FINE 
 
 N 
 
 7445 
 
 .K3 
 
 1922 
 
CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 FINE ARTS LIBRARY 
 
The Civic Aspect 
 of Art 
 
 By 
 OTTO H. KAHN 
 
 Address on the occasion of the 
 
 Inaugural Recital of New York's 
 
 Mjiisic Week, May 1st, 1922 
 
 Printed by 
 New York's Third Music Week Committee 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924101976219 
 
3 1924 101 976 219 
 
 The Civic Aspect 
 of Art 
 
 by 
 OTTO H. KAHN 
 
 Address on the occasion of the 
 
 Inaugural Recital of New York's 
 
 Music Week, May 1st, 1922 
 
 Printed by 
 fJew York's Third Music Week Cpmmitte^ 
 
IT is a particular pleasure to say 
 a few words of greeting and con- 
 gratulation on this auspicious 
 occasion. Those whose vision and 
 enthusiasm conceived the scheme of 
 New York's Music Week and whose 
 energy and zeal carried that con- 
 ception into efifect, deserve the thanks 
 of the community. How timely was 
 their plan and how correctly they 
 judged public sentiment in inaugu- 
 rating it, is fully proven by the wide 
 interest, the universal approbation 
 and the influential support with 
 which it met from the beginning and 
 which have followed it in ever grow- 
 ing measure. 
 
 This is the third recurrence of 
 New York's Music Week. It is be- 
 ing celebrated in multiform mani- 
 festations, indicative of the keen and 
 profound interest of the people of 
 this city in, and responsiveness to, 
 musical art. The success of the 
 event is gratifying, but by no means 
 surprising. Ours is an art-loving 
 population and the potentialities 
 arising from that fact are of great 
 
The Civic Aspect of Art 
 
 promise. What is needed to realize 
 these potentialities, is what those in 
 charge of Music Week are aiming 
 to accomplish: Bring art to the 
 people and you will bring the people 
 to art. 
 
 Democracy Aims At The Spiritual 
 
 The people are hungry for nourish- 
 ment for their souls. The upward 
 struggle of democracy aims at the 
 spiritual no less than at the material. 
 
 The lives of the vast majority are 
 cast upon a background of sameness 
 and grind and routine. Necessarily 
 so. The world's work has got to be 
 done. But all the more should we 
 endeavor to open up, to make readily 
 accessible and to cultivate those' 
 pastures where beauty and inspira- 
 tion may be gathered by all. 
 
 We all are the better for psychic 
 change from time to time, just as we 
 are the better for physical change of 
 air and surroundings. We need to 
 give our souls an airing once in a 
 while. We need to exercise the 
 muscles of our inner selves just as we 
 need to exercise those of our bodies. 
 We must have outlets for our emo- 
 
The Civic Aspect of Art 
 
 tions. Just as the sail of agricultural 
 land requires rotation of crops in or- 
 der to produce the best results, so 
 does the soil of our inner being re- 
 quire variety of treatment in order to 
 remain elastic and fertile and to 
 enable us to produce the best of 
 which we are capable. 
 
 I believe that some of the restless- 
 ness, of the turmoil, of the lawless- 
 ness, even of the crime, of the day, 
 arises in a measure from a reaction 
 against the humdrum-ness and drab- 
 ness and lack of inspirational op- 
 portunity of everyday existence. I 
 believe that much can be done by art. 
 and particularly the art of music, to 
 give satisfaction to the natural and 
 legitimate desire for getting away 
 from unrelieved dullness and drudg- 
 ery, and to lead the strong impulse 
 underlying it into fruitful, instead of 
 into harmful, or even destructive, 
 channels. 
 
