Artist and Public

Artist and Public

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Artist and Public, by Kenyon Cox This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Artist and Public And Other Essays On Art Subjects
Author: Kenyon Cox
Release Date: September 5, 2005 [EBook #16655]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARTIST AND PUBLIC ***

Produced by Ted Garvin, Melissa Er-Raqabi and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.

ARTIST AND PUBLIC
AND OTHER ESSAYS ON ART SUBJECTS
BY KENYON COX

[Illustration: From a photograph by Braun, Clement & Co. Plate 1.--Millet. "The Goose Girl." In the collection of Mme. Saulnier, Bordeaux.]

ARTIST AND PUBLIC
AND OTHER ESSAYS ON ART SUBJECTS
BY KENYON COX
_WITH THIRTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS_

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS NEW YORK MCMXIV

_Copyright, 1914, by Charles Scribner's Sons Published September, 1914_

TO
J.D.C.
IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF UNFAILING KINDNESS THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED

PREFACE
In "The Classic Point of View," published three years ago, I endeavored to give a clear and definitive statement of the principles on which all my criticism of art is based. The papers here gathered together, whether earlier or later than that volume, may be considered as the more detailed application of those principles to particular artists, to whole schools and epochs, even, in one case, to the entire history of the arts. The essay on Raphael, for instance, is little else than an illustration of the chapter on "Design"; that on Millet illustrates the three chapters on "The Subject in Art," on "Design," and on "Drawing"; while "Two Ways of Painting" contrasts, in specific instances, the classic with the modern point of view.
But there is another thread connecting these essays, for all of them will be found to have some bearing, more or less direct, upon the subject of the title essay. "The Illusion of Progress" elaborates a point more slightly touched upon in "Artist and Public"; the careers of Raphael and Millet are capital instances of the happy productiveness of an artist in sympathy with his public or of the difficulties, nobly conquered in this case, of an artist without public appreciation; the greatest merit attributed to "The American School" is an abstention from the extravagances of those who would make incomprehensibility a test of greatness. Finally, the work of Saint-Gaudens is a noble example of art fulfilling its social function in expressing and in elevating the ideals of its time and country.
This last essay stands, in some respects, upon a different footing from the others. It deals with the work and the character of a man I knew and loved, it was originally written almost immediately after his death, and it is therefore colored, to some extent, by personal emotion. I have revised it, rearranged it, and added to it, and I trust that this coloring may be found to warm, without falsifying, the picture.
The essay on "The Illusion of Progress" was first printed in "The Century," that on Saint-Gaudens in "The Atlantic Monthly." The others originally appeared in "Scribner's Magazine."
KENYON COX.
Calder House, Croton-on-Hudson, June 6, 1914.

CONTENTS
ESSAY PAGE
I. ARTIST AND PUBLIC 1 II. JEAN FRAN?OIS MILLET 44 III. THE ILLUSION OF PROGRESS 77 IV. RAPHAEL 99 V. TWO WAYS OF PAINTING 134 VI. THE AMERICAN SCHOOL 149 VII. AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS 169

ILLUSTRATIONS
MILLET: 1. "The Goose Girl," _Saulnier Collection, Bordeaux_ Frontispiece FACING PAGE 2. "The Sower," _Vanderbilt Collection, Metropolitan Museum, New York_ 46 3. "The Gleaners," The Louvre 50 4. "The Spaders" 54 5. "The Potato Planter," Shaw Collection 58 6. "The Grafter," William Rockefeller Collection 62 7. "The New-Born Calf," _Art Institute, Chicago_ 66 8. "The First Steps," 70 9. "The Shepherdess," _Chauchard Collection, Louvre_ 72 10. "Spring," The Louvre 74
RAPHAEL: 11. "Poetry," The Vatican 112 12. "The Judgment of Solomon," The Vatican 114 13. The "Disputa," The Vatican 116 14. "The School of Athens," The Vatican 118 15. "Parnassus," The Vatican 120 16. "Jurisprudence," The Vatican 122 17. "The Mass of Bolsena," The Vatican 124 18. "The Deliverance of Peter," The Vatican 126 19. "The Sibyls," _Santa Maria della Pace, Rome_ 128 20. "Portrait of Tommaso Inghirami," Gardner Collection 130
JOHN S. SARGENT: 21. "The Hermit," _Metropolitan Museum, New York_ 136
TITIAN: 22. "Saint Jerome in the Desert," _Brera Gallery, Milan_ 142
SAINT-GAUDENS: 23. "Plaquette Commemorating Cornish Masque" 182 24. "Amor Caritas" 196 25. "The Butler Children" 206 26. "Sarah Redwood Lee" 208 27. "Farragut," _Madison Square, New York_ 212 28. "Lincoln," _Chicago, Ill._ 214 29. "Deacon Chapin," _Springfield, Mass._ 216 30. "Adams Memorial," _Washington, D.C._ 218 31. "Shaw Memorial," _Boston, Mass._ 220 32. "Sherman," _The Plaza, Central Park, New York_ 224

ARTIST AND PUBLIC

I
ARTIST AND PUBLIC
In the history of art, as in the history of politics and in the history of economics, our modern epoch is marked off