Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-25
THE NORTH WINDOW
BY Leila MechIin.

olQerS, helQ In this city this week, bu
last year. when the meeting was helt
In Cincinnati, art was given a promi
nence never before attempted by thu
department of superintendent. Their,
| the entire last day of the meeting wa:
given to the consideration of the edu
catlonal mission of beauty, and SO, tt
use the words of one Of the fOremos
or the superintendent. 1.-The masters
| were sent back to work with a fresh
emphasis upon the great gospel Of
art"
What pity that the experiment,
was not repeated.-for. after all, ar
cannot be divorced from life or life
from art, and as Supt. McAndrew OF
Chicago has said, lit seems logica
to argue that Nation founded to Sc
cure to man life, liberty and the pur
suit or happiness, a Nation proposing
TO secure this, as the founders pro
posed, through public education, mus
make much of art in it's schools"
X x
Undoubtedly the habit Is growing
the idea taking root. Several Of the
States now employ a State director
or art. 1t Is the business of these
men to see that the subject is prop
erly taught in the public schools
taught in such wise that the children
are better equipped for life's demands
more certain to win success, at least
In the pursuit of happiness.
Despite the fact that art had nc
place on the great comprehensive pro.
gram of the meeting Just closed more
attention is being given to art in the
schools of the United States today
imam at any time in our country's his
tory. More attention is being paid to
the designing of our schoolhouses, not
merely from the standpoint of utility
ana sanitation but from that of
beauty. The subject of the decoration
OF these schoolrooms is also engaging
attention. 1t is the declared purpose
OF the great national organization, the
american Federation of Arts, to in.
duce the placement of a work Of art
IN every echooifuom IN tho land. II
chicago an active public school art
society mas done much to accomplish
this end
Much has been accomplished through
the instrumentality Of what might be
called missionaries in this field. dorado
Taft, the sculptor, has been indefati.
gable in his efforts to bring art TO the
people and in particular to the teach.
ers in the schools, and. through them
TO the school children. Henry Turner
Balley, for many years editor of the
the Cleveland School Of Art, is another
who has converted many through his
eloquence. The late James Parton
Ilaney, director of art in the public
schools of New York, was another
whose name should not be forgotten
because OF the service he rendered in
the Freat metropolis, not only teaching
the teachers. but bringing the school
children in direct contact with the art
of the museum, the sources of art in
spiration within their reach. These
are few who are known to many.
All over this great land there are to-
day teachers in the schools who, with
a large consciousness of beauty and
the significance OF art, are spreading
through their own enthusiasm and
efforts. like appreciation.
The movement is not confined to
the East but is steadily gaining
strength in the West, and it is taking
to the children there a knowledge
which they can only have in such
wise. Said a lady from New Mexico
to the writer not long ago: You can
not imagine what pictures and art
study mean where no great works OF
art are to be seen, and comparatively
few dare hope TO ever visit the great
galleries, not of the Old World, but
even of our own Eastern States" Yet
the yearning for beauty is as inSiStent
among these people-in fact, perhaps
more insistent. than among those who
have had larger opportunity.
1t must be understood, however,
that the art to which reference is
made Is essentially and Enthusiastically
interpretive of beauty. The French
make this evident through their
do we, of the fine arts, but of the beau
tiful arts. Beauty in art, to be sure,
is largely derived from beauty of ex,
preston, but beauty there must be If
the work is to endure.
This desire to perpetuate beauty
was the motive Of the great masters.
Whistler once said, Art is the sci
ence of the beautiful adding: THE
parts of nature bear q certain rela-
ton to each other, and this relation
is as true as a mathematical fact.
e Nature contains the elements
in color and form of all pictures, as
the keyboard contains the notes of all
music. But the artist is born to pick
and choose and group with science
these elements, that the result may
be beautiful" GalSworthy goes so
far as to say that only beauty in the
largest sense of the word, the yearn-
ing for it, the contemplation of it,
has civilized mankind" And the fault
Of all this he declares to be that
beauty, the knowledge and the love
Of it, has been kept as a preserve
for the few, as the possession of a
an immensely larger proportion of US
than many suppose are capable OF
approaching beauty, and he urges that
all be given a chance to do so. He
sets up the pursuit of beauty as a
national ideal, and commends it to
all, not merely to educators. He does
not foolishly suppose, however, that
it Is an easy task. ''Idlers need not
apply" he says. Consider the rank
growth which must be cut down, the
stumps and roots to be burned out
and cleared, the sWampS to be drained
before even the foundations can be
laid" But how great the opportunity,
how certain the reward finally
we shall see rise "a fair ediflce of
human life upon this earth"
" X x X
In his most recent novel, One In
creasing Purpose" Hutchinson has
Sim Paris declare that the lack OF
labor rests on the fact that neither
regards the other as human. 1t is
likewise the lack of an appreciation
Of the human quality of art that bars
its way to common understanding.
There are those who overestimate the
significance of pure technical achieve
ment; there are others who stress
merely the subjective side. Neither
is right. Technique signifies a means
to an end, subject merely as the
substance of things unseen. Unrelated
to life, art would cease to be.
What is the use of us-what is
the meaning of us?" asked William
J. Locke one time as an artist ad-
dressing artists, for this great Eng
lish novelist, it will be remembered,
Is also an architect and was for many