Adventures in the Arts: Informal Chapters on Painters, Vaudeville, and PoetsHartley, Marsden
History
Adventures in the Arts: Informal Chapters on Painters, Vaudeville, and Poets
Hartley, Marsden
Art; Literature, Modern -- History and criticism; Vaudeville
The artist and the poet of perception come forward with heartiest
approval and it is the supplication of the poet and the artist which
the redman needs most of all. Science looks upon him as a phenomenon;
esthetics looks upon him as a giant of masterful expression in our
midst. The redman is poet and artist of the very first order among the
geniuses of time. We have nothing more native at our disposal than the
beautiful creations of this people. It is singular enough that the as
yet remote black man contributes the only native representation of
rhythm and melody we possess. As an intelligent race, we are not even
sure we want to welcome him as completely as we might, if his color
were just a shade warmer, a shade nearer our own. We have no qualms
about yellow and white and the oriental intermediate hues. We may
therefore accept the redman without any of the prejudices peculiar to
other types of skin, and we may accept his contribution to our culture
as a most significant and important one. We haven't even begun to make
use of the beautiful hints in music alone which he has given to us. We
need, and abjectly so I may say, an esthetic concept of our own. Other
nations of the world have long since accepted Congo originality. The
world has yet to learn of the originality of the redman, and we who
have him as our guest, knowing little or nothing of his powers and the
beauty he confers on us by his remarkable esthetic propensities,
should be the first to welcome and to foster him. It is not enough to
admit of archaeological curiosity. We need to admit, and speedily, the
rare and excellent esthetics in our midst, a part of our own intimate
scene. The redman is a spiritual expresser of very vital issues. If
his pottery and his blankets offer the majority but little, his
ceremonials do contribute to the comparative few who can perceive a
spectacle we shall not see the equal of in history again. It would
help at least a little toward proving to the world around us that we
are not so young a country as we might seem, nor yet as diffident as
our national attitude would seem to indicate. The smile alone of the
redman is the light of our rivers, plains, canyons, and mountains. He
has the calm of all our native earth. It is from the earth all things
arise. It is our geography that makes us Americans of the present,
children. We are the product of a day. The redman is the product of
withered ages. He has written and is still writing a very impressive
autograph on the waste places of history. It would seem to me to be a
sign of modernism in us to preserve the living esthetic splendors in
our midst. Every other nation has preserved its inheritances. We need
likewise to do the same. It is not enough to put the redman as a
specimen under glass along with the auk and the dinosaur. He is still
alive and longing to live. We have lost the buffalo and the beaver and
we are losing the redman, also, and all these are fine symbols of our
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account