Notes and Reviews 
T HE Art Commission of New York City, 
through the efforts of its president, Mr. 
John DeWitt Warner, is planning to form 
a municipal art library as a part of the Com¬ 
mission’s equipment. It will be, we believe, 
the first collection of such works ever made ; 
and if accomplished it is to be hoped that it 
will be held accessible to the public. Mr. 
Edward R. Smith, of the Avery Library, will 
visit Europe this summer for the purpose of 
obtaining a nucleus for the collection. A 
series of large and accurate maps he regards 
as one of the most desirable acquisitions. 
Works throwing light upon the develop¬ 
ment of the monumental cities of Europe 
are to be obtained ; and there is every pros¬ 
pect that Mr. Smith’s wide knowledge of 
architectural and engineering literature will 
bring to New York valuable possessions. 
In “ Modern Civic Art communal art 
is defined anew as the highest art. “ The 
City Made Beautiful ” are words which the 
author uses to imply the solution of esthetic 
municipal problems by an interchange of 
experience guided by leaders having recog¬ 
nized artistic judgment. This marks the 
transition from the mere improvement of 
cities to real civic art. The impulse to 
beautify is one thing; how to beautify is 
another. The present work is an answer to 
this question in so far as it concerns the de¬ 
sign of cities. The author, Mr. Charles 
Mulford Robinson, is a recognized spokes¬ 
man of this new impulse. His ability to 
speak upon the subject is largely due to his 
standing apart from the arenas of specific 
localities where, with eyes upon a vague 
ideal, philanthropists grapple with political 
administrations, or axe-grinders connive at 
private gain under the falsely borne colors of 
municipal art. The realizations of true civic 
art are all so dependent upon diverse causes, 
seen and unseen, that any general treatment 
of that progress the author assures us is 
being made must be done at long range, so 
long indeed that aerial flights are to be ex¬ 
pected and excused. But the purpose of the 
present work is not dissolved by its ab¬ 
stract generalizing. It calls together the 
1 “ Modern Civic Art, or The City Made Beautiful,” by Charles 
Mulford Robinson. 381 pp. octavo. New York and London, G. 
P. Putnam’s Sons, 1903. Price, $1.25 net. 
forces of the civic art movement by restate¬ 
ments telling and sometimes eloquent. This 
art, we are told, is “ municipal ” first of all. 
If men seek it they seek it not for art’s 
sake but for the city’s. Architects, sculp¬ 
tors and painters who urge it “ are not 
asking the town to help art but art to help 
the town.” Desired ends are treated spe¬ 
cifically and always from the starting point 
of utility. The water approach to the city 
is considered with reference to the imposing 
quays and bridges which dignify and individ¬ 
ualize European towns. The land approach 
deals with the position and design of railroad 
stations, the administrative center with the 
occupation of a dominant site. Under the 
heading of the street plan of the business 
district legal ways and means are suggested 
for changing or adding streets,—the first 
step in the art of transforming cities. But 
it is in this chapter that the so-called science 
of city-building assumes a fanciful phase. 
Principles are established by which a new 
city should be laid out. The entrance to 
the town and its important quarters, build¬ 
ings and foci are to be integrally connected. 
Excellent if these points exist, but as a matter 
of fact they do not, during the early years of a 
city at least. In the shifting changeful moods 
of American towns these bases are slow to be¬ 
come fixed. Such a frequent occurrence as 
the entrance of a new railroad may overthrow 
any architectural scheme in a night. The ef¬ 
forts of public-spirited societies at prodding 
less eager municipal authorities in Brussels, 
Berlin and New York are summarized in ref¬ 
erence to the furnishings of the street and its 
adornment. The chapter upon temporary and 
occasional decoration is full of suggestion for 
artistic achievement in the popular celebration 
of historic events. The detailed discussion 
upon particular monuments—familiar though 
many of them are—awakens the desire for 
illustrations; but the book contains none. In 
the discussion of the city plan, especially, dia¬ 
grams bringing out the author’s points would 
have been valuable. The -absence of these 
object lessons before the reader’s eyes robs the 
book of considerable force and definiteness. 
It is, however, a sane and earnest appeal for 
better things. It assembles familiar facts 
into a great force having almost infinite latent 
power. 
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