THE TERM "ART" CONSIDERED.

The capacity for Art a distinctive characteristic of man-Man, a creative producing intelligence A definition of Art-High Art - Decorative Art - Industrial ArtThe Imagination an essential element of High Art - The like quality of Imagination characteristic of the great discoverers in Science-Technique in Art; its proper value-Art that is only technical, has no power of appeal to the people - To say that only artists are capable of criticising and properly appreciating a work of Art, is to condemn that work — Art that needs an interpreter is confessedly a failure Undue exaltation of technique disastrous to Art and to Literature — Attention to technical details the duty of pupils - The true artist shows his art by selection of subjects, as well as by skill in use of material-The term Art, wide embracing — The Goldsmith of the Middle Ages - The decadence of Art signalized by its divorce from Industry-Mutual injury thus resulting to Artists and People - Art must keep close to Nature - The poet's statement of this need — The place and functions of the Arts in the Republic - Modern Science reunites Art to Industry — National Prosperity now largely dependent upon Artistic Industries - The Arts must find a welcome at the firesides of the people - Popular love and knowledge of Art can be created, by definite educational efforts - Success of systematic Industrial Art Education in foreign countries - Tribute to the late Sir Henry Cole, foremost in inciting and promoting the Industrial Art Educational movement in England — Similar training desirable and feasible throughout the United States The relation between the Education and the Arts and Industries of a People.

Man may be defined as a thinking, talking, and constructing animal. That other animals may partake in some degree of this faculty of thought, which was long denied, is becoming somewhat generally admitted since the evidence has accumulated of actions by animals,-as the horse, the dog, the elephant,-apparently based upon memory, and the results of cogitation upon former experiences. Nevertheless, not even the most enthusiastic evolutionist will deny that as yet the development of man, as a creature capable of ratiocination, is far in advance of that of all other beings known to the naturalist.

In articulate speech, with all that it implies, man stands confessedly superior. Although he shares the constructive faculty with insects, the bee, the wasp, the ant, as well as with some of the animals, as the beaver, and with the birds as a class, and although some of each of these classes of animated beings, by the exquisite perfection of their constructions challenge the superiority of human skill, yet in the versa

tility of his wide embracing powers, man still holds the place, accorded to him in that sublime history of the creation recorded in Genesis, as the ruler and governor of all created beings.

It is however in his capacity for Art, that man is most completely dif ferentiated from the rest of the animated creation.

In all the instances to which we have referred in which some of the lower orders of beings are seen to possess in a lesser degree some of the characteristic faculties of man, the exercise of the given faculty occurs only within the narrowest limits of individual needs and experience. The evidences of the action of memory and of reason based on memory are strictly individual. The constructive faculty, for example, is exercised only for making the dwelling of the individual or community, and communication of intelligence by sound or touch, is apparently limited to individual needs; though in his ignorance of the vocal or silent language of beasts, birds and insects, it may well become man to be modest in his statements concerning the possessors of these unknown tongues; for non constat that these creatures, also, do not among themselves, poetize, philosophize, and moralize!

One fact though is clear, and that is that there are no erections or other evidences of the making, or of the conception by other creatures, of anything analogous to those productions evoked by the abstract idealizing, or by the emotional powers of the human intellect; and known as works of art. By man's capacity for art is to be understood not only the ability to create works of art but also that which is far more common and quite as essential, namely, the ability to recognize, appreciate and enjoy such creations. This power of appreciation seems to be essentially an attribute of man alone, for, though some animals are indeed curiously sensitive to musical sounds, there is no evidence that they are similarly susceptible to the influence of form or color, nor will it be in any way pretended that they can have an intellectual comprehension of music any more than of painting or statuary.*

The appreciation of art is then a distinctive possible characteristic of the human being, just as the possible creative power of the artist, is a distinctive quality of the individual.

Thought is an attribute and function of the human intellect. Impressions made upon the senses are taken cognizance of, classified, correlated, assimilated; and in due time their results reproduced.

*The question arises as to whether there is any traceable connection between the acquired hereditary colorings and adornments of the lower orders of life, and the acquired hereditary susceptibilities and artistic preferences of the earliest races of men?

