Evening star., 1938-09-04

Of democracy. inappropriately worn
! and i'll fitting The generic COM
mon man" is not so common as this,
nor does he want to be; the under
privileged do not care to be repre-
sented sitting in the ashes, but in
the seats of the mighty, to which
true democracy gives the opportun-
| ity to climb The moving picture is
today the most democratic of our
arts, but no moving picture company
would dare to put on the screen such
films as in the way of paintings.
find their way into our contemporary
exhibitions and through reproduc-
ton in art magazines are distributed
all over the country. Surely it is
time to call halt to this kind of
democracy in art"
THERE is another phase of art
which is causing discussion in
connection with the exposition to be
| held in New York next year. This
has to do with the art unions. For
cOAlC yCdlS tliC tl4oiSAdLlS lldSC UNCh
unionized. and to such unionization
the mightiest have bowed the head
But it is only recently that the union
has come into the painters ranks.
There is small union in Washing
ton, the manifesto of which is in
effect. an effort to force the Gov
ernment to employ artists at a living
IN vrnil1cn ha spirf
them without let or hindrance.
In New York the union has taken
greater hold and with more prac-
tical purpose. As the orchestras are
obliged to employ only musicians who
belong to the union, so the man.
agement Of the New York Worlds
Fair finds itself compelled to employ
only union painters to execute the
murals which are to decorate its
great buildings.
The way out is either to have the
| painting done by union labor under
the supervision Of the artist, who
makes the design and original car
toon. or for the artist to join the
union.
This puts this branch of painting
on new footing. theoretically 1t is
wrong but actually it may bring
forth good result, inasmuch as it will.
in a measure, recreate the atelier
system, by which the young painter
obediently worked under the super
vision of an acknowledged master.
To an extent too the union, rightly
! organized, may be said to replace the
old guild, which did much to up
hold and enforce high standards of
production in the arts and crafts.
But one thing is certain. and that is
that the basis must be quality Of
product as well as equality of re-
ward.
One of our American principles
for which indeed we rebelled and
fought-was no taxation without rep
resentation. No artist who believes IN
democracy can subscribe to a union
which fixes wages, levies dues pre-
scribes rules. arbitrarily. 1t is un-
| American. Here is new problem for
the American Federation of Labor
which by-the-way in its official maga-
zine has made discriminating use Of
art from time to time. There are
some perhaps who would protest the
unionization Of art on the basis OF
merging it with business-but this
when art has been regarded as busi-
ness it has at times risen to excep-
tional heights. The great masters
of Italy were employed by those Of
the nobility to paint portraits, and
paintings as gifts for churches. de-
sign pageants and other festivals.
costumes, jewelry, ETC.. and did not
think themselves belittled thereby.
OUR early American artists were In
" not a few instances coach and
sign painters from which they passed
to portrait painting, touring the coun-
try for all the world like itinerant
tinkers. But they spared no pains to
do their Job we'll. They did not trouble
about self-expression nor think Of
art for arts sake: they did everything
in their power to accomplish good
result-to fulfill honorably the pur-
pose for which they were employed.
There is no greater stimulant for art
than to be wanted-nothing more
detrimental to it than to be made q
charity. The best art of all time has
been produced to meet demand-the
poorest that under false patronage to
provide the artist with bread and but
ter
To return to our expositions-as we
have said before, both, architecturally,
will be extremely modern, and what
effect this will have upon our future
building it is dificult to surmise, for
unless the modern adaptations are
appealing to the eye and suitable to
our use, their enforcement upon those
who visit thse world fairs may pos
sibly sound the death knell of this
latest style. The people generally are
doing more thinking for themselves
than formerly. The greatest contribu-
ton that we in America have made to
the art of the world is the utilitarian
skyscraper. called forth by the exi-
gencies Of business, plus limited ground
space in New York. In an article en-.
titled Architecture and Geography"