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Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
The
Mrs. Whitney'
Latest Photograph,
Which Denotes
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Tastes Expressed
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The Curious Painting by Mr. Evan T. Walters That Won a Prize from Mrs. Whitney as an
Inspired Representation of "Immigration's SouL" -
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tThe Croup by Benjamin Bufano, of New York. That Won First Prize at Mrs Whitney' First Exhibition as the Oest
Representation of "The Soul of the Immigrant."
Sculptress Erjcplains Her Effort to Materialize
Immigration's Spirit in Art and Why Such
Odd Ideas of It Win Her Pri&es
MRS. HARRY PAYNE WHITNEY Is set-king
the soul of the Immigrant
Mrs. Whitney le Cornelius Vanfler
btlt's fatortte child, her claim to her father's
pedal regard lying In her talent, her earneet
nen and her large social consciousness. Not
content with the life of society to -Mesne
was born, she tossed away the golden
spoon and opened a studio at No. 8 West
i . " street, where, close to Washing
ton Square, that has the homes of Knicker
bockers on the north and east, and Is bounded
by New York's Latin Quarter on west and
south, she pursued the art of sculpture.
She has become deeply Interested In the
problem of the Immigrant How, after he has
come to this country, he shall be assimilated
Into the national life to Us betterment and
bis own, she regards as one of the most Titsl
questions to-day before the American people.
Seeking a solution of it she asked artists to
compete for 11,100 In prizes she offered for
the best sculpture, painting and posters on
the subject of the Immigrant's relation to
America; or, as she puts It the soul of Im
migration. ,
She opened her studio for the purpose m
there more than one hundred works on "The
Immigrant In America" are being displayed.
Two of the Interesting conceptions wnlci
have been awarded prizes by Mrs. WhUney
as most nearly approaching her ideal are shown
B"The reason for th exhibition and com
petition is this" said Mrs. Whitney before
her recent departure for California: We
wanted to do what all our wise books on inv
migration and all our commission lnTestlga
tlons and lengthy discussions In Congres
have never done show the average Amerlcan
that he has too long lost sight of the Immi
grant as a vast human asset. He is a tre
mendous factor In the spiritual destiny of this)
country. . .
"We wanted foreign-born and native-bora
artists alike to bring their creative Insight ta
the theme. I asked the artists to teach us by
pictures the relation of the Immigrant to
America, and America to the immigrant I
believed that they wonld help us to reach a
better understanding of the meaning of the
immigrant to America and of America to
the Immigrant
"Look at the exhibit Bee how the artists
of America, native or foreign-bom, answer
the questions. Do you think they, in their
answers, show a deeper comprehension than
that of the average thoughtless American on
these points? Do they photogrsph for us the
soul of the immigrant in America? Have
they discovered or rediscovered it for us?
"Some of them have and some have not
Of the art in the work I need not speak. It
is the idea rather than its expression that
interests me.
"In other words I wanted to evoke in art
, a powerful, concrete, convincing materialisa
tion of the soul of the Immigrant. By doing
so we could recall America's attention V the
fact that immigrants have souls and that there
Is a soul of immigration. This lesson once
forcefully brought to America's attention, the
lot of the Immigrant would, conceivably, be
xnucn nappler.
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"There are many pictures that bear a strik
ing family resemblance, due to the presence
of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the
New, York city skyline. The pictures show
the promised land, the dumb gratitude and
inarticulate hope of the immigrant. That to
some artists, as to many thoughtless cillsens,
is elL According to them, the drama of It
the fulfillment, are In the arrival. The view
is as naive as that of the Immigrant himself.
Only let down the gangplank. Peace, liberty,
opportunity, prosperity will begin with the
first footfall on shore and will continue with
out interruption, they think.
"Others of the artists have shown deeper
vision. They all have aspiration. The hope
of fulfillment is always there, but the vision
Is chastened by struggle.
"The first prise wss won by a young Italian.
He has shown the soul of the immigrant In a
sculptured group. He shows a number of lm
migrants at the threshold of our country. A
child is struggling to raise a cross. Persona
admiring the work have said: That cross is
the emblem of religious liberty.' I think not.
It Is rather the old-world burden of care and
poverty borne along In the new! In front
of the figure of hope, on the base slab, is the
attitude of many immigrants toward America.
