Evening star., 1938-09-04

especial gift. The latter has been
sharply criticized but the former is
economically as we'll as artiStically
equally pernicious. The market today
for current production is sWamped.
hundreds of artists are on relief rolls;
some of the best despair OF making a
living: countless works are in storage;
why. then. put premium on further
production unless it surpass in intrin-
sic worth that which is already In
existence?
A CCoRDING to an announcement
recently made by the New York
Worlds Fair it is anticipated that
more than $4,000 works will be submit
ted by contemporary artists to its
committee of selection. from which
about 800 will be chosen for display.
The chairman of the Governing Com
mittee for the exhibition is A. Conger
Goodyear, president of the Museum of
Modern Art, New York. of which We
have branch in Washington, and the
director is Holger Cahill head of the
Federal Art Projects of the w. P. A.,
whose office is in Washington. Other
members of the committee are Mrs.
Juliana B. Force. director of the Whit
ney Museum Of American Art; Herbert
E. Winlock, director Of the Metropoli-
tan Museum of Art (who, incidentally,
was Washington boy), and Laurence
P. Roberts. acting director of the
Brooklyn Museum In addition to
these, there will be an artists COM
mittee and six regional committees of
selection. The last will cover the
country completely, by which system,
Mr.. Cahill declares, the most demo-
cratic methods ever attempted in an
exhibition of this kind will prevail"
Thus, setting aside limitations geo
graphical, technical, as we'll as indi-
Vldual-representing points Of view-a
completely representative and demo-
cratic result is, it is thought. assured.
This is all right as far as 1t goes
We want fair play. We want the man
in Oklahoma to have the same chance
as the man in Boston or New York
But there is nothing new about such
privilege. he has always had it. The
doors of the Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts have, for instance, been
open in connection with its annual
exhibitions to the artists in all parts
OF the United States, but on a basis
of merit-not according to quota,
geographically The Municipality of
New York has tried this experiment
Tor several years in its city-flnanced
national exhibitions, and with sad re-
suit. In other words, there is no
such thing as democracy in art" un-
less We interpret democracy to mean
for and by the people" Art is
universal language, the common
heritage of all. but the production
OF art is carried on by an aristocracy-
the talented few-it has never been
and probably never will be otherwise.
Full we'll We know that in special en-
doWment called genius all men are
not born free and equal. There is
much haziness as to the meaning of
the word democracy To Thomas JET
ferson it undoubtedly meant equal op-
portunity to all, common laws assur-
ing freedom and protection for rich
ard poor alike-but never a leveling
OF intellect or achievement to the
capacity or capability of the masses.
To put a premium on mediocrity
is to bar the way to the mountain
heights of achievement. Inherently,
by nature, art is aristocratic but
when given to the world it may be-
come the possession of the most lowly.
Surely it is much less important that
an exhibition of contemporary art in
a great worlds fair shall be nationally
representative than that it shall up
hold high standard.
THIS matter of democracy in art,
which, glibly spoken, creates the
of liberalism, would not be
worthy Of so much space or thought
were it not affecting, to an extraor-
dinary degree, the character of much
OF the art Of today. When the Gov
ernment undertook its first art project
under the direction Of Mr.. Bruce, now
head Of the painting and Sculpture
section of the Procurement Division
Of the Treasury Department, the man.
date went out that the artists en-
ployed should represent the American
scene" by which it was apparently
understood that that which was most
common in American life was to be
As the years have passed. this con-
viction seems to have strengthened
and become imbedded in the minds Of
the artists, with the result that the
of exhibitions of contem-
porary painting today consist of can
vases depicting scenes in the lives
of the lowest classes, which are not
only vulgar, but to the last degree
depressing. These are painted, not
with the intention of reform. or of
disclosing weakness in national life.
but primarily to shock and so call at
tention to themselves. Rarely are they
we'll enough done to justify the doing:
almost never are they seen by the class
they represent.
1dealism has given way to realism
in materialistic age, under the cloak