Evening star., 1936-06-20
Bv Leila Mechliu.

lngUOn. one OF the topics QlS-
cusSed at that time, in round-table
conferences, was art on the farm, or
IN connection with farm life, in its
various ramiflcations. This is
large and a fertile theme. Art is
just as much an open window for
farm dwellers as for shop workers, ex-
tending vision and enlarging sight.
The idea that appreciation of art is
found Though knowledge of nature
has been proved incorrect, for the
fact is that through art, and the
eyes of the artist, the unrealiZed
beauty Of nature becomes manifest.
But art does not merely mean, as
some suppose, painting and sculpture.
1t finds manifestation in craft work
as well as in the furnishing of the
farm house and the planting of home
grounds, All this was brought out
in the recent conferences, in the ex-
hibitions set forth by the Depart
ment of Agriculture, and other agen-
cies, notable among which was a COL
lection of embroidery by an English
group. Obviously, art which finds
expression in creative effort is of a
most vital sort.
But art which manifeStS the beauty
In farm life is by no means to be
deSpised Such was the art of the
great French painter, Jean Francois
Millet, and is that of Horatio Walker
of our American school. Both of
these men saw beauty in the homely
routine of farm life and gave express
sion to it in their paintings. They
were keen observers, sensitive to
beauty wherever found. but also seek
ers for truth. They did not romance
or idealize, therefore their paintings
ring true.
Jules Breton was also good painter,
but his peasants in the fields have an
air Of artificiality; they do not be-
long, they act part, just as Marie
Antoinette did when she put on peas
ant dress and played she was farm
maid in the cottage erected for the
purpose at Versailles.
MILLET was of peasant birth, and
although he studied under good
masters in Paris, he did not find
himself" until he returned to country
life and devoted himself to the in
depreciation of rural subjects. The
Sower," painted in 1850, first brought
him to fame In the salon. three
years later he obtained a Second-
class medal. The Angelus" was
painted in 1859 and sold to an Amer
lean for 500 francs. later to be resold
for 100000. Many of his subjects
we're homely, such as "Pig-killers,
"Potato-planters. Woman Carrying
Buckets" but he always saw them
beautifully. The majority of his
paintings which brought him diStinc-
ton we're done in the small farm
cottage in Barbizon. near Fountaine-
bleau where he spent the last 25
years of his life, and reared FAM
lily, in what we should now consider
great poverty for he did not re-
ceive high priceS), but also great
contentment. When in 1874 his health
began to fail, and he realized that
the end was approaching, he is said
to have laid down his brushes with
regret, saying. 1T is such a pity,
should so much like to go on working
of other great artists-our own Wyant,
the great Japanese print-maker
Hokusai-who loved their work and
continuously strove for finer accom-
plishment. Something of Millets
feeling for his art, and gift as an
artist, can be seen in the three char
coal drawings and two pastels by him
in the Clark collection of the Cor
coran Gallery of Art Indeed, often
a better understanding of an artist,
his viewpoint and equipment may be
had from his drawings than from his
paintings-his finished works.
The service that Millet did in turn
ing attention to the potentialitieS Of
beauty in farm life in France has
been continued in this country by
Horatio Walker, born in Listowel On
tario, Canada. in 1883 and repre-
Sented in the Corcoran Gallery of Art
by his exquisite and mastery paint
ing, Ave Maria" Walker was the
son of an English army officer From
Canada his family went TO Rochester
to live, and from there, in 1885, he
found his way to New York and Seri-
ously began his career as a painter.
1t is said that he was mostly self
taught, and, after all that is true of
many accomplished painters, for art
comes from within, and only the me-
chanics thereof can be learned from
others.
Although Horatio Walker main
tained a residence and studio in New
York from 1885 until a few years
ago, he went for the majority of his
subjects to the Island of Orleans. in
the st. Lawrence River, about 20 miles
from Quebec. Here" we are told, "the
descendants of the early French set
tiers still retain the simple faith, and
habits, and fine ingenuousness of the
peasants of northern France; sturdy
race. close to the soil, and drawing
dignity as well as nourishment there
from, perpetuating their origin even
in their belongings; the domestic uten-
sils, the farm implements, in the
racial characteristics of their horses
and oxen, and in the very fashioning
Of their harness"
No doubt the picturesqueneSs of this
AilS dppSdleu 10 MT walker DuI he
saw in it something more than that
There is sturdy quality, strength and
simplicity, vitality and integrity as
well, in the pictures he has painted
of these peasant people, our northern
neighbors beyond the great boundary
river. 1t has been said that man is
the most interesting of all exhibits to
man. and doubtless this is true. Re-
member how the benches on the
boardwalk at Atlantic City are turned,
back to the ocean and toward the
passing show, consisting of human
ity. And life is the problem which
among all others engroSses most at
tention.
Horatio Walker has shown us man
IN relation to life with sympathy and
l.