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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1961)
o c0 o o, o MEDFOHD MAIL TWBMMB. ABDFOtft, WiHM9P fcDHD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFOBD, ORE, 6 A THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 19t THE SHAPE OF THINGS o nnn :a;?yf1'A .;:--7L Garl Spitzweg Will Be Re-Discovered Someday 'By RICHARD HIRSCH Director Allentown Art Museum Carl Spitzweg is a forgot ten name. . This la an injustice. Some where in the halls of Western art he deservies a small niche. Some day he will be "re discovered." Then, It may be hoped, a place will be finally found In the scheme of things for a proper understanding of one of the more engaging small German masters of the last century. In our times, however, ev erything about Spitzweg des ignates him as an ideal candi date for total oblivion. He told stories. That is most un fashionable. He built his land scapes, his street scenes and his Interiors like stage sets. We don't like that. Worse still, his people are very hu- man. They are characters, both in the dramatic and the 1 nn ITtnclUr ae the ultimate title to our care ful neglect, Spitzweg painted with warm and affectionate humor. This we hold, is just not done. Encourages Neglect As things stand in the arts of our time, clearly, he has everything to encourage our most total neglect. Regardless of fashion, how ever, "old man Spitzweg," as he was known even in his middle years in Munich, will live on. His lively charm will Insure this in spite of fads and faddish art creeds. ' Who Is he? The son of a comfortable small Bavarian merchant, trained to be an apothecary, who discovered his talent in his young man hood - or rather had it dis covered for him by people who watched him doodle after hours. After travelling in It aly and to Paris, Spitzweg painted happily, abundantly and well from then on, right up to his quiet death in 1885. No Pretensions. He never had any preten sions of being a "great" paint er. He apparently was not even concerned with being a fashionable painter. He was content to know that, during his lifetime, his work was loved lust as he loved It, smilingly. He sold well.' In our times this would mean that, automatically, the works of his later years would have sold for ever higher and high er prices. Not so with Spitz- wag If someone walked into his antiquated little studio in the older neighborhood of his native Munich and clearly fell in love with some cunvns lying on the floor or against the wall, he could be sure to walk away with it. Perhaps the visitor could not afford to pay for the painting. Then Spitzweg would let the proud possessor buy him a sandwich or a stein of beer, thus happily complet ing the transaction. Never Exhibited Spitzweg never exhibited in the official "salons," his absence neither dictated by false humility nor reflecting excessive pride. His business, he felt, was painting, not the pursuit of fame. Besides there were always people standing In line to buy. In spite of this he painted, usually, quite unhurriedly. And what did Spitzweg paint? People. But people seen in a very special way, people who were part of their surroundings, at home in tnem and yet, somehow, dominated by them. For one thing, his people (except in Interior scenes) arc always small in proportion to the canvas. There are usually few of them and, whether it be a Bavarian street, lined with quaint houses mellowed by age, winding back into shadow, or a mountainside rising towards the sun, these people are usually dwarfed by their surroundings. Not Oppressed They are not, however, op pressed by the stage sets in which Spitzweg makes us look at them. These settings usual ly suggest height, the height of medieval watch - towers, church steeples or, again, mountain and forest. B u t though they rise in moonlight or Apline sun, somehow Spitz weg manages to make these settings as comfortable for his little people as an old shoe and as pleasing to us as a fa miliar family scat. Obviously, a 1 1 of this is quite horrendous by the standards of our day. Spitz weg is quaint, he likes his people, smiles at them un erringly defines their foibles and makes u like them. This type of thing, we are told by our critics, our art-psychiatrists and our artists of today, Is not the painter's function. But, then, although for dif ferent reasons, critics were telling Spitzweg that he was out of line, even In his own times. He had seen the armies of Napoleon