Evening star., 1923-04-19
The North Window
ny LEILA MECHLIN

There Is a great deal Of misunder-
standing in regard to tho actual
meaning Of the word art" and
II is frequently misused. 1
Walking along a beautiful country
road in a southern state recently. the
representative of a natural history,
in the, north exclaimed, with
q wave Of the hand to take in the
view as a whole: Now this is the art
/ like; paintings bore me-" But" OBJ
5ected Cor correcteO a representa-
tive of the arts who was in the party,
this is not art at all; 1t is nature.
Art ts the Interpretation of nature by
man. II is a means to an end; not
an end in itself"
4 4 X y
An Italian modeler was at work one
time on little figure which, with
skiliful touch, he was modelling out
OF a piece OF vet clay. A chance
visitor; watching him for q few mo-,
ments referred. to- the thing he. was
producing as art" "Oh, no, mad
ame.." he said. with a shade Of his
head. 1t: is not art, but"-lovingIy
placing his hand on tho clay and
shaping it with B. turn of his thumb
this is art" And he was right, for
as Saint-Gaudens, the greatest of our
American sculptors. he said, art is
not what YOU do, but the way you do
1t. 1t Is the TRANSLATION or the inter-
pretation py man to man OF beauty in
nature. beauty Of character. beauty
OF strength. beauty Of line and form.
color or effect. True artists open the
eyes of their fellow men to that which
mignt otherwise pass unseen. unap-
preciated Motoring through the pine
woods OF the south, one instantly re-
Pines" William silva, Alfred Hutty,
Alice Hugar Smith have made mani
rest through their paintings the pic
turesque loveliness Of the moss
dTaped iive oaks and cypress trees.
HOW quickly in passing on 4 railroad
train through varied country one rec
ognizes here Corot, there an Inness
or Wyant subject; or II IL be winter,
Gardner Symons. q Redfleld, q Scho-
neld. a Twachtmann, because each of
these artists has shown in his work
the beauty or certain aspects Of ma
ture.
an exhibition in Washington in which
was shown q painting Of white Iiiacs
Like many OF Mr.. Reid's paintings, It
was in a high key. a trife impres-
sionistic, and the writer was little
impressed at the moment, but the
following spring q blossoming hedge
of white lilacs was seen and instantly
the truth OF the Interpretation be-
came convincing, and since that time
white lilacs have had a new beauty,
a larger significance.
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! A well known collector and con-
| noisseur Of art once said that he had
learned more from a Sunday morning z
spent with Joseph PenneIl in the
/ silent streets Of downtown New York,
! exploring the canyons formed by the
| skyscrapers and having pointed out
| to him by the artist the beauty of
! these gigantic modern buildings, than
from all the books on art he had
out beauty and to, in a measure. ex-
| plain 1t, that makes the artist SO de-
lightful. % desirable q companion.
/ Henry Adams who commissioned
| Saint -Gaudens to execute the mar
xfous Ss pssus suse * knoGn ad yariSrsly
4 .
"Nirvana"-one Of the masterpieces
of not only American art. but Of the
art Of all time, which Is here in our
| Rock Creek cemetery. spent months
in the South Sea Islands after his
| wife's death. with John La Fargo. and
| in his delightful letters to his niece,
| published shortly after his death,
| tells how delightful q travelling COM
| panion he was and how much he con-
tributed to the education. uncon-
| broadening his sympathies This ex-
perience occurred during the period
which is silently passed over in THE
Education of Henry Adams" but its
| effect is evidenced in the fruit OF the
1 years which came after.
| Under Mr.. La Farge's leadership
| Mr. Adams took to sketching in order
| to better understand what he saw
| to find closer companionship in ma.
ture. loosely he remarks In one OF
his delightful letters to his niece that
| his paintings could not be exhibited
| for it would take many years for him
| to learn to paint as badly as pro.
| fessional; meaning that he had moi
acquired technique. Certainly M Mtne
| not every one has the privilege .o1
| travelling in company with Johr
La Fargo or a Joseph Pennell.
X \
p; Away up in the interior of Alaska
| is a little town. the name Of which
few know, where there is an artist
Eustace P. Zieglar by name. who is
doing missionary work, both at
priest and painter. He is a minister
of the Episcopal Church, the rector
of a very large parish and is minis
| tering faithfully in spiritual things
to the needs of a congregation made
ND of miners and Alaskan natives
men of Canada and the states who
are pioneers and who have upbuilt
! a considerable settlement, and al
\ the same time he is opening the
eyes of those at home and afar to
the beauty in Alaskan life, the maj
esty of nature in it's awesome moods
the courage. the sturdiness, the big
ness of the people. In fact, he hai
| organized an art department, gath
ering around him other paint
ers, beautifying the little mission s
| tive painters Of the early church
Illustrating with wood cuts the little
maEazfne of which he is editor. and
finding, withal, the utmost JOY in the
doing.
Some years ago Mr.. Ziegler estab.
Dragon where the roughest wa.
| welcome, where books and music and
pictures were to be freely found
Things have changed in Cordova, civ
ilization has crept in, but the spirit
| of the old time and the memorie.
remain. A boy 'mushed" over hfts
miles one night because he had tc
| "Eet-s~da. piano.. and when he got
there played Brahms and Chopin 70,
twenty-four hours on a stretch, while
the Dragon gentry stood by en-
thrailed, and then. with q farewell
| wava of the hand :.mushed" bach
again. Another time an Arizona
COWBOY, transplanted in Alaska
"toted wood for the Dragon to pay
| for meal and then, stood on thS