Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-09-02
NEW MEXICO
is BECOMING
ART CENTER
TOOker Court and Washington
Square Have Nothing
on 1t.
PLENTY OF INSPIRATION

west.
This is no mere catchy sentence based
on a few instances; 1t is a literal state
ment Of fact.
In two or three New Mexico towns, anu
at large in the surrounding country,
there are probably more people of the
type called Bohemian than anywhere
else in the United States, except in the
vicinity of Washington Square in 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,
to any considerable extent, taken protec-
tive 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 seen
cry and write the poetry whereof the
meaning is known only to themselves and
God.
1t would be unfair, however, TO give
the impression that the arty folk who
have come here are all or even mostly
dilettantes and eccentrics.
Both in Santa Fe and Taos are men
and women of real achievement.
Mary Austin spent a winter here and
wrote an excellent novel. and there are
a dozen artists in the state of consider
able 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
cuts.
He paints his pictures in water colors,
makes a wooden plate for each color in
the composition and prints perhaps a
~ rrhfnh ar in do
mand
REAL ARTISTS
CENTER.
But limits of space make it impossible
to recount the separate achievements of
the many artists who have found inspira
ton and congenial homes in this theo
retically wild and uncouth country.
The fact Of the matter is that proba-
bly, more of real artistic and iatellec-
tual life In proportion to the population
is centered in northern New Mexico than
anywhere else in the United States.
Boston is an intellectual fossil and New
York is an intellectual prostitute.
Chicago makes 1amboyant and self
conscious effort to be cultured, and GER
tainly some good things come out of its
slums and alleys, but pork there sits
somewhat heavily on poetry.
True, the man who paints primarily
for the establishment of calendars and
the fattening of his own purse is not
unknown in these parts, nor is the chap
who hastily manufactures local color into
bad magazine fiction.
But in the main the artists and writer's
who came here are sincere folk who are
trying to get away from the noise and
strain and greed provoking atmosphere
of the cities, and to find new inspiration.
tee It'll
cessful.
A number Of very substantial and
worth while regulations have been made
here by men whose work in other places
attracted no attention.
Nor is it hard to understand what the
artists find here. Certainly one of the
essentials of artistic production Is an
atmosphere of leisure
1t is hard 20 give yourself up unre-
servedly to dreams of beauty which prob
ably viii prove unproftab BILE, when goa
are surrounded by people engaged in
L desperate and fevcrish hunt for money. |
But down here large part Of the /
population is Mexican, and the Mczicans |
refuse to get excited or hurry up
They impart an easy and leisurely tone |
to existence.
Even the grlngos feel this influence to /
some extent. Undoubtedly New Next |
cans, as a whole. take life much more
easily than New Workers.
LIVING COST
NOT HIGH.
And the actual cost of decent living Is
not high here. You can have a cool
and duie troom in an adobe house and a
saddle pony and something to eat for an
amount that would buy you only n
precarious and sordid existence in one Of
our centers of so-cslled civilization.
Here are none Of the costly Geshpots
that so often induce the young intellec
tual aspirant in New York to become a
high priced hack of the big publishing
enterprises.
Here, if anywhere, he can be poor with
out losing health and dignity.
In this country too, is natural beauty,
unspoiled and in great variety.
The greater part of New Mexico re-
mains a wilderness because there is not
enough water In the state to convert II
into anything else
In the east the artist who derives 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 I'M
limited wilderness free to the feet of men.
It is not hard to imagine how man
defeated and confused by the complex
life of cities might come out here and sit
down under a tree and find himself
No doubt the rich historical associs-
lions of the country have much to do
with it's charm for the creative miQd.
In most of America change has tramp
led back and forth across the scene in
such a frenzied struggle that all trace
Of the past has been wiped out.
But here the past, in a sense, lives
side by side with the present. The
Pueblo Indians still live almost as they
cliff dwellings of their Columbian
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 like TO roam
backward through the years this country
is rich in inspiration
Tt has become the favorite hunting
ground of archaeologists, and it holds a
great opportunity for the artist in words
who can tell its long and varied story.
TENDENCY
TO CULTURE.
For all of these reasons there is an
unmistakable tendency toward the forma-
ton in New Mexico OF a cultural center. |
The number of artists, writer's and scien- !
lists who come here year by year in
creases, and still more significant is the |
growing number of those who establish |
permanent homes here.
The buying OF adobe houses many OF |
them more than century old, aad re-
fitting them as modern dwellings with |
out changing their outward appearance, /
has become quite local industry. !,
rftor I'M od