Science and Art Department

“ We already possess numerous text-books on designing as an art, as also on the technical processes of weaving, &c., and on the materials of manufacture. Mr. Bell has aimed at bringing the technical and artistic sides of the subject together in a practical form, and has thus provided us with a valuable handbook.
Though we have a Government Department of Science and Art, a knowledge of both branches is seldom united in the same individual. The artist is too often deficient in the science of his craft; while the man of science not unfrequently shows contempt for art. ”

“ The Department also gave aid to the study of science in elementary education. As early as the fifties, grants were made to establish work in elementary science, art, and design, but the educational value was for more than forty years subordinated to practical applications. ”

“ The invention has opened up a new field of investigation and research to the labor of the chemist and to the student of nature. From the first announcement to the world, to the present hour, a host of inventors have been engaged in perfecting and improving the art, enlarging the field of its applications, and studying the laws of nature upon which it rests. The boundaries of human knowledge, in more than one department of physics, have been greatly extended in these efforts. ”

“ He was connected with the Natural History Department of the British Museum for over fifty years. In addition to his strictly scientific work, he took part in the discussion of various questions of social importance, such as public education, prison discipline, the postage system, and the organization of museums and galleries of art. ”

“ Such beauties abound in every other department of science, and they are in no respect inferior to those which form the subject of the fine arts, like music, painting, sculpture, and poetry. To cultivate the beautiful in science, is, according to my view, the second ideal of the many loyal workers associated in the National Research Council. Will that kind of science interfere with the spiritual development of our national life? ”

“ All universities recognize literature in the sense of the old rhetoric, which is art incarnate in words. Some, to their credit, recognize art in its narrower sense, to a certain extent, and confer degrees for proficiency in some of its branches. If there are doctors of music, why should there be no masters of painting, of sculpture, of architecture? I should like to see professors of the fine arts in every university; and instruction in some branch of their work made a part of the arts curriculum. ”

“ Even the present content of the mind has its influence upon attention. The student on his way to school, if busy with his spelling lesson, is attracted to the words and letters on posters and signs. [255] If he is reviewing his botany, he notes especially the weeds along the walk; if carrying to his art teacher, with a feeling of pride, the finished landscape drawing, his attention goes out to the shade and colour of field and sky. That such a connection must exist between knowledge and attention is apparent from what has been already noted concerning the working of the law of apperception. ”

“ How to fix the religious festivals; when to sow: how to weigh commodities; and in what manner to measure ground; were the purely practical questions out of which arose astronomy, mechanics, geometry. Since then there has been a perpetual inosculation of the sciences and the arts. Science has been supplying art with truer generalisations and more completely quantitative previsions. Art has been supplying science with better materials and more perfect instruments. ”

“ We find, then, that even for this remaining division of human activities, scientific culture is the proper preparation. We find that aesthetics in general are necessarily based upon scientific principles; and can be pursued with complete success only through an acquaintance with these principles. We find that for the criticism and due appreciation of works of art, a knowledge of the constitution of things, or in other words, a knowledge of science, is requisite. ”

“ In no way can a knowledge of them be so readily and extensively diffused as in a scientific journal. To this object, therefore, a part of our labors (should there be a call for it) will be devoted, and every necessary aid will be given by plates and descriptions.
"Science and art mutually assist each other; the arts furnish facts and materials to science, and science illuminates the path of the arts. ”

“ And yet it seemed not enough to gather the products and records of science and to make science serve with its tools and inventions. Modern art, too, was to reign over every hall and to beautify every palace, and yet demanded its own unfolding in the gallery of paintings and sculptures. ”

“ If, then, classical studies are to be cultivated with the best result, it is not enough that the spirit and the ardour of scientific research should animate every department of them; it is also essential that in every department the spirit of science should be associated with the literary and artistic sense; a sense which will not only invest the specialist's own work with a higher value, but will also quicken his appreciation of the place which his special work holds in relation to other provinces of scholarship. ”

“ On the other hand, if the student’s aim is scientific, let him cultivate rigidly scientific methods, and not weaken himself by attempting a compromise with Art. We in the photographic world should be either scientists or artists; we should be aiming either to increase knowledge,—that is, science,—or to produce works whose aim and end is to give æsthetic pleasure. I do not imply any comparison between Science and Art to the advantage of either one. They are both of the highest worth, 301and I admire all sincere, honest, and capable workers in either branch with impartiality. ”

“ Each does according as inclination and faculties serve him. Some choose one branch of the ever more brilliant natural sciences: anthropology, zoology, botany, mineralogy, geology, physics, chemistry, prehistoric sciences, etc.; others take to the science of history, philologic researches, art; others yet become musicians from special gifts, or painters, or sculptors, or actors. The future will have "guild artists" as little as "guild scientists" or "guild artisans." ”

“ If we look to the University, we find, besides the science course which comprehends most of the branches of natural science, the more special programme of studies and degree in Civil Engineering, and the affiliated College of Science where technical education is given of the kind suited to the higher and middle class of professional men. I do not say that either the College of Science or the allied institution for teaching decorative art and design is as complete or potent as it should be, and we are preparing to strengthen both of them. ”

“ But even a general observer may see how much more close the union of Art with Science is now than it ever was before; and what large and animating hopes this union inspires, both for the progress of Art and of Science. ”

