REPORT FOR DEPARTMENT OF ART
MRS. EDWIN WILLIAM STADTMULLER, CHAIRMAN
During the period just closed, the chief concern of the Department
of
Art has been to try to awaken the public consciousness toward
Art as a
civic as well as an esthetic necessity. To this end, it has co-operated
as far as possible with all art exhibitions, both public and private;
and will all movements tending, however indirectly, toward a wider
knowledge of and a deeper interest in Art and its direct application
to
Life.
Through the efforts of the Art Department, a course of three
lectures on
The Development of California Painting, illustrated by a remarkable
Comparative Exhibition of California Art then on view at the Palace
of
Fine Arts, was offered to the clubs in the City Federation at
a nominal
cost by J. Nilsen Lurvik, Director of the Palace of Fine Arts
Museum.
The lectures were enthusiastically received, but the financial
loss
prevented a repetition of the experiment. However, I like to feel
that,
over and above the educational advantages of the course, ti was
instrumental in enlisting the interest and support of the City
and
County Federation for the Palace of Fine Arts, for as long as
it shall
be maintained by private subscription. Actual participation to
the
extent of $12.00 annually in the financial support of one of the
five or
six great Art Museums of the country should be a matter of pride,
not
only to the Department of Art, and the Board of the City federation,
but
to the individual clubs as well. It is a beginning toward meeting
our
obligations toward civic art.
Transcribed by Elaine Sturdevant