Evening star., 1928-05-19
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL y. COLLINS.

man can be triumphant The spiritual
needs freedom from the sordid."
There was one feature of most Of the
talks on the program Of the Federation
of Art which was noticeable: it was a
Scorn of the so-called "modernists' VINO
demand freedom from the academic
shackles of art" As Bailey has ex-
pressed it, Those who CRY against the
Shackles never wore them"
Modernists delight IN bad and gro
tesque drawing and crude colors, and
especially in morbid or distorted sub
jects, but they got short shrift from the
directors of art In the various uniyersi-
ties represented. Fortunately, Washing
ton public galleries are comparatively
free from such freaks. In a book By
the late painter, Kenyon Cox, that IA
nous artist said:
"Of some of the phases Of ultra-mod-
ern art I find it difficult to speak with
fairness or with any patience. ! should
wish TO believe IN certain element o.
honest conviction in it, and 10 accept
the explanation of its adherents that IL
is a revolt against naturaliSm. and an
effort to get back to the abstract quality
and expreSsiveneSS of lines and colorS.
independently OF their representative
character. If so, the pendulum has
swung as far to one side as il had
swung to the other, but there seems to
me, Slso. to be q vast amount Of mere
charlatanism among the Neo-ImpreS-
SfoniSts. and an even larger amount ot
sheer madness. Van Gogh cut on his
own ear when he failed to kill his friend
Gauguin with a razor. ToulouSe-LautreC
had a keeper; several others committed
suicide or died in aSylums. And stia
the game goes on. until We have men
pointing and exhibiting things made up
Of outlines that look like the drawings
of bad boy on the walls OF an out
house. and of fiat masses OF primary
coloTs arranged with no conceivable re-
lation 70 nature. We have even had
compositions in which the human figure
is represented by series OF triarglsS.
and q portrait is Synbclixed by an ar
rangement of cubes, and We have critics
writing books and articles 70 prove that
this is real and vital art and the art OF
the future"
Even If the Corcoran and Nstiona.
Art Galleries fail to exhibit such freaks"
declared Innocent ByStander, have We
never read Of their wondeTful-SSinln-
ity? That is why some 'lowhrOwS even
like you and me-have feared 20 gasp
aloud when confronted with such jokes
as were seen in the Philadelphia ex-
position two years ago But with Ken
yon Cox TO back us let's pick Up c0Gr-
age and Scorn the monStroSitleS, ignore
the cant Of art twaddlc That VIII XII
hypocrisy of art adulation and gee Us
back even to where we refuse % admire
what We do not underStSn6-ever %
that blessed state where we know whst
~. Ia z@NaN
than SycophantiSh acceptance or 81;
guSh, which not even the g'!Sher TN
derStandS"
The old masters were truly great ana
they recorded greatly the religion or
their ages. Modern painters cannot
ape them IN painting the same themes,
for modernS do not hive and breathe
the same spirit But moSsruS can ard
DO interpret their own age. as ar9rrte6
BY an English artist, john c. Van
DYKE, explaining that art is nos story
telling with paint, nor mere intsrpvssa-
tion Of nature, but is Gi$cernmsnt q
the beauties Of nature and the Nossgy
Of beauty, He declares;
Art, IN Greece, IN perfect accord
With the Greek civilization. aimed 81
the ideal. ana IN that same age there
was a religion of xAe gods and the
denlt-goStS a morality Which, 81 Ssv
the least our modern teachers Of moral
science would not approve ct and
code OF laws which. il IN force today.
would cause revelation toUarrcW,
For eur practical use their reiiStcJ;,
ethics and laws have disappeared. We
have substituted others more ecD-
torMaale so cur needs. Why should
We 50 perSSStently cling % their poT
inappropriate art~ideale"
The same argument applies 20 ROnNSG
lin fact, Co every age~2nd aenlcls-
StratsS our liberty of today 50 love eQg
own ideals IN art as well as IN re-
hEson, Only moSieFaS have learned
the beauties, per ST. az LANDSCAPES,
With their selnShlheS and miStS ard
neods of color.
(CepyrlsAs, hoes, Ny PAas V, Colaasl