AMERICAN  P  RE  FACE.

xxxviii
NO  HISTORIC  ANTAGONISM  BETWEEN  FINE  ART  AND  INDUSTRIAL  ART.
No  broad  and  clear-cut  distinction  can  be  made  between  fine
art,  and  art  as  applied  to  industry,  such  as  will  enable  one  to  say,
all  upon  this  side  belongs  to  fine  art,  all  upon  that  to  industrial
art.  It  is  true  that  in  certain'  particulars  they  difler  decidedly;
but  in  others  they  as  decidedly  agree.  It  is  witli  them  as  with
poetry  and  prose,  with  speaking  and  singing,  with  pure  geometry
and  geometry  as  applied  to  mechanics.  It  is  no  degradation  of
art,  as  the  same  thing  is  no  degradation  of  geometry,  to  make  it
subserve  the  cause  of  industry  ;  that  is  only  making  art  perform  a
portion  of  its  legitimate  work.  History  shows  that  the  periods
which  have  been  especially  distinguished  for  achievements  in  fine
art  have  also  been  especially  distinguished  for  applications  of  art
to  industry.  Recent  times  furnish  an  illustration  of  this  fact  in
the  case  of  France.  Of  her  art  it  may  be  most  emphatically  said,
that  it  rests  upon  an  industrial  basis  ;  yet  where  has  fine  art  flourislied
  better  during  the  last  hundred  years  ?  Again,  many  of
those  familiär  with  the  individual  lives  of  the  great  masters  know
that  many  of  them  began  their  studies  and  their  work  with  art
applied  to  manufactures.  From  this  industrial  basis  they  advanced
  to  painting  and  statuary,  to  the  representation  of  intelligence,
  of  spirit,  of  beauty  in  its  highest  form.  Nor  did  the  great
artists  of  former  ages  tliink  it  beneath  their  dignity,  unworthy
their  powers,  to  devote  a  part  of  their  time,  even  in  the  height  of
their  renown,  to  making  designs  for  industrial  purposes.  They  were
in  sympathy  with  the  working  world  around  them.  These  historical
facts  are  enough  in  themselves  to  show  that  there  is  no  antagonism
between  fine  art,  and  art  applied  to  industry.  A  rational  consideration
  of  the  matter,  showing  that  the  two  have  many  teachable
things  in  common,  only  confirms  the  verdict  of  history.
ART  NOT  A  MERE  MATTER  OF  FEELING,  BUT  TEACHABLE.
Every  teachable  thing  must  have  an  indisputable  basis  of  fact
and  reason.  It  is  utterly  vain  to  attempt  to  formulate  and  teach
what  is  a  mere  matter  of  vague,  undefinable  feeling;  for  when  the
best  has  been  done  there  is  always  need  to  “  explain  the  explanation.”
  Ilence  it  is  that  those  who  regard  art  mainly  or  wholly  as