The East River 
From a Painting by Samuel Halpert 
Ten Years of American Art 
By Elizabeth Luther Cary 
Eighth Iisr a Series of Articles ok Americak Tekdekcies. 
There is reason for courage. In the past decade, from which 
more than four years must be subtracted in summarizing the progress 
of art, an essential change has taken place in the attitude of the Amer¬ 
ican mind. Even so short a time as ten years ago, art to the general 
public was something more or less remote from daily working life. It 
was still on its little pedestal or model stand in the pose of the “shy 
goddess” of Whistler’s invocation, to be worshipped only in exalted 
moments. 
Now the goddess has stepped down at the insistent invitation of 
a public which is indulging its accumulated desire for art. Art enters 
into the houses of all classes, into the theatres, into schools; the city 
recognizes it as a factor in the administration, and the country about 
the city encourages it. This expanding desire is significant of the 
tendency of the times toward inter-relations and what is called in the 
