Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-05-01
By MARY McGRoRY


Those who in the past have
viewed the attempts of Bohemia
and bureaucracy to understand
each other are observing with
interest the progress of bills row
in the congressional mill which
would officially praise works Of
art.
All four bills under considera-
ton call for the awarding Of
Distinguished Civilian Achieve
ment Medals in Is fields. 1t was
President Eisenhower's expressed
hope that the machinery would
be set in motion so that he could
award such a medal to DR.. Jonas
E. Salk, the discoverer of polio
vaccine, when the two met in
the White House Rose Garden
recently.
No one publicly begrudged DR..
Salk the honor. But What gave
some bystanders pause about
the bills was that the other
fields chosen for similar honors
would include letters and arts.
Clash OF Opinions
The trouble with awards in
this area, where taste is all, has
often been that they have merely
served to emphasize the truth
of the old adage about one mans
meat being. another mans
poison.
When it comes to art, the re-
mark by Zuleika DobSon, a Max
Beerbohm heroine, summed up a
universal attitude: Il don't know
anything about art but ! know
what l like"
Some people regard modern
poetry and music as a dismay-
ing collection of angular obscu-
rites. Other people think they
perfectly reflect our disjoined
times. To take an example near
home, there are those who view
the husky gold horses on Memo
rial Bridge as overpowering mas
terpieces: but just the other day,
an art critic called them "artis-
tically appalling" Who is right?
Experience of State
To judge from previous expe-
riences in official accolades, the
recipients of these awards would
not only have to be gifted, but
loyal by today's strict definition.
A consideration of the State
Departments experiences in this
field might be SOLDERING to award
planners.
In 1947. the State Department,
hoping to combat the Commu-
mist canard that we are uncul-
tured clods, gathered a collection
of representative American art
works. The first person they
heard from was critic in the
Zuleika Dobson tradition, none
other than President Harry S.
Truman.
Il don't pretend to be an
artist or judge of art" wrote
letter-writer Truman, but ! am
of the opinion that so-called
modern art is merely the vapor-
ings of half-baked lazy people.
:. There is no art at all in any
connection with the modernists
in my opinion"
Called National Disgrace"
That was not all. Former Rep
resentative Busby, Republican, Of
Illinois, rose up in the House to
say the proposed exhibit (Which
eventually did go abroad was
"a national disgrace" and
Communist inspired propa-
ganda." He went on to read into
the Record dossiers on "a out
of the As artists. which had been
provided by the House I'm
American Activities Committee.
In the world of letters, the
Library Of Congress has burning
memories of thanksgiving. In
1949, the Fellows in American
Letters decided to give the Boil
lingen Award for Poetry to
Ezra Pound. Several people raised
the roof of the House of Repre-
sentatives.
Wrath was equally directed
towards poetry and poet. The
"Pisan Cantoes," 1t is true prob
ably will never be memorized in
the Fifth Grade like 1.-THE Psalm
of Life" Nor is 1t highly likely