International studio (51.1913/1914)

The Rochester Memorial Art Gallery

THE ROCHESTER MEMORIAL ART GALLERY


THE ROCHESTER MEMORIAL ART
GALLERY
BY CHRISTIAN BRINTON
The tendency toward esthetic de-
centralization so frequently noted in these col-

readv have, mere repositories or storage vaults
for painting and sculpture. Institutions such
as the Metropolitan Museum are manifestly
too large and too diverse to be effective in their
appeal. They become, on this scale, tests of
endurance optical and physical, instead of remain-

umns has gained further impetus
through the recent opening of the
Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester.
There are at present some eighty
institutions in the United States
which exhibit collections of art, the
oldest being the Pennsylvania Acad-
emy of the Fine Arts in Philadel-
phia, the youngest, the Rochester
Gallery. Our larger cities no longer
stand alone as art centres. Interest
has spread amazingly during the past
generation, and with every new in-
stitution is created a fresh focus of
activity. Art with us has ceased to
be a mere plaything for the rich. It
has become a deep-rooted public
necessity and, above all, it is taking
its rightful place as an educational
factor of hitherto undreamed poten-
tiality.
There is, however, no little danger
that these museums may in due
course prove, as the older ones al-

A DECORATIVE PAINTING BY FRED DANA MARSH


CCIII