EDITORIALLYSource: Bulletin of the Detroit Museum of Art, Vol. 8, No. 2 (APRIL, 1914), pp. 30-33Published by: Detroit Institute of ArtsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41934895 .

Accessed: 15/05/2014 12:52

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Detroit Institute of Arts is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Bulletin of theDetroit Museum of Art.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 193.104.110.40 on Thu, 15 May 2014 12:52:33 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

30 BULLETIN OF THE DETROIT MUSEUM OF ART

BULLETIN OF THE

DETROIT MUSEUM OF ART Publish KD Quartkrly by thk

Detroit Museum of Art

Incorporated February 16th, 1885

Edited by Clyde H. Burroughs

OFFICERS President, D. M. Ferry, Jr.

Vice-President, Milton A. McRae Treasurer, Richard TI. Webrkk

Secretary and Acting Director, Clyde II. Burroughs

TRUSTEES For the term expiring 1914

Edward C. Walker Frederick II. IIoi.t George G. Booth

For the term expiring 1915 I). M. Ferry, Jr. Milton A. McRak

Wilfred C. Leland (City Appointee)

For the term expiring 1916 Henry G. Stevens Gustavus I). Popi-

Richard H. Webber (City Appointee)

For the term expiring 1917 II. J. M. Grylls William P. Stevens

William C. Weber (City Appointee)

EDITORIALLY. As the exhibitions during the season

now drawing to a close are reviewed, a few of them stand out in the memory of the vast concourse of people who have visited them. In fact, the con- course of people indicates which ones do stand out clearly in the minds of the people, for during those periods when exhibitions of great importance were shown, the attendance was phenomenal. The echoes of the Inness and Wyant

collection may still be heard ; the Span- ish exhibition is much talked of ; the people are yet discussing the relative merits of the brothers Harrison; the memory of the works of the late Con- stantine Meunier will long be treasured by all those who saw the exhibition by the great Belgian sculptor; the new tendencies in art, Cubism, Futurism. Post Impressionism, etc., were seen in Detroit for the first time; and the original works of Leon Bakst, the great Russian artist, which will be shown during the month of May, is equally promising in the fertility of its revela- tions.

There were other good exhibitions, a total of eighteen of them. They all carried a degree of excellence to make them worth while. They would pass a jury on their merits. The rest of them are not remembered because they were sprinkled in with the best to be had.

Quality is comparative ; it is meas- ured by the standards of competition. Some of the exhibitions lost their im- portance when hung alongside of those whose message was of a higher plane. The attendance and interest show that

the people of Detroit want the best, and the effectiveness of the great exhibi- tions should not be impaired by a shower of shows of passable merit, which disappoint those who know, and mislead those who do not.

* * *

To take the public into our confi- dence: The Meunier exhibition of sculpture cost Detroit upwards of $800. It was arranged for but six cities in the United States, and Detroit was men- tioned in the "Outlook," "Review of Reviews," "Current Literature," "The International Studio," "Arts and Pro- gress," "Harper's" and other magazines of national repute, along with New York, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Chicago and St. Louis.

The people came again and again and

This content downloaded from 193.104.110.40 on Thu, 15 May 2014 12:52:33 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

BULLETIN OF THE DETROIT MUSEUM OF ART 31

studied it seriously. The teachers with their classes, the art students with their drawing boards, and the masses from all walks of life, a total of 21,109 visitors during the month of March. A group of people, enthusiastic over

its wholesome influence, contributed a sum of money, twice as large as the cost of the exhibition, in order that two of the bronzes, "The Hammerman " and " The Shrimp Fisher on Horse- back " might remain as a part of the permanent collection, where they will be the heritage of every girl and boy, man or woman, of the City of Detroit. Was it worth while? In actual finan-

cial return the exhibition netted 100%, to say nothing of the educational bene- fits.

The results were also gratifying in the Spanish exhibition; the attend- ance was very large, the educational value great, and two of the paintings found permanent homes in Detroit, and the purchasers' interest in behalf of art is secured. There is also a probability that one of the best pictures in the col- lection, " The Baptism " by Manuel Benedito, will be obtained for the Mu- seum.

* * *

Let us set our ideals high and live up to them as nearly as may be. The standards of the new museum must be trained for here and now if they are to excel the standards of the past.