sweep devastate Ingly across the map of Eu rope while he was still a boy. Ha had heard impassioned mmsmf "i Iff s3SWi if p JM $$?zMf 'fMr it VV- mml life Wrr-v-vr'1 ,---V rV A 1 Ttr JSifxKAmtt?i'r& y l i TYPICAL STYLE "The Antiquary", by Carl Spitzweg, the German painter who died in 1885. Typical of his engraving style In the village scene we may smile at the Antiquary read ing his wares under his awn ing, too absorbed to notice the pretty girls going up the crumbling steps. We may smile, but the calm of the Is the atomsphere of this Bavarian street corner with its small drama of deft comedy. speeches and beerhall discus sions of the "new" freedoms when the revolutionary fer ment of 1848 was blowing throughout all Europe. 'Awaken the Masses He had wild-eyed revolu tionaries shout at him about his duties, as painter, to awak en the masses. He was, in a way, exposed to an equivalent anguish and to many of the currents which have pulled our own art world hither and yon and well-nigh destroyed its moorings within society. But Spitzweg left to others the grandolse functions, let others paint uplifting, "social ly conscious works or the, then, prevalent allegories where a naked maiden Imper sonated Chemistry bringing enlightenment to Agriculture, equally unclothed but bur dened with a sheaf of wheat. Admittedly, Spitzweg told stories or small anecdotes, something which our times will not forgive. But ho told them so well, in such a good painterly way, with such lush color and such charm of light and shade that, ultimately, he will be, he must be, forgiven. And then he will be loved. For one thing, he was never sentimental as were so many other small painters of his time. No little children and pussy cats. No tubercular lov ers looking out at the gloam ing. No stnrvelings reading to their blind grandmother. Painted Cactus-Lovers Nevertheless, he did paint cactus - lovers, steel - rimmed spectacles raised on forehead, in tiny gardens surrounded by old buildings, examining some prickly little growth with comic intensity. He painted the Librarian, with humor and observation. Spitzweg is no incisive Ccu- mlcr, bitlngly showing up the weaknesses of the world.! Rather, his Is a mellow friend ly understanding of some unl-! versa! foibles. His Is also very j good and engaging painting. New 4-H Project Listed by College Corvallis - "Let's Learn to Sew" Is an Invitation to Ore gon youngsters to sign up for a new 4-H project offered by Oregon State college exten sion service. The project Is written for 9, 10, and 11-year-olds. Be ginners first familiarize them selves with sewing tools and the sewing machine. In addi tion to learning construction skills, they learn to create useful articles, get a feel for color and texture, and plan and organize their time, ac cording to Hildcgarde Stieu fcrt, OSC extension clothing specialist and creator of the project. Youths can measure accom plishments with first year projects-barbecue placemats, shears and scissors case, and petticoat or bobby socks hold ers. Illustrated instructions for making all of these are in cluded In the new manual. Parents Interested in getting their youngsters into the new 4-H project can get Informa tion from county extension offices. Nearly 11,000 boys and girls now are enrolled in 411 clothing projects In Oregon. place, the filtered sunlight, the stability of the old houses, the discreet colors chosen by the painter, all this has charm and serenity. It may be es capist and nostalgic, granted. But it is powerful. Spitzweg, by some insidi ous comic magic draws us Into his world and makes us look out more tolerantly at our own. Is this a great accomplish ment? Only history will tell. But, boldly, this observer will venture the guess that, one of these centuries (for Spitz weg painted very well and will Inst), in the marble halls of culture someone will find a small carved door in the shadows of an echoing corri dor. Opening It, he will find the slightly cobwebby world of Spitzweg on the other side, a shaft of moonlight and a bunch of wonderful charac ters with whom to spend a wordless visit, the quiet world of Carl Spitzweg, with a ser enade floating in from above some old shingled roofs. (Copyright 1961, by General Features Corp.) Children Come in Pairs for Couple Adkins, Tex.-IUPil-Carl Cen ter was nonchalant, almost, when his wife had twin girls, Sharon Lynn and Caron Gwcn. It was just over three years ago the couple had their first set of twins, James and Jerry. 