'We came unto our own and our own received
us not'
"The heaviness, the animal heaviness of their
faces, has been commented upon.
" 'It this typifies the Immigrant's soul.' said
one of my friends. We'd be better without that
aouL" I pointed to the spark shining In the
ciod. It is that spsrk that it is our duty
to fan into God-like beauty. It can be dsne.
It is our mission.
"1 believe that this exhibit will make a
way for greater exhibits to come. I should
like to see the artists teaoh the lesson of the
Immigrant's true relation to the United States
In every large city In this country by means
of such exhibits. They will, I hope, teach us
' more about the Immigrant In America. They
will cause us to better value the spiritual
forces represented by the dsrk eyes and clear
cut pointed chins of the faces we see on the
East Side.
"The artists by these pictures will hint to
ns how to invite, and to use more fully, the
spiritual forces and capacities we now Ignore
la the immigrant on our shores. And the
more they think upon the theme the more
often will the soul of the immigrant be pres
ent in their works."
"Mrs. Whitney was well pleassd with the
exhibit as a beginning," said one of those la
whose care she left Its conduct "But she
tiopes that artists, and cltlsens, too, will grasp
the big part the Immigrant plays In American
Industry. We know the brawn and muscle of
individuals well enough, but we don't know
the collective strength of the possible cltl
sens. "But the big mine owners, and subway con
tractors, and barge canal builders know. The
average American does not know that the
railroad that carries him on bis Journeys, the
clothes he wears, the cigars he smokes, the
furniture be puts Into his house, are made
tor the most part by immigrants.
"Take iron and steel, that have been called
Reserved.
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the stratsgle industries of this country, for In
stance. The Federal Immigration Commission
found that 67.7 of the workmen were foreign
born, and that if yon add the workmen of
foreign born parentage, it will reach 71.7.
The large controlling percentage runs through
a long list of fundamental industries In bi
tuminous coal mining, 61.9 per cent are for
eign born. In sugar refineries, 85 per cent
were born on other than American soil.
"Mrs. Whitney was impressed by the lack
of knowledge on this point And she was
Impressed by the waste of undiscovered talent
among foreigners. For example, she and all
of us often speculated upon what becomes of
their artlstlo powers. They come to us with
vision trained for centuries in beauty of line
and color with the deft hands of races skilled
by the shaping of arch and temple or cathed
ral for thousands' of years. They feel the
beauty and nobility of outline as only those
feel them who have lived with them tor gen
erations. What becomes of those dormant
capacities T Does America give immigrants a
chance to use themt American doesn't seem
to realise that they exist
"Mrs. Whitney and aQ others Interested in
the exhibit want to see the soul of the Immi
grant recognised. America has seemed to ig
nore his soul and give consideration only to
Lis brawn and muscle. There is more than
hope of prosperity in his soul. There la as
piration for the beauty of life. We were lm
pressed by the recent impassioned declaration
of a young strike leader on the East Side:
"'What do we wantr she cried. 'We want
something beside the chance to work our Uvea
out to keep from dying. We want some of the
beauty of life. That la in the soul of every
Immigrant, no matter how brutish his aspect
how stolid his countenance.' "
"The brutlshness, the idiocy on th effaces of '
the winning sculpture group have been much
commented upon. It has bean severely criti
cised as being not at all representative of the
Immigrant It has been said that the immi
grant we want is the clear-eyed, alert Intelli
gent type. So we do. But what a greater
mission is ours to take these human clods,
trodden flat by centuries of Ignorance and op
pression, and make of them strong men
and women I That is the message 1 nthls
croup, and It was this that Mrs. Whitney felt
o powerfully.
"The painting by Evan T. Walters has also
aroused much comment naturally. But It has
a quality of inspiration that was felt to call
for reward. Here we see the immigrant's soul
rising out of the souls of his ancestors. It has
their ancestral faults and it haa their virtues.
What are we going to do with this soul?
"That is the great lesson Mrs. Whitney
wants to teach that the Immigrant has a
eoul; that there is a soul of Immigration just
as there Is a national soul to America, to Eng
land, to France to all races, if we can ma
terialize this soul in art In such a wsy as to
move men's hearts and make them ssy, This
Is truth,' then we will have put the Immigrant
on a different plane. We will have created
the right Interest to make us do our best to
get the best out of him tor our own deaf
country.'
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