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Show m ART AND ARCHITECTURE. H Urbain Goheir, as has been noted, has pub- H ' lislicd a book in which ho asserts that art has no H i existence in the United States, and declares that H "the enormous sale of foreign pictures there pre- H vents the development of real art." H i But on the day his book was offered for sale H in Paris, "unextinguished laughter" shook that H gay city over the discoveiy that the museums of H the city, including the Louvre, had been victlm- H ized into buying "rare specimens of foreign art" Bin irom some adept swindlers who had manufactured Hv those "rare specimens" right in Paris only a few HH blocks from the museums. It was a fearful joke H on those world-famed con'noisseurs, and the Pari- H sians laughed until the tears ran down their HE cheeks. H But returning to Goheir's book. Americans N ' should not be sensitive about it. Bather they HB ' should accept it and whether fair criticism or not, H should determine to make a beginning toward H freeing our country from the possible justico of H such criticism. A new country, as a rule, cannot H much shine as an art center. One of Hjr the chiefest glories of Art is the halo which encircles it, and that can only IB d gather through the ebb and flow of years. K But a beginning can be made. If Eastern mil-R mil-R Ilonaires will not build and properly endow u great HIE National Art institute, the government should, if The foremost masters of the Old World should be HJ employed, scholarships for merit should be divid-H divid-H ed among the states, prizes should be awarded H for special excellence and a national enthusiasm Hjfj be awakened. That pursued for fifty years would BpJ begin to show results. Another thing. The build-Hf build-Hf ing of the grandest structures of Europe were HJ ( made grand by the artists employed in their con-1 con-1 struction and embellishment, and they in turn bent be-nt came object lessons for the people. This truth our j government officials should keep in mind and in sist that the architecture of public buildings should be improved, even if foreign plans had to be adopted. It is strange that so many public structures have been permitted to degenerate from the magnificent examples set in the beginning begin-ning by the national capitol and treasury building. build-ing. To start and keep running such an institute would bo costly, but what of it. It would after awhile return every cent with interest After a while American students would depend upon their own country for nearly all their education, and in turn foreign artists would expect to finish their studies in the United States. Then there is a severe practical significance to the matter. All flie beautiful work turned out in the Kensington schools and laboratories grew out of the chagrin which Englishmen felt when at the World's exposition ex-position in London in 1851, they realized, by comparing com-paring English with foreign work, how far their country had fallen behind. Even Russia made their best work look shabby. Out of that the Kensington school was founded found-ed and now some of its work is superior to anything any-thing which Prance produces. Our people are a mixed race. The art of Europe Eu-rope has mingled with the native American mechanical me-chanical genius, and the result is seen in the very finest locomotives, bridges, electrical and all other oth-er forms of machinery in the world. That needs but expansion and refinement to produce the noblest no-blest architecture and the finest works of art the world has ever seen. Not this year or next, but say a century or two centuries hence. But there must be schools to lead up to that age, and it is a sliame that the first great school of that kind has not already been founded. |