The number of architectural federations in the country has doubled, since 1907, from two to four, and there are 31 professional schools of architecture, most of them connected with universities, the number of pupils enrolled being given as 3,043. An estimate of the annual expenditures for art education in the United States, compiled by Henry Turner Bailey in 1908, is given in this volume as a total of $11,565,241, "divided between the Federal Government, the States, the municipalities, and private sources. The Federal Government, however, makes no direct appropriation for art instruction, the item of $95,000 used for instruction in drawing in the public schools of the District of Columbia, the Military Academy at West Point, and the Naval Academy being included in the general school funds.” Washington, D. C., and which is practically While the oft-proposed establishment of a national, official, art, with head-quarters at the national capital, is still probably, happily, far in the distant future, a commendable official body has been established by Congress, May 17, 1910, a "Commission of Fine Arts for the Federal Government." This commission, defined in the bill as "permanent," is composed of "seven well-qualified judges of the fine arts," appointed by the President and to serve four years each and until their successors are appointed and qualified; its general duties are to "advise generally upon questions of art when required to do so by the President, or by any committee of either House of Congress," and its special functions are to act as an art commission for the District of Columbia and advise upon the selection and location of statues, fountains, monuments, and other public works of art erected under the authority of the United States. "It shall be the duty of the officers charged by law to determine such questions in each case to call for such advice." An expenditure of not more than $10,000 a year was authorized for this purpose. The present members of the commission are Daniel H. Burnham, chairman; Francis D. Millet, vicechairman; Frederick Law Olmstead, Thomas Hastings, Daniel C. French, Cass Gilbert, and Charles Moore; Col. Spencer Cosby, secretary. As may be remembered, this commission, duly established by act of Congress, succeeded the short-lived one appointed by President Roose--for the first, over 351,000 in 1908, over 48,000 velt in the last days of his administration without such authority. Next in rank to this Federal commission comes probably the American Federation of Arts, the head-quarters of which are also in The largest and most important annual exhibitions of painting and sculpture are still those of Pittsburg, Philadelphia, Chicago, Buffalo, St. Louis, the National Academy of Design in New York, and the biennial exhibition of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Mr. Carnegie's great Institute in Pittsburg, which opened its first exhibition in November, 1896, still retains its pre-eminence, being the only one international in scope. The reports of its annual exhibition show a curious fluctuation in the attendance and the number of catalogues sold in 1909, and over 101,000 in 1910; and for the second, for the same period, over 11,000, over 3,000, and over 5,000 respectively. The number of acquisitions to the museum and galleries has, however, increased from 5,993 in 1908 and 6,435 in 1909 to 14,591 in 1910. One feature of the Institute's educational activities has been that introduction into the public schools of works of art and reproductions which, in connection with the decoration of the buildings, originated in France and Germany some thirty years ago-in this case, of large photographs representing the Institute's permanent collection of paintings, the number being increased each year. Buffalo dates the origin of its art academy from the first exhibition held in 1861, and since July 1, 1909, it has been enjoying an annual appropriation from the city toward the maintenance of its exhibitions in the Albright Art Gallery. The total attendance for 1909, the latest given, was 113,676, with twenty-two exhibitions and six lectures on art. The late director, Mr. Charles M. Kurtz, has been succeeded by his assistant, Miss Cornelia B. Sage. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, dating from 1805, estimates the value of its permanent collections of paintings as, probably, $2,000,000; the attendance during 1909 was 182,228; and its schools are among the first in the country. The Boston Museum of the Fine Arts formally opened its new building with a reception on November 9, 1909, the school of the museum being located in a separate building. The structural separation of the main building into depart ments representing peoples instead of arts has modified the historical arrangement, the result being "that objects in any one room, often most different in the materials employed, are essentially homogeneous from the point of view of art." It is admitted that this course would probably not be possible for art museums with very large collections. Another feature, introduced by the museum in 1907, has been followed with some variations elsewhere, as in the Metropolitan Museum of New York-the providing of a guide who will explain to the visitors such portions of the collections as they may wish. In the Boston Museum this guide is an officer of the institution, known as the docent, and his instruction is furnished gratuitously, upon previous application. Aiming to supplement the numerous local art institutions scattered throughout the country with a wider view and a more general jurisdiction, the National Institute of Arts and Letters was organized in 1898 with a view to the advancement of art, music, and literature. The officers are John W. Alexander, president; Samuel Isham, treasurer; Jesse Lynch Williams, secretary, and a distinguished list of vicepresidents; the membership is limited to 250, and in the Department of Art there are 79 members. A gold medal is awarded every year in the various sections of artistic, literary and musical activity; that of 1909 was given to the work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and presented to Mrs. Saint-Gaudens on November 20 of that year at a meeting held in the American Fine Arts Building, New York. The medal for 1910 was presented in December of that year to James Ford Rhodes, historian. By a resolution adopted April 23, 1904, a section of the institute to be known as the Academy of Arts and Letters was created, the membership at first limited to thirty, with power to elect its own officers and prescribe its own rules. Public meetings of the institute and the academy were held in Washington in December, 1909, and in New York in December, 1910. The practical tendencies of this