Evening star., 1924-06-12
The North Window
BY LEILA MECHLIN

There has been q good deal Of talk
lately with regard to what we could
do for art, how to increase apprecia-
tion, to advance the interests of the
artists. to improve current produc-
ton. This is, Of course, an important
matter, more important than many
may realize, for art is a factor in CIV
i1ization, a measure of culture, and
one of the few things which may be
regarded as permanent among the
many transitory things of life. OBJ
to fallow the field in order that the
crop, f1guratively speaking, shall
yield the richest possible harvest. 1t
is a practical, rational and not un-
selfish thing to do, inasmuch as it
will bring benefit in our time as we'll
as to future generations.
But there is another and equally in
teresting aspect of this subject, and
one which Is purely personal-What
can art do for me? Is it some thing
worth striving for. spending for. seek
ing-fn short, what benefits accrue
through the medium of art to the in
dividual?
Some years ago Prof. c. Alfonso
Smith, professor of literature At the
United States Naval Academy, wrote
a book entitled What Can Literature
Do for Me?" which has proved so
popular that it has been repeatedly
reissued, between $4,000 and sc, 900
copies having been sold. In this lit
tie book he makes out an excellent
case for literature, showing the tangi-
Bile value that a knowledge Of world
literature is to the individual. Can
an equally good case be made for art?
Undoubtedly.
In the first place, art can open new
vistas. Hamilton w. Mabie, writing
on art, once said: at is the open win
dow in the workshop" Any one work
that means. 1t provides fresh inter-
est, material for thought, for conver-
sation, for inquiry.
The workingman who has a knowl-
edge of art finds pleasure all along
the roadway-pleasure in the city
streets, pleasure in certain prints in
the cheapest of periodicals, pleasure
In the shop windows, pleasure in
beautifying his own home, for it is
art which makes beauty manifest
session of many, indeed. of the ma
jority of the plain people, the peas
antry of France and Italy, and it is
this which gives them joyousness in
l1fe-familiarity with the works of
the masters, sensitiveness to beauty
in music, in poetry. in painting and
sculpture, in the lesser crafts. The
traveller in Europe who has a knowl-
edge and love of art gets not 10 but
100 per cent more pleasure out of
closed book. William NJ. wins of the
Metropolitan Museum, New York,
urges every. one to become a print
collector, prints being the common
est form of art" and some great
works being produced in this me-
dunn. Such collecting for the poor
man opens avenues of great interest
leading no one knows to begin with
where.
AS Otto H. Kahn recently pointed
out, the lives of the people, of the
mass of the people, are cast upon a
background Of sameness and routine"
necessarily SO. The worlds work
mas got to be done, but all the more
for this reason we should open up,
should cultivate, should seek to
pastures where beauty and inspira-
tlon may be gathered by all and for
an Art he claimed to be a means
whereby we could give our souls an
airing" He -ascribed some of the
unrest, the unruliness, the transgres-
OF reaction against the humdrumness
and lack Of inspirational opportunity
OF 6a eHxsryaaday Hmns exis,ense" ;, &c Much can
ss,,sfant;on oe uons, ne SAID said by art to give
innate impulse and to lead il into
fruitful channels instead of letting il
run misguided or even destructive
course In other words, art releases
the spirit from captivity"
X **
Art, furthermore, puts one in touch
with the past. for the history of na-
ions is written in their art. In the
Boston Museum of Fine Arts there is
a head in marble of a young Greek
woman. done in those early centuries
which seem to us today so remote:
but so vital is this work in sculpture
that the beholder is instantly brought
to realize that those who lived then
were indeed as those who live today,
and the great era of Greek supremacy
becomes not thing of history. but a
page from life. When the tomb of
things which were found, works of
the artists of that still more remote
day. showed the humanness of the life
which this ruler of a great people
lived. One cannot walk the deserted
streets of Pompeii or wander through
the Roman Forum without having a
vital realization of the past and the
more one knows of art the more sig
nfficant these monuments become.
X x X
Another service that art can do for
you and for me is to reveal to US more
beauty in nature. 'corot has shown
US through the medium of his paint
ings the loveliness of the gray will
lows; Twachtmann has opened our
eyes to the beauty found in natures
subtler moods the snow-enwrapped
landscape, the little WATERFALL; Red
field and Schofield opened our eyes to
the dazzling beauty of winter sun
light; Whistler revealed the sym
phonic harmonies of twilight and
mist seen from his Chelsea window
overlooking the Thames.
Nor is this service confined to the
painters of landscape. The revela-
tion of character through portraiture
is quite as valuable as the interpreta-
tion of loveliness in the outdoor
world. We learn to know the people
of the Renaissance and Of later CEN
ders, Holland and England through
the medium of the portraits painted
by their great artists.
-
Furthermore, art can give you a
charming environment. A knowledge
Of art is reflected in the design of
the home and it's furnishings. Art for
some reason has long been associated
in the minds of many with extrava
gance, but to the contrary it affords
the necessary knowledge to make
good use of little means. A knowl-
edge of art leads to choice of that
which is best in design and color, in
articles of usefulness. A college pro-
faseor once hought a ChippendaIe Ie