VASSAR BROTHERS INSTITUTE. 29 



APRIL 1, 1884— NINETEENTH REGULAR MEETING. 



J. Elmendorf, D.D., president, in the chair ; twenty 

 seven members and four hundred fifty guests present. 



Rev. H. L. Ziegenfuss gave an address, (with lantern 

 illustrations), on ''Colorado: considered geographically, 

 geologically, and industrially." 



THE OBJECTS AND DUTIES OF THE ART SECTION. 



BY PROF. HENRY VAN INGEN, CHAIRMAN. 



Every work of art should possess two qualities : — 



1st. Beauty in the selection of the subject and in the 

 objects which represent the subject ; and, 



2d. Beauty in the execution of the objects. 



The distinctions between the different schools of art, 

 from the earliest times, have been founded on the pre- 

 dominance of either one or the other of these two quali- 

 ties. What else was the meaning of the criticism made 

 by Quintilian on the Discobolus by Myron, when he 

 said: "What can be worse in form or more painful to 

 the eye than this quoit-player. If, however, any person 

 should undertake to censure it as being unnatural, he 

 would only shoAv his ignorance by blaming that which 

 gives the peculiar value to this work." 



In regard to this criticism, I would say, that the gen- 

 eral idea which we have of man represents his figure to 

 us in an erect position, and that the nearer we remain in 

 our statue or painting to this, the easier it will be to 

 represent one of its essential beauties. The farther we 

 depart from this vertical line the less dignity our work 

 will possess. 



Myron's statue dates back to four hundred fifty years 

 before our era, when the general style of art aimed not 

 at close imitation, but at grandeur of form. 



The first quality of which I spoke, rei>resents the aim 

 of art, the second the means. 