“ In all courses, whether in class room, seminar, or field, prominence is given to principles and working methods; special emphasis is laid on the philosophic phases of the subjects discussed; much attention is given to the treatment from historic and genetic points of view. Constantly and always the effort is to bring the student into relation with the living questions of the science, and to make him feel it as a growing body of truth. In connection with the department the Journal of Geology is conducted. ”

“ This theoretic kind of training, though still in force, and though it enabled the department to turn out certificated teachers for the schools of the country of a certain standard, and to give to students a general theoretic idea of art, has been found wanting, since, in practice, when the student in design leaves his school and desires to take up practical work as a designer or craftsman, he requires special knowledge, and specialized skill in design for his work to be of use ”

“ The preparation of the report on industrial and high art education in the United States, including the subject of drawing in the public schools, the history and present condition of all public art educational institutions in the United States, as well as of all public art collections, is substantially ready for the press. ”

“ I have said that a single art generally draws its premises from many different sciences. So a single science generally affords premises to many different arts. How numerous are the sciences which are applicable to the art of war. How numerous are the arts which depend in part on the principles of chemistry. And it is obvious that every increase of human knowledge must increase the influence of science on art. ”

“ Under the first of these three divisions—that of the Society of Arts—the Institute of Technology would form itself into a department of investigation and publication—devoting itself in every manner to collecting and rendering readily available to the public all such information as can in any way aid the interests of art and industry. ”

“ As specimens of sculpture they serve as excellent studies to young artists, whose taste is formed and chastened by the simplicity and truth of the models presented to them. The advantage of studying the ancients in this department of art rests pretty nearly on the same grounds as those which may be given for our study of their written models. Modern times produce excellence in every department of human industry, and our knowledge of nature, the result of continued accumulations, needs not now the limited experience of former ages. ”

“ The chief thing, then, that I would impress upon all beginners is the necessity for beginning work with a clear distinction between the aims and ends of Science and Art. When the art-student has acquired enough knowledge—that is, Science—to express what he wishes, let him, with jealous care, keep the scientific mental attitude, if I may so express it, far away. ”

“ We find that all European nations except England, have accepted this fact as a principle of state, and have founded schools and colleges to train their industrial population in the knowledge of art and science, which are the only true foundations of practical skill in an advanced stage of civilisation. In fact, we in this country have for some years seen this truth, so far as art is involved, and have established Schools of Design; but we have forgotten that art in industry is chiefly used to adorn the productions of science, and have neglected the latter. ”

“ While the work of the Departments of Sociology, Philology, and Philosophy perhaps deserves mention here, our aim is rather to present those lines of science which by instrumental equipment, museum collections, or rigidly scientific methods of instruction occur immediately to the mind upon the mention of the word science. It is hardly possible, however, for us to omit reference to the University School. Closely connected with the Department of Philosophy and under the same direction is the Department of Pedagogy. The work is both theory and method. ”

“ We shall be at one with it in feeling the common surgings of life, the common love for the good, the true and the beautiful. In this Institute, this Study and Garden of Life, the claim of art has not been forgotten, for the artist has been working with us, from foundation to pinnacle, and from floor to ceiling of this very Hall. And beyond that arch the Laboratory merges imperceptibly into the garden, which is the true laboratory for the study of Life. ”

“ The Academies were either public institutions maintained by the state, or private societies founded by individuals to further the general movement in favour of science, literature, and the fine arts. This they did in various ways, either by public instructions and criticisms, facilitating the printing of standard works on music, illustrating them with fresh notes, or by composing new ones; and every week the Academicians would assemble to compare their studies and show proofs of their industry. The study of one science or art would often help to illustrate the other. ”

“ The maintenance of a research department on a large scale is certainly justifiable, as I purpose to show, by the importance of the results to be obtained through it from the standpoint of pure science. In an institution, like the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, which is an integral part of a large university, it may even be warrantable to emphasize the importance of research over exhibition. For the presence of the research museum serves as a stimulus to the university student and as a source of material and information usable in the work of other departments in the university. ”

“ While Science will be cherished for its own sake, and with a due respect for its own inherent dignity; it will also be employed as the handmaid to the Arts. Its numerous applications to Agriculture, the earliest and most important of them; to our Manufactures, both mechanical and chemical; and to our Domestic Economy, will be carefully sought out, and faithfully made.
It is also within the design of this Journal to receive communications on Music, Sculpture, Engraving, Painting, and generally on the fine and liberal, as well as useful arts ”

“ In furthering the work of the first group, the topics so familiar to the art teacher of our modern schools are treated—landscape, plants, life, and still life. In the second group are presented the principles of perspective, of industrial drawing, of color harmony, and most important of all, the principles of pure design. In the third group are placed creative exercises in composition, in decorative design, and in many forms of manual training. ”

“ And all along the interdependence has been growing closer, not only between art and science, but among the arts themselves, and among the sciences themselves.
How completely the analogy holds throughout, becomes yet clearer when we recognise the fact that the sciences are arts to each other. If, as occurs in almost every case, the fact to be analyzed by any science, has first to be prepared—to be disentangled from disturbing facts by the afore discovered methods of other sciences; the other sciences so used, stand in the position of arts. ”