1

The human being, the "ego," that which we call the mind for want of better phrase, that unseen elusive something which all recognize as the essential man himself,-in contrast with which, all exterior phenomena are extraneous and subsidiary,-that "Psyche," "Anima," Spirit, Soul, named differently by Theology and Philosophy, though its existence is nominally denied by the materialist, is yet commonly recognized as the one existent fact in a universe of uncertainties. It is that power without which the animal existence of man, that which is common to all animated nature, might apparently be continued; as well as the accumulation of recorded phenomena of nature, called science; but, without which, Art were forever impossible; because Art in its very nature is the outcome of the highest, the creative intelligence.

The existence of Art is, therefore, outside of revelation, the strongest proof of the existence of something other than the animal man.

Man is a creative, productive, as well as a receptive being. In the processes of thought to which we have alluded, something of the individual is added to the impressions received through the senses, so that, when again given out, they have acquired some quality not before possessed; this is, sometimes, a very precious acquisition,-so precious that the world measures the value of all human production by the amount of thought it contains. Now it is just that personal addition which constitutes the art quality. It is that which makes the work of the great artists so individual that no one could mistake the works of Phidias and Michael Angelo, of Raphael and Titian. In other words the art quality is the addition of the human element, that which makes up the personal equation of the individual artist. This is why art is not necessarily a synonym for beauty in the sense of prettiness, it may be in that sense.*

ugly even,

Art is the expression, of some idea, object, or emotion, as conceived, perceived, or felt, by the artist, with such power, as to reproduce in others the same thoughts and feelings which the artist had himself.

It may be a very ugly fact or a very painful emotion, but if he sees clearly and makes us see as he saw, or feel as he felt, his work in so far as he does this, possesses the true art quality.

While the artist is free to choose the form of art he prefers and the medium for conveying his impressions; once chosen, he is bound to use them in accordance with their limitations; for, in this world of matter

*"40. Those who have assigned to the plastic arts beanty, strictly so called, as the ultimate end of imitation, have circumscribed the whole by a part.”—- (Fuseli's Aphorisms.)

each form of art and every material is subject to its own laws, and while it is true that the spirit of art is intangible and ethereal, it is also true that it can only make its appeal by becoming embodied, and must submit loyally to the conditions it has chosen."

While thus considering Art in its broad relations to the intellectual, and the emotional nature of man, it may be well also to include those' familiar phases by means of which Art enters intimately into the daily intercourse of men's lives; sits with them by the fireside, walks with them in the market place, is found in the workshop, in the field, a companion in their brief hours of play, a helper through long days of toil, gladdener of life, sweetener of labor, consoler of sorrow.

This democratic damsel,

"A creature not too wise or good
For human nature's daily food,"

is called "Industrial" Art, and is merely the goddess descending as of old among men. Art which in its so called higher functions is either merely an end in itself, producing pleasure, or the means of exciting emotion, as the medium of expression, and has no direct relation to use, needs not always to abide on those ethereal heights; but may, with equal fitness, come to dwell familiarly with men.

Industrial art, then, is merely the application of the principles and methods of art to objects of practical utility, in which the uses of the utensil, material, or object, must be primarily regarded; and to which, the artistic qualities must be subsidiary. In this wedding of Use to Beauty, there is no inevitable disparity; for true democracy seeks not to drag down the highest, but only to lift up the lowest. So Art, entering the world of work is not thereby degraded but, stooping to the lowly, lifts them to her own high level; giving to homely uses divine significance. Cheerfully accepting the limitations imposed by needs of use, she links them to divinest harmonies;-"raising a mortal to the skies."

*I take pleasure in inserting the following concise and discriminative definition of art given to me as the outcome of a recent friendly conversation concerning this prolific topic:

"Art is an expression of emotions excited in capable persons by acts, facts, objects and subjects; this expression varies according to the vehicle that is used, conforming to the laws inherent in the chosen vehicle, but using them to reproduce emotional, instead of practical results. A battle may inspire a musician, a sculptor, a painter, a poet, and an orator, to simultaneous artistic activity. The resulting Te Deum, statue or relievo, painting, poem and eulogy, are equally ART, if the producers are equal artists."-C. W.