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The gams are usually masked in percentages, how ever, with no absolute fig ures given save In isolated eases. While Moscow, Budapest and other Hed eapttais extol tlie vtrtttes of the Communist system by citing advances in production that cure-all ol the Communist world Red China isn't even trying to mask lis apparent embarrag. ment. Raturai BUastsr Blamsd In an effort to shift the re sponsibility, the Pciping re gime began blaming drought and other "natural d wasters for what is quite obviously i flop in harvests. Radio Pelping admits peas ants on the communes are working to fulfill" the 1880 farm quotas, but there has been no announcement that any social or governmental unit larger than a commune has succeeded. Now Radio Pciping is re porting from Budapest that Hungarians laced unlavor- able weather conditions this year. Despite tills, say ttte broadcasts, harvests tn Hun gary approached last year's crops. But what happened in Hed China? Last August, the Communist regime announced a major shift in emphasis from indus trial production to farm out put. The purpose, Peipmg said, was to lend support to "ulti mate" advances in the factory, Much of the problem, both in the commune and In the factory, lies to Communist evaluation of the functions of a manager. To the Chinese Reds, the model tractor factory man ager spends his most creative hours teaching a group of one time Coolies and ricksha op erators how to operate a lathe. On Chapter Ahead Because he probably was chosen for his loyalty to the Communist party and not for his technical know-how, the factory manager is likely to be only one chapter ahead of his students in the lathe manual. In other words, the factory manager, rather then get dawn to some creative work in his office, wastes fcfs time on the duties of a shop fore man. Perhaps Hed China is short of shop foremen but even thi w no excuse lor snir fng the managerial function. Here is how Announcer iu We! of Radio Peiping de, scribes his visit to the Bhang- hal glass works. "when I went to interview j Director Huang Ju-Piao, I was told apologetically: "He Is in one of the workshops, "1 was not surprised. My extensive visits to factories already had taught me that the surest place to find the leading functionaries was in : the workshop. "I finally found Huang Ju-i j Piao in the workshop pro-: sducfng glass balls, a product: for the manufacture of high i j grade glass flbrt. He was in oil-stained overalls, dexter ously operating a machine, ," One can 1 m g 1 n what would happen it c highly paid American factory manager at General Motors was "discov ered" on thg production tine thowftig n jprentk how to i screw fenders on Chevrolets. If the vice president didn't fire the factory manager, he shouia get his own walking papers for permitting a $25, 000 a year man to waste his time on a $S,000 a year job. But in Hed China, everyone gets paid Just about the same. Announcer Mu Wet com mented; "As In other places, the leading functionaries of the Yaohua (Shanghai) glass fac tory not only live and work among the workers, but they also study In the same schools and play games on the same snorts ground." One can only assume from the statement above that the factory manager spent his few tone hours to his office bon ing up ahead of his students on the art of glass blowing. It seems likely he could do a far better Job by trying to find silicone sand so the fac- tfory can start mass produc- ttan, or packing plate glass properly so panes aren't de- Iivered shattered, Multiply this experience by the number of factories to. each commune, and Increase this by the 28,000 commBites to Bed China today and tit stumble fa the "Big Leap For ward" becomes obvious. One small farmer who makes one small mistake la planting his crops doesn't spell much trouble. But put this same man in charge of 180,000 persons to a Ughtly organised commune and he becomes a bull in a "Chltta" shop, . African Diplomats Term Washington Hardship Post Washington fllCB Sixteen new African nations are nam ing ambassadors to a capital which they rate as a "hard ship post" namely, Washing ton, B.C. Negotiations are underway between the U.S, and African governments to establish em bassies here for the countries which recently gained their independence. Some ambassa dors already have been named and welcomed by the United States; others have yet to be announced. When all arrangements arei completed, it will be the