Evening star., 1926-03-11
THE NORTH WINDOW
By Leila MechIin.


scending comparisons? Certainly some
,so-called art, and fine art at that, is
pretty bad. And by bad is meant low,
vulgar subjectively, and incompetent
technically. In some instances the
better the art the worse the result,
though genius has the power to lift
that which is most low from the gut
ter.
Happily, very little OF this kind of
bad art survives. Tt has it's little day
and passes, perishes. is forgotten. The
masses react amicably to the comic,
but coarseness Of a fashionable sort
appeals only to the few. Great art,
really fine art. needs no interpreter,
and it endures. Witnessxthe great
number Of paintings which make up
the public collections of Europe.
These represent a consensus Of opin-
ion, not in our own day, but the days
of those who have gone before, re-
peated succeeding generations, and the
appeal which they make to the public
at large is the appeal of beauty. If
they tell stories, they tell them we'll;
II they set forth imaginary compost
tions, they make them appear real.
The late Sir Alfred East, the distin-
guished British landscape painter
| once declared that the purpose of art
was to complete Natures intention
and, as we all know. this is perfection.
Why is 1t, some one asked not long
ago, that artists do not advertise? The
answer Is, or once was, members Of
professions never advertise, it is con-
sidered unethical. Doctors, lawyers,
| painters. sculptors, formerly archi-
tects, have not advertised because to
do so would put their profession on
| commercial basis. Now no one would
! consult physician on a matter of life
and death whose chief object was,
| avoWedly, the making of money. In
| the professions the laborer is consid
cred worthy of his hire, but the good
| OF the profession. the uph0lding of
! high standards. has always come first.
| In all the professions, art as we'll as
| the others, II certain amount of bust
ness dealing is carried on. The doctor
| and the lawyer take their fees, the
painter sells his pictures. the sculptor
accepts pay for his work in marble
| and bronze; but there are no bargain
| days, "cut prices" trafficking. The
| professional man or woman is not in
! trade; the business aspect comes last,
not first, in such transactions. To
preserve the integrity Of the profes-
| sion this is essential
| 1t was a distinct shock q short time
! ago to learn that when a great pro-
| fessional art organization, the Ma
| tional Sculpture Society sent certain
| recommendations to patriotic societies
with regard to securing the best talent
| to design and execute war memorials,
| they had i'll reply from a member of a
| board directing publication Of n pa
| trlotic character the statement that If
| the sculptors wanted TO be patronized
| by members Of that association il
1 would be we'll for them TO advertise in
| their magazine; TO which was added
| the interesting information that chap
ters of the organization or individuals
making inquiry concerning war me-
| MORALS were always advised to pa
| tronize those who advertised" in this
official organ" No wonder a pest of
| pitiful bronze soldiers, which will one
| day witness to the ignorance Of those
| VINO nave set them up, are being erect
| ed here and there throughout the
| country, Artists do not advertise and
| when they do, even covertly. II is safe
| to conclude that their art is Oh a level
with their ethics.
And there are signs of a lowering
! of standards even in this direction.
! Until quite lately the American In
stitute of Architects not only disci-
plined any member who transgressed
in this particular, but promptly drop
ped him from it's rolls. Now adver.
tising is permitted members of the
institute under certain conditions
For instance. in a school journal
lately appeared page of cards" of
architects who specialized in school.
house building. To be sure no one
boasted of special achievement, none
blatantly bid for work, but it seems
an entering wedge and a deplorable
one unless the whole of advertising
is put on different basis, the basis
lor public utility rather than competi-
ton. Probably this will come in time
but it will not be before the milen.
mum.
There is a legitimate connection
between art and commerce, art and
industry. This is made through the
medium of design, through a recogni-
ton of beauty as an asset in manu-
facture, even of articles Of utility.
The London Studio has recently
printed a series of winning essays in
an international prize competition on
art and commerce. The winner of
the first prize calls attention to the
improvement in recent years of the
leather industry and in particular the
design of footwear. Undoubtedly she
is right. Never have women's shoes
been as varied in design or as artistic
In shape as they are today. The Sec
ond prize winner in this competition
emphasizes the Importance of artistic
tenvironment and tells how, in q Scot.
tish city, by happy chance or actual
inspiration" the proprietor of a large
restaurant put the entire interior ar
rangement in the hands of a leading
artist, with the result that his bust.
ness increased enormously. "The pub
lie are already" claims this writer.
beginning to demand something
artistic in their shops and in their
goods. The establishment that en-
ploys the best artistic advice will be
most likely to succeed commercially. "
These are interesting suggestions.
X < x !:
AS proof of the soundness as we'll
as the prevalence of the theories set
forth, it may be noted in the most
recent annual report of the General
Education Board that during the past
year large sums of money have been
appropriated for the purpose of ad-
Vanclng art as applied to industry.
One hundred thousand dollars was an.
proprlated toward a total of some
thing over 100000 to the Art Insti.
tute of Chicago because of the work
1t is doing to relate art to industry.
Large appropriations were made
toward surveys Of industrial art con-
ditions in Europe and America, to de-
fray the expenses Of the special COM
Imlttee appointed by the Department
OF commerce to visit the Exposition
OF Decorative and Industrial Arts in
France last Summer and to bring to
this country a. representative collec-
ton Of work shown therein.
| * X X *
1t is amazing how much education
i of this onY.f ho had