Evening star., 1924-05-14
IN TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT
BY PAUL y. COLLINS

art. You must ask the art critics about
art-not me-" came the jovlal but
ironic answer.
There are art critics who pretend
to diagnose or pSychoanalyZe the art
diseases-foot and mouth-which are
manifested in "cubist" canvases, like
the "smears" by which microscopic
diagnoses 1T B." or pneumonia They
study the splattered rainbow, and,
squirting learnedly, tell the heart
passion of the Lady Descending a
Ladder or "An Epicurean at a Ban
auet." But who ever heard of a
afflicted with any of the symptoms of
such modern artT' It's a disease-a
boil weevil of the studio. Let not
the average man" despair of his
miliar with such jargon. Art is the
simplest language ever spoken. 1t is
comprehensive to the savage or the
child, if it's subject relates to some eX-
perience, dream or longing of the be-
holder. Its soul language needs no
learned interpreter, if spoken in pur :
ity and beauty. Ban "anecdotal art
from the studio, but ban from the
public view art technique lacking in
soul.
When it has no subject or thought
for the beholder, all the technique in
the world will not save its thinking
brass and sounding cymbal." The
art critic who lifts his eyes to be-
over the ''chic technique" is nui-
sance who ought to be abated; he
misses the real raison d'etre of art,
the manifestation of true beauty in
some of its manifold formS-nothing
else. There is as little relation be-
tween the craft Of technique and the
splendor of a sunset or the pathos of
sympathy with sorrow or the purity
of the soul, as there Is between the
levers of a pipe organ, and its thrills,
which, without words, send shivers
up the spine and tears to the eyes.
One is mechanism; the other art One
is Archimedes; the other Millet. One
is means to an end, the other is
the goal.
The American Society Of Fine Arts
will use it's influence to support the
Lodge bill to create a suitable build
ing in which to house the National
Gallery of Art There is unquestion-
able need of such a nucleus Of art
as source of inspiration and "bu-
reau of art standards"
One of the most famous artists of
Washington, speaking with unquali-
fed approval of a national gallery of
denominations" except as they be-
come centers of inspiration of the
idea beautiful, which should pervade
the entire city-the nation.
The cluttering together of many
pictures or statues, he said, destroys
much of the beauty of all, by taking
each out of it's proper environment,
atmosphere and lighting. Its spirit,
its message is lost in a jargon of dis
harmony. 1t is like the discord of
many symphonies played at once,
each destroying the harmony of all
the others. But as the polar star
with which mariners are guided, so
approved art inE galleries keeps art
lists upon the true course and reveals
to the public's appreciation the pos
sibflities and desirability Of beauty
From freaks and vagaries deliver US!
The gallery, said the artist, is the
focal point of beauty, in form, pro-
portion, color and suitability to pur-
pose, in all things, but it's chief use
fulness is it's inspiration of apprecia-
| ton Of beauty wherever 1t exists, and
true beauty nowhere exists except in
harmony with all its environment and
in tune with its purpose-the statuary
with it's foliage or rocky background
and base, the canvas with its sur
roundings and atmosphere, the poem
| with the mood Of its reader.
That explains why so many fail tc
enter the sense of beauty in gal
lery, when Acknowledgement alone OF
| color, but Of theme-jangle, and mes
sages. are in discord. Give us gal
ieries that we may see beauty abroad
| in nature and in the habitations Of all
| civilization.
Copyright. 1924. BY Paul Y. couiaAl