Evening star., 1935-12-08
Masters of Art
By Frederic ]. Haskin.

bureaus and commissions at the National
Capital none is more busy, in leisurely
way-if that paradox may be employed
than the Commission of Fine Arts, for
its duties cover the earth. Created by
Congress In 1910 with the original idea
that it should function for the protection
of the artistic integrity Of the Capital
City, its duties have been extended to
cover the judgment Of artistic merit Of
any structure erected under the auspices
Of the United States Government any,
where.
Thus, while passing upon the artistic
validity Of the design of 1-cent piece it
may be drawn aside to pass judgment on
a structure in China. The organic act
has been supplemented by wealth Of
executive orders, so that now the COM
mission may be called upon for almost
anything. If member Of Congress
happens to be interested in the erection
of tablet commemorative of the life
and works Of the first school teacher who
functioned in the bailiWick Of the
Arkansas Traveller, he is privileged to call
upon the Commission Of Fine Arts at
Washington to decide what is what from
the point of view of art.
The end of it all would seem to be the
making over of the United States into a
sort of glorified Acropolis, adorned with
nothing but artistic structures vhollS-
capable Of disintegrating into stored
ruins such as produced the Elgin marbles.
The responsibility is by no means con-
fined to buildings. Col. Linober could
not get his Congressional Medal Of Honor
until the design for it had been passed
upon by the Fine Arts Commission.
The reason for the wide scope Of the
commission is that there are rules gov
erning Federal Government officials
which declare that no one Of them shall
! finally sanction a project, large or small,
which involves design, without first gain.
| ing the blessing Of the artistic censorS.
Inasmuch as all Federal officials soon
| learn to respect the reels of red tape
which bind all Washington activities, it
| is a bold man indeed who proceeds With
out complete sanctions in hand. So far
! there is no record of the commissions
| being called in to pass upon the design
! of rubber stamp, but that action would
! not be surprising.
! An idea Of how cenSorious the art cens
sors can be is contained in the following
! official report on what happened in con-
! nection with the erection Of monument
| to John Fitch, inventor of the steamboat:
Congress appropriated $4,000 toward
! erecting fitting marking Of the burial
| place at Bardstown, KY, of Lieut.. John
| Fitch, soldier and inventor The quarter
| master general submitted several designs,
| all of which this commission returned
without approval, at the same time sug-
| gesting that the memorial take the form
| of a monument having architectural de-
| sign, the portrait and inscription being
| cut in the stone itself. A second design
| from the department still adhering to
| the bronze tablet, met second disap-
proval on the ground that it would be
waste of public money to place in an
elaborate and expensive stone frame
tablet that in two years time would be-
come simply black spot, dripping dark
streaks over the stone below II. More
over the design of the table suggested
poor picture-book illustrations and were
| in no sense monumental"
After such an outburst the quarter
master general and his entire department
| must have realized what they were up
against.
One naturally thinks of the Commits
sion of Fine Arts as spending its time in
broad musings on the general plan OF
the National Capital, sort Of super
city planning activity. Such function
is indeed performed, but the ramiflca.
tions are tremendously wide. For ex-
ample, the architect Of the Capitol, David
Lynn, called upon the commission to tell
him what kind Of paint to use in paint
| ing the dome of the Capitol. The dome
| is built of cast iron, and the problem was
| to find a type of paint which would
| cause the cast iron to blend with the
marble walls of the edifice. The blister
! ing effects of the Washington sun on the
cast iron had to be taken into considera-
| ton.
The work of seeing that the L'Enfant
| plan for the Federal City is carried out
| with as many improvements as are die
| tated by modern conditions is in entire
charge of the Commission Of Fine Arts,
and, doubtless, when the body was ere"
ated Congress had little thought Of the
wide extension of activity which would
| develop. For instance, it could scarcely
be foreseen that the commission would
be called upon to supervise statue Of
Henry Clay which was authorized by
Congress to be presented to the Republic
of Venezuela for erection at Caracas.
Nor is it likely it was anticipated that
the commission should figure in design
ing the system of flag decoration for
streets on the occasion Of parades.
Congress created the American Battle
Monuments Commission for the purpose
Of erecting some Is memorials to Amer
ican soldiers who fell overseas during
the World War. But while this commits
sion has broad powers of its own, it does
not appear able to function without the
permission of the Commission OF Fine
Arts The latter commission passes on
the designs for the monuments and even
on the landscaping of the cemeteries.
Medals coins and insignia come under
the Jurisdiction Of the commission, as
we'll as such huge structures as the new
Supreme Court Building. When new
President is inaugurated commemora-
tive medal showing his likeness is cast,
and these now come within the artistic
purview Of the commission. The Thomas
A. Edison medal, Distinguished Flying
Cross and a variety of others have felt
the touch Of the commission. In the
files of the commission will be found cor
respondence indicating that often many
submissions Of designs are rejected before
one finally passes muster. The commits.
sion is jealous Of the standards 1t has
set up.
When one considers the magnitude Of
the work performed and the permanence
| of itS affectS IInoy1 American architecture