Let us spend our exhibition appropri- ation (which is all too small) for only the really great manifestations in art. Cheap exhibitions are usually the height of extravagance. Stand for quality, not numbers. Let the people of Detroit know that

when an exhibition is announced it is worth seeing.

Art must be judged solely on merit. One usually falls short of high ideals,

but it is well to aim high.

One thing is apparent in the work during the past winter, and that is the unity of effort for the betterment of art in Detroit. The Trustees, with an interest and unparalleled zeal, under the leadership of their indefatigable President, have tried to make the Mu- seum an influence in the lives of the people ; the local artists have very freely co-operated in numerous ways ; the women of Detroit have put their stamp of approval on the work being done by attending in large numbers ; the School of Design is rapidly finding its place in the actual training of hand and eye of the artistically inclined; the Common Council has performed a very worthy part in the work by furnishing a sufficient maintenance, so that all events held at the Museum are open to the public free ; the public press of De- troit has given wide publicity to all the features of importance; the musicians have given unsparingly of their time and talent in order to present the best of music to the people, the Detroit United Railway has disseminated a wider knowledge of the exhibitions than they have heretofore enjoyed, and last, but not least, the people of Detroit have contributed to the work by making use of the opportunities offered them in the lectures and special exhibitions. Never before has the attendance been so great.

* * *

PERMANENT COLLECTION. Have you seen how well our perma-

nent collection looks with the new lights and a little more spacing? Only one im- provement could be made and that is the addition of other pictures of the same high character.

There ought to be individuals who will make contributions of good ex- amples of paintings by artists who are not already represented in our perma- nent collection.

If anyone has in mind the gift of a

This content downloaded from 193.104.110.40 on Thu, 15 May 2014 12:52:33 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

32 BULLETIN OF THE DETROIT MUSEUM OF ART

"THE SILVER URN" By Lilia Cabot Perry

painting to the Museum, the Trustees will be glad to consult with them as to the lines of endeavor the Museum par- ticularly aims to further, and they will provide expert aid in making a selec- tion, if desired.

There are a number of American painters who have reached the zenith of their power, who are not represented in our Museum. Among the living painters we especially desire are :

John W. Alexander, Myron Barlow, Frank W. Benson, Paul Dougherty, Frederick C Frieseke, Charles W. Hawthorne, Richard E. Miller, John S. Sargent, Edmund C. Tarbell, Horatio Walker. A larger list could be given, but let

This content downloaded from 193.104.110.40 on Thu, 15 May 2014 12:52:33 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

BULLETIN OF THE DETROIT MUSEUM OF ART 33

us concentrate our attention on ten. The deceased American painters we

would like represented, but which are more difficult to obtain owing to the scarcity of desirable works and the stress of prices, are:

George Fuller, Winslow Homer, George Inness, Homer Martin, James McNeill Whistler, A. H. Wyant.

There are others, but let us concen- trate on these six. Any one of the above would be grate-

fully received. Anyone who purchases at $1,000 or

more, a painting by any of the above named artists, for the permanent collec- tion of the Museum, will become a Mem- ber of the Corporation, or as it were, a Life Member of the Detroit Museum of Art.

EXHIBITIONS REVIEWED WALTER GAY.

From February 1st to 15th, paintings by Walter Gay were shown.

There were forty pictures in the col- lection, mostly interiors of the fine old mansions and palaces of Europe, both in oil and water color.

The still life objects in the Gay pic- tures are used as a vehicle for the ren- dering of a wonderful display of light and color. His interiors are very beau- tiful and always synthetical. It is not the desire of the artist merely to paint individual objects before him, but to paint these things seen under beautiful light effects. In doing so, Walter Gay

carries into his work the modern palette of the impressionist and, as a result, the forty pictures in the exhibition are filled with a charm and an interest sel- dom seen in pictures of this character.

GERMAN POSTERS. How much of art the Germans put

into so commercial a thing as a poster ! During February, an exhibition of

German posters, consisting of fifty sheets, were shown in the main gallery and they attracted a great deal of at- tention.

The art problem in posters is quite different from that in other fields. The

"TWO GIRLS " By Gertrude Fiske

This content downloaded from 193.104.110.40 on Thu, 15 May 2014 12:52:33 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions