The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-07-22
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"A nuLL1OGE OI PcOpAC 4lJGAQc0 Liz
| morning service at Grace cathedral
last Sunday, for the apparent purpose
of seeing the newly completed mural
decorations III the chancel OF that
church. Since that time the write-
has heard many expressions of Opin-
ion concerni.ss the beauty and quality
! of the work.
The general feeling >seems to be
that there is altogether too much blue
color on the walls. and that the blue
is of too bright shade. AS has been
suggested before, the monotony
might be relieved by the judicious use
of gold leaf on some portion of the
surface.
Everybody seemed to like Mr.. Hem
ning's painting of Christ. but some
appeared to think the faces of the
angels were too hard and material.
Others thought the angels were
brilliant colors.
The writer agrees with the other
critics about the blue background and
also feels what was said about the
angels faces is in a measure true, but
he likes the hight colors in the gar
ments and draperies. Without colur
there could De ] o decoration, and be-
sides, why should we assume that the
variety Of color into the things of
this world, has clothed the next world
in nothing but white?
Much of the unfavorable appear
ance Of these paintings last Sunday
was not due to the work itself but to
the unfortunate way it was lighted
Those in charge had turned on every
light in the chancel including the
big electrolier suspended from the
ceiling. It was a bright, sunshiny
at all. The writer saw the work on
the day before, under nothing but the
natural light that came in thru the
| windows, and the effect when viewed
dA6I
pleasing.
! ArtsAend Decoration for July con-
| tains an article by Perriton Maxwell,
age Have Artistic Merit
| In this article it's author makes a
furious attack of criticism on the de-
signs seen on United States coins. He
alleges that most of the designing of
our coins has been left to operatives
| of the government mints, men with
| out sintilla of taste or training in
| art" that many of the designs have
of other nations. he speaks of the half
dollar with its 'pseudo-Greek profile
and its frightened eagle rising from
garland of garlic" etc. etc. -,
| He asserts that the pine t@ee shill-
ing" of 1852, and coins, sent over for
use in the colonies by George III, to-
| gether with the dollar. half dollar and
| penny pieces bearing the likeness of
Washington and minted during the
| latter's administration, are all much
better in design than any United
| States coins now in circulation.
Pictures of Greek and Roman coins
| and also of European coins of the
XVI and XVII centuries are shown,
| all of which, Mr.. Maxwell asserts, are
much better designed than our money.
| He admits that the Buffalo NickeP'
| and the new quarter are q slight
= Improvement on what has gone be-
i no he haf he noc oil
the last named piece has wings like a
| bat, while the Goddess of Liberty on
the other side has a head the size of
a pea and limbs like Juno.
| In connection with these coins he
is obliged to contradict his previous
| statement about who designs our
money, and admits that they were de-
| signed by artists. The nearest he
the $50 gold piece designed by Angus
tus Saint Gaudens and coined during
the Roosevelt administration, this he
| admits comes very close to being a
| work of art.
In his article Mr.. Maxwell makes q
plea that our entire coinage be re-
designed.
In an insert at the end of the article
| is printed a reply by Secretary of the
| Treasury Andrew w. Mellon in which
| the latter fails to concur with the
| critic concerning the inferiority of the
| designs on our coinage. Mr.. Mellon
points out that all of our present is
/ sues of coins were designed by artists
| of recognized ability and established
| reputation such as Saint Gaudens.
| Fraser, Mac Neil, Pratt, Weinman and
| Bremen, and that the design for the
| new Peace Dollar was selected by the
Fine Arts Commission from a num-
| Der, submitted by leading sculptors. He
says further, that not only would q.
new issue of coins at the present time
| produce a most confusing condition
| of affairs. but that such an issue could
not be made under the existing law.
because the law provides that a new
set of coins cannot be m.lted at in
tervals of less than twenty-five years.
Some at least of the British critics
| have reversed their opinion expressed
| just after the opening of the Royal
Academy exhibition this year. namely,
this is the poorest Royal Academy
exhibition ever"
Sir John Foster Fraser, regarded
as one of England's competent critics,
| in an article to one of the leading
American art journals, says of the
more than two thousand pictures be-
ing shown, 'I should say, the Academy
this year is rather above the average
in merit"
To show what work 1t is to select
pictures for such an exhibition. one
John that he sat for eight hours every
day for five days in succession with
continuous stream of pictures pass
ing before him, on every one of which
he was expected to pass judgment.
The exhibition is rather strong on
portraits this year, and among these.
perhaps the most noticed and talked
about are the two widely different
portraits of the Countess of Rock
savage, the beautiful Jewess who mar
ried into the British peerage. One
of these portraits is by John Singer
Sargent and the other by Charles
Sims. Reproductions of both paint
ings have appeared in most of the arr
magazines on both sides of the At
lantic this spring or summer.
But the picture which Is regarded