general recognition of the necessity of a finer culture in our daily affairs cannot be better illustrated than by the movement in some of the Western communities to include it in the tax list. The State Legislature of Missouri passed an act to give all cities in the State with a population of over 100,000 the right to submit the question of an art tax at any general election held in the city, and the city of St. Louis accordingly voted, by a large majority, that such tax be levied on the assessed valuation of the property of the city to the extent of one-fifth of a mill per dollar. At present this brings to the support of the City Art Museum about $120,000 a year, with a prospect of further and constant increase. St. Louis claims the credit of being the first city to establish a municipal art gallery. In Indianapolis an agreement was reached in 1908 between the art association of the city and the public schools whereby the board of school commissioners pays to the association a sum equal to one-half cent on each hundred dollars of the city's taxables, the association in return admitting free to its museum the teachers and pupils of the schools, providing weekly illustrated lectures, free instruction in design, etc. The sum thus advanced amounted in 1910 to $8,953. The American Academy in Rome for painters, sculptors, and architects, dating from 1897, awards its Prix de Rome to students from the various art schools throughout the country and the privileges of the academy in Rome to the holders of the Rinehart and Lazarus Scholarships, the first for sculptors and the second for painters. At this date the total number of students it has received is 43 architects, 10 painters, and 8 sculptors, whose terms in the academy have ranged from one to three years;. the sculptors of the Rinehart Scholarship take the term for four years. For the competitions for this prize for 1911, 65 architects have entered, 22 painters, and 6 sculptors. In New York city, a well-organized movement has at length been set on foot "for the erection of a building for the exhibition of all the Arts of Design," and for the use of the ten art societies which have been invited to join, and "for such others as they may hereafter invite." These ten are the National Academy of Design, the two Water Color Societies, the New York Chapter American Institute of Architects, the Architectural League, the National Sculpture Society, the Municipal Art Society, that of the BeauxArts Architects, that of the Mural Painters and that of the Illustrators. The National Academy, which has taken the lead in this movement and gives its name to the proposed association, being entitled to a strong representation on the board of directors, undertakes to set apart on its books, on completion of the building, the sum of $200,000 as a Maintenance Endowment Fund, the interest of which shall be applied toward defraying the annual running expenses of the building. Ample provision is to be made for spacious galleries, lecture-rooms, offices, etc., and in the coming autumn it is planned to invite the co-operation of the general public and push the movement vigorously. The list below is given only as a partial one of the more representative examples of these institutions. 4. Fine Arts Federation, New York. The council consists of representatives and alternates chosen by the thirteen art societies of the city. 5. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. 6. Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, Brooklyn, N. Y. Founded in 1824; reincorporated in 1890. 7. Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y. 8. Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, Ill. The Hutchinson Gallery of Old Masters and the Munger Gallery opened with a reception October 22, 1908; new galleries of the east wing opened October 19, 3, 1909. Opened to the public in 1842; said to be the first building erected in the United States devoted entirely to the purposes of art. The Morgan Memorial Art Annex, founded by J. Pierpont Morgan in honor of his father, was dedicated January 19, 1910. 18. Wadsworth Athenæum, Hartford, Conn. 19. Yale School of Fine Arts, New Haven, Conn. Founded in 1864; the art museum includes the JarInstitute of Art, San Francisco, Cal. Art Museum, Cincinnati, O. ves and Trumbull collections. 20. 21. 22. City Art Museum, St. Louis, Mo. A city ordinance approved February 23, 1909, established a public muscum of fine arts to be located in the building erected by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company in Forest Park, and presented to the city at the close of the exposition. 23. John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, Ind. 24. Museum, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R. I. 25. Municipal Art Gallery, Chicago, Ill. Established in 1902 to contain works by Chicago artists. 26. Art Association, Museum, New Orleans, La. 27. Washington State Art Association, Seattle, Wash. Incorporated in March, 1906, "for the purpose of erecting and maintaining an art gallery and museum and establishing an art school.' 28. Gibbes Memorial Art Gallery, Carolina Art Association, Charleston, S. C. 29. 30. Telfair Academy, Savannah, Ga. Fort Worth Art Association, Fort Worth, Tex. Organized February 13, 1910, to take over the management of the Fort Worth Museum of Art. 31. State Art Commission of Illinois. Created by the act of the General Assembly, June 4, 1909. La. Sum of $150,000 given by the donor in 1910. 32. Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans, Building now in process of erection. paul, Minn. Modelled on the plan of the Brook33. St. Paul Institute of Arts and Sciences, St. lyn Institute; incorporated April 28, 1908. 34. State Art Society, the Capitol, St. Paul, Minn. 35. Art Society and Museum, Minneapolis, Minn. Founded in January, 1910. 36. Detroit Museum of Art, Detroit, Mich. Two blocks purchased in centre of city in 1910 for the erection of a new museum. 37. Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, O. New art gallery now being erected. 38. Portland Society of Art, Portland, Me. Museum building now being erected. 39. Art Association, Art Gallery, Portland, Ore. Reorganized 1909-10. 40. Art Association, University of Kansas, Art Gallery, Lawrence, Kan. 41. Art Association, Travelling Exhibitions, Richmond, Ind. 42. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, O. Plans have been drawn for an art gallery to be erected in Wade Park at a cost of about $1,000,000, 43. State Art Society, Utah. Founded in 1898; the first of its kind. Annual exhibitions held in different parts of the State. Provision has bee made for the erection of an art gallery in the new Capitol, where all the paintings purchased by the State will be gathered. WILLIAM WALTON. |