The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-10-08
| GLEANHNss
<FR3H THEN
ElEhEE lIoF ARJ

The Topeka Art Guild space in the
| Sullivan art store, 122 West Eighth
| avenue. is now occupied by one of Mrs.
L. c. Hodges marines done in oil, the
| one on which Mrs. Hodge received a
first premium at the Kansas Free Fair
this year.
| Mrs. Hodge painted the picture
while summering on the Pacific coast
| surf breaking on a mass of large
| rocks, with a broad expanse of ocean
in the background. The opalescent
tints of the water under shadow of
passing clouds is exquisitely rendered.
The harm that will result to art in
the United States If the present fed
eral tax of 10 per cent on all sales of
! paintings and sculpture after the first
| sale by the artist. is allowed to con-
! tinue. is very we'll set forth in the fol-
lowing article, which Is quoted from
the Boston Globe:
| For fifty years or more America
| has been developing a remarkable
group of painters-sonle of them equal
| to the best in the world and most of
them far above the average of
| painters in foreign lands. The same
Is true of sculpture.
Both painting and sculpture are
professions; yet, in an important
sense, they are also industries,-in-
dustries that have been little under
stood by our government or our tariff
makers at Washington. In France art
| is encouraged by every known means,
! and much of that artistic taste which
| governs everything that is made in
France has flowed from and been de-
| Veloped by the fostering care of the
| governmental fact, by all of the
| French governments since the days of
| Francis I.
Now perhaps thoughtIessly-the
| senate committee on tariff proposes
to kill both painting and sculpture in
/ this country by continuing the war tax
| of 10 per cent on all sales after the
first sale by the artist. This tax of
| 10 per cent has already practically
stopped the sale Of pictures in this
country. The house committee reduced
| it to 5 per cent but the senate COM
mittee has put it back to 10.
Paintings are not a luxury in the
sense that a string of fine pearls worn
| by a lady at the opera is a luxury
! Yet the rope of pearls and all other
| jeweled ornaments that are sold will
only pay a tax of 5 per cent in this
new schedule. and that per cent will
be paid only when the jewel is finally
sold to customer.
IN the buying and selling of pie
lures the ordinary rules of nierchan-
disc are not wholly applicable, and
that is where the rub comes with
| this tax.
ARTISTS, as a rule, sell their pic
I
a clientele and a market for the works
of the artist. 1t must be borne In mind
that a picture does not wear out like
suit of clothes. So the dealer will
sell or exchange the picture he pur-
chases from the artist with other deal
ers or with customers in all parts of
| the country. Every such sale or ex-
change means a new tax of 10 per
cent. Often a picture will change own
ers half a dozen times in a few years
Works of art increase or shrink in
value with startling frequency.
THE 10 per cent tax has killed this
, trading in pictures and works of art
generally, since the war. and the ar
kill all art in this country if it is con-
/ tinued.'
America has no Rational art and
must continue for many years to come
| to France for inspiration" said Cecilia
Beaux. noted New York artist, in a
talk before the International art con,
gress held in Paris last month. :
| Miss Beaux's remarks were the SUBJ
! ject of much comment among the dele
gates of the twenty-four countries at
/ tending the convention said the dis
patch. and well they might be. Joseph
given vent to similar expressions at
the meeting of the American FEEDER
alton of Art in Washington last spring.
What do these people mean by their
expression that America has no ma
tional art?
Does not the portrayal of American
! scenery and the rendering, truthfully
and faithfully of the various phases
and characteristics of American life