come here year by year increases,
and still more significant is the growing
number of those who establish permanent
homes here. The buying Of adobe houses,