"Life without industry is guilt, and industry without art is brutality."-Ruskin.

CHAPTER II.

ART EDUCATION.

(From "Education in the Industrial and Fine Arts," published by U.S. Government.)

Can good taste be acquired ?—The laws of beauty-The science of art-criticism-Prof. Walter Smith and industrial drawing-To understand the " reasons why" in art-Need of Delsartean teachings in our public schools.

THE reasons why one object is agreeable and another repulsive must be innate in man's nature. Yet, though all the discoveries of science are based upon the assumed uniformity of nature, and all the operations of mental action proceed upon the recognition of the invariable sequence of cause and effect, mankind have allowed themselves, on this one subject, to ignore the teachings of experience, and in obedience to two or three musty proverbs, such, for instance, as "De gustibus non est disputandum," to be persuaded that there are no laws of beauty, and that, therefore, there can be no standard of correct taste set up; that throughout the whole realm of art the only guide is fashion, or individual caprice.

The conviction that there could be no such absurd contradiction in nature has led Mr. Ruskin, and other thoughtful investigators, to the endeavor to ascertain these underlying truths of art.

A great genius in Paris, nearly a century ago. set himself to serious study in search of the laws which underlie human expression. Years of pa tient research were rewarded by important dis coveries. The story of his life and his pursuit of truth is as interesting as is always that of the great discoverers in any of the realms of nature.

These discoveries were naturally first availed of in the dramatic art, and, perhaps, as naturally have therefore been thought to be thus limited in their appreciation. Soon, however, the painters of historical or dramatic incidents found their uses. It is at last now beginning to be recognized that, since all art is but expression, the laws that underlie expression must also underlie all art.

Here, then, there begins to be a practical outcome. If art is based on immutable laws like mathematics, the principles of correct taste can be demonstrated and therefore can be taught, and this the followers of Delsarte claim to do. It can be shown why one wall-paper is displeasing and another pleasing, just as an addition of figures can be shown to be correct or incorrect. The relations between forms and colors, or between

various articles, can be so clearly explained that the principles in accordance with which they must be combined in order to produce certain definite effects can be taught. The laws of harmony, which surely underlie all art, can be ascertained. Their importance and their uniform action can be shown. In accordance with these laws the coloring and furnishing of a dwelling, or a room, can be intelligently designed to produce certain effects, as confidently as an architect now draws his plans. The laws applicable to dress, to all decoration, the means of making the person and home attractive, can be taught, just as the correct use of language is now taught. What Walter Smith so well began in Boston can now, it is claimed, be supplemented and developed by the followers of Delsarte, the great discoverer of whom we have just spoken.

In New York, the artists, Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Russell, are busily promulgating the principles of Delsarte in a series of lectures largely illustrated by the beautiful fabrics and artistic handiwork of "The Associated Artists," and by examples of wall-papers, ceramics, and other products of the industrial arts, showing, in each instance, why this is pleasing and that displeasing, how one combination is in harmony while another produces violent discord. So far as possible these illustrations are by means of American works, the rapid increase of art qualities in which is de

clared by these experts to be most notable. In attending these lectures a new sense of the “ common bond which unites the arts," long since remarked by Cicero, is impressed on the hearer.

The simplicity and beauty of the discoveries made by Delsarte, and the facility of the applica.. tion of these principles to all the varied, seemingly contradictory, phases of art, make their exposition by one who embodies and illustrates the principles set forth most attractive.

That these principles should be taught in all normal schools, should be familiar to all publicschool teachers, and should be an indispensable part of all education, will surely need no argument to those who believe in the introduction of elementary industrial art drawing in all public schools.

That an element of education which will directly teach the child how to make a house attractive is an important element, needs no argument.

The laws that underlie all language, whether the language of speech or of gesture, are surely of importance in any schemes of literary education, while their importance in the language of art is assumed.

Those who recall the eloquence, enthusiasm, and mastery of his subject shown by Walter Smith, when urging before an audience the claims upon educators of elementary instruction in in

dustrial art drawing, will gladly recognize similar qualities, while listening to the musical periods and watching the graceful gestures of the disciple of Delsarte. These two enthusiasts have this in common, that they take captive their audience and compel conviction.

In this application to the industrial and decorative, as well as to the fine arts, of the principles discovered by Delsarte, a positive addition is made to educational facilities for art development. It is easy to see that by a general dissemination of the practical knowledge of these laws of related harmonies, with, at the same time, the teaching of industrial art drawing in all public schools, a wonderful impetus would be given to the art knowledge, and consequently to the artistic productions of the community. By making use of this new educational influence, such a widespread diffusion of correct art knowledge can be secured as has been heretofore unattainable. To develop in the community at large a knowledge of the principles on which a correct taste in art matters is based, would be to lay broad and deep the foundations of artistic development.

This knowledge is applicable to every stage of art development and is as readily adapted to practical uses as it is satisfactory in theory. The claim that the laws of related harmonies can be definitely taught and readily comprehended, and that the reason why one thing is artistically beau