Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1939-08-31
A Master Painter
Is Ill In Hospital
Continued from Page u


order to provide food and shelter for
his family.
Painting is transcendental miracle
in the gifts endowed by the Creator
and it is given to perhaps only one
in millions of "You's and rs" But for
that gift, and others in the arts,
which portrays for mankind the soul
and aspiration of every generation,
we might still be clawing one an
other in stone-cave dwellings and
drinking gore from skull-pans.
Therefore the creative artist is
supreme benefactor and servitor of
the human race. But history proves
that we have been savagely intoler-
ant of him and at the very best, we
have condescendingly patronized him.
In the majority of instances we have
let him starve in the gutter and attic.
Our inhuman bounding and perse-
| cution of Poe and Whitman is fully
as rank as the thwartings and starva-
ton imposed upon the creative
minded through the centuries in Rome
and in Europe. Petronius wrote of
the Roman parent who prosecuted
his son for wanting to be an artist
as exactly the New England customs
house did in firing Walt Whitman for
writing Leaves of Grass"
AS Marcus Goodrich points out in a
| recent essay: France made of De
Maupassant drug fiend, suppressed
his work, drove him to attempted sui
eide and finally killed him with in
sanity, France ostracized and bounded
lola. Germany suppressed and ex-
lied Heine. An embittered Turgenev
rejected and fled czaristic Russia.
France made of Flaubert a neurotic
humanity hater. And for the i'm
mortal Shelly, England melted out a
monstrous dose of maladjustment,
reputation and exile"
Therein lies the colossal cultural
tragedy! Humanity stoning its bene-
| factors!
But Nicholas Brewer broke through
insuperable obstacles. His great gift
scared at last to the freedom of art
liberated, and his inspired brush car
ried him comet-like to the peaks
Today the canvases of Nicholas
Brewer hang in more than % states
of the Union and in galleries abroad
Minnesotas everyday life and her
infinitely varied landscape has been
caught by the painter and recreated
in deathless oils. His portraits of
world personalities are outstandingly
beautiful. The portrait of the late
Governor John A. Johnson which
hangs in the Minnesota Historical
Society building, is an example in
truly great portraiture.
The figure of the humanitarian gov
ernor is marvelously true to the ex-
ternal likeness in life; the color is
warm and vivid; the whole compost
ton and balance in pleasing harmony.
But something far greater is in this
portrait; something that differenti-
ates it from lesser works. There is in
this portrait the sitter Within" ''the
aspiring original within" That rep
resents the topmost heights in the
art of oil portraiture. John A. john
sons deepest soul and his radiant
personality light up the entire paint
ing. His noble spirit has been cap
tured in imperishable oils from the
palette of Nicholas Brewer and from
the canvas marches straight into the
soul of the viewer. And with it is
reflected the kindly spirit and the
sympathetic personality of the artist
| himself.
AS with so many of his colleagues
| in painting the sister art of the pen
also belongs to Mr.. Brewer. He has
written book which is not only the
most fascinating reading but an edu-
eating for life that is remarkable.
In this autobiography the artist paints
verbal canvas that is as likable and
interesting as is his augmented self
portrait
This book, trails of Paintbrush,"
is a volume for any mood. 1t is
drenched in the beauty of nature;
of human intimacies and sweet philos-
ophy. 1t also tugs at ones heart
strings with its grim recordings of
poverty's throttling. 1t unconsciously
reveals the almost superhuman pa
tience and courage of the artist baited