biggest embassy boom the nation's capital has seen since the United States won Its own Independence, Brilliant new flags flying over Washington's streets will represent Nigeria, Gabon, He publlc of Congo, Central AM can Republic, Congo Repub lic, Republic of Chad, Repub lic of Ivory Coast, Voltaic Re public, Republic of Niger, Re public of Dahomey, Republic of Somali, Malagasay, Repub lic of Senegal, Republic of Mali, Republic of Togo, Re public ot Cameroon, and Mauretania, Hardship Pott But what makes beautiful Washington a "hardship post1 for Africatr diplomats? One reason is that this it in ex pensive place for a newborn nation to establish diplomatic representation. Acquiring an embassy means buying or renting quar ters In a city where real estate is as high as protocol's top hal. It also means staffing those quarters and furnishing them In a manner befitting a proud country's home In a for eign land. And tor every ban quel and reception Invitation in this city of perpetual party ing, ft means reciprocal enter- talnment. Even the U.S, has found some embassy posts re quire embassadors with pri vate means who can afford the pace. But State Department offl cials and African diploma! admit that the real "hardship" stems from the racial barriers which stilt exist here. Dark skinned representatives, from ambassador on down, have trouble finding decent homes In respectible neighborhoods and even finding embassy sites. , . Some residents of all-white apartment houses and neigh borhoods object to admitting tne wegroes although these objectors often are in the mi nority, If an African does find a suitable house it may lie at twice the regular price. Afri cans are proud of their native costume, but they sometimes must wear the brightly col ored garb as a silent defense agamst the rebuffs they wouid receive If taken for native! American Negroes, The State Department bi unable to act directly, a spokesman explained, but It is! deeply concerned over the! problem end the bad Image it can cast tn the international mirror of opinion, Stimulus 6? Clocks Provide Timely Diversion Warsaw, N,Y,W-Med Mil ler really means it when he says, "I love that tlck-tock sound , , , Miller, a retired knitting mill worker and; a bachelor, likes clocks far companion ship. He has ST of his collec tion of antiques in operation, and every quarter hoar the visitor is made aware by the sound of ehtmes and gongs. At ;36 nightly, Miller gets the time signal from the radio, cheeks his big pocket watch by It and then makes the rounds to wind hit clocks. At 10:30 a,m. on Sundays he winds his 8-day clocks. The alarm of an ordinary table clock gets Miller out of bed daily. toward solving the problem has come from elty officials and real estate groups, ; A recent meeting betweee city commissioners, State Be- partment officials and realty representatives developed Ms idea of setting up a "housing liaison" man In the State De, partment to help new dlplo mats with housing and aimi lar problems. At present tttera is no such maehutery to the government. It would give diplomats someone to go to at the start and someone wfc could elicit cooperation team realtors, . A elty spokesman termed "unbelievable" the enthusf. asm for the project by local realtors "who represent miU lions of dollars of property," it's too bad Uncle Saw doesn't ask more of this fctod of help from people," he add ed, "when they're so eager to give," Other diplomats may have difficulties getting settled, too, he said, But the new na tions have no predeeeor tor guidance. Their represent, lives are trailblaiers here nd they have been allowed to "muddle through" by them selves. A State Department officer, back from recent trip to Af riea and who has set up BJ, offices in several Africa countries, said they "have been extremely cooperative with us and our problems" to opening embassies here, H added that many Africans st riving here have spent mufh time In Sttrnpe and are "shocked" by their contact with prejudice here, "America is under developed hi some way toe," he said. HELP US! W fil4 clsffcittf ck$ct, d4ifei, fre!fyrt, 4 h44in$, W fhk Up, Hit OTHIM! Tfcs$iatte Army Si M, Hslt ftta J.M3I PEAR GROWERS ATTENTION- Mairt GuIbm iert few Tree of PROVEN bility w hv ever 50 yarj of xis!bnt predurften ntatit in h Santo Chra Vaitay m, CIifami No dIin proMsjn, Call eeIIet-AXmfnirt 4-2902, tik for Man tgtr Km Hartnwn or fruit Trt Otpirtmtnf, Leonard Coates Nurseries, m f,, 1231 San Ji, aiifnM o o o o 0 I 63 0