 The Piano Vs. The Policeman 
 
 When I uttered this sentiment a 
 couple of weeks ago at a hearing be- 
 fore Mayor Hylan concerning the 
 project of creating a Civic Art Cen- 
 
 5 
 
The Civic Aspect of Art 
 
 ter in .New York, the Mayor inter- 
 rupted to inquire whether I meant 
 to say that art would be effective to- 
 ward diminishing crime. I replied 
 that the stimulation and wide culti- 
 vation of art, as of every other 
 ethical element, would tend to make 
 the soil less propitious for the growth 
 of the weeds of crime. The Mayor 
 continued: "One of this morning's 
 newspapers wants me to put a police- 
 man into every house", id, which, 
 yielding to the temptation of allitera- 
 tion, I replied jocosely: "I would 
 rather have a piano in every house." 
 This impromptu formed the text 
 for much merrymaking and satire 
 in the press. I need hardly say that 
 I no more meant it to be taken in a 
 literal sense than the poet when he 
 wrote of "teaching the young idea 
 how to shoot" meant to be under- 
 stood as referring to revolver prac- 
 tice. The sense of my remark was 
 akin to that of the well-known Ger- 
 man popular saying which, like all 
 popular sayings, has a great element 
 of truth and wisdom in it: 
 "Where they sing, you may safely dwell. 
 There is no song in the wicked." 
 
The Civic Aspect of Art 
 
 ("Wo man singt, da lass Dich ruhig nieder. 
 Boese Menschen haben keine Lieder.") 
 
 That does not mean that any and 
 all members of choral societies are 
 wholly free from evil, or that you 
 would be safe in engaging a cashier 
 in sole reliance on the fact that he 
 has a well-cultivated tenor voice. 
 
 What I meant to convey, and what 
 I maintain, is, that the best preven- 
 tive against crime is to encourage 
 and foster in the young — and in the 
 grown-ups, too, for that matter — in- 
 terest in, and understanding for, that 
 which is beautiful and inspiring and 
 which will bring into their leisure 
 hours influences and occupations 
 tending to counteract the lure of the 
 street and to breed aversion and con- 
 tempt for that which is vulgar, 
 cheap, brutal and degrading. To- 
 ward that end, one of the most potent 
 instrumentalities is art. It is, or can 
 be made, a mighty element for civic 
 betterment. It is, or can be made, 
 one of the strongest among those 
 agencies which have power to form 
 and guide the thought and the senti- 
 ments and the conduct of the people. 
 It has a weighty purpose and a great 
 mission. 
 
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The Civic Aspect of Art 
 
 Art Is Red-Blooded And Of The 
 People 
 
 Art is not "high-brow" stufif. It 
 is a red-blooded, democratic thing. 
 General Pershing knew what he was 
 about when, in the midst of the 
 gravest preoccupations, he took steps 
 to encourage singing and band-play- 
 ing among the men of the American 
 Expeditionary Force. So did the 
 great Napoleon know what he was 
 about when, in the field, engaged in 
 a critical campaign, he turned his 
 thoughts to making provision for 
 fostering art in France. It is a 
 significant thing that recently the 
 labor unions of New York voted 
 favorably upon the proposition to 
 inaugurate a movement for the crea- 
 tion of a People's Theatre. 
 
 To acquire appreciation of, and 
 understanding for, art is to acquire 
 true enrichment. For, wealth is 
 only in part a matter of dollars and 
 cents. The occupant of a gallery 
 seat, who has paid twenty-five cents 
 for admission to a concert, will be 
 far richer that evening, if he has 
 brought with him love and enthusi- 
 
 8 
 
The Civic Aspect of Art 
 
 asm for art, than the man or woman 
 in a box at the Metropolitan Opera 
 if blase and indifferent, they sit 
 yawning or chattering. The poor 
 man in a crowded tenement who 
 feels moved and stirred in reading 
 a fine book, will be far richer at the 
 time than the man or woman sitting 
 in dullness in a gorgeous mansion. 
 If he goes to Central Park or River- 
 side Drive, with his eyes and soul 
 open to the beauties of nature, he will 
 be far richer than the man or woman 
 rushing in a luxurious automobile 
 through the glories of the Italian 
 landscape, the man thinking of the 
 Stock Exchange and the woman of 
 her new dress or next party. 
 
 Art In Avenue A 
 
 I don't mean to imply that love of 
 art is lacking among the well-to-do 
 and is preponderantly confined to 
 those not blessed with worldly goods. 
 Feeling for art has nothing to do 
 with the size of a man's pocketbook. 
 Proportionately speaking, there is 
 probably no very great difference, as 
 to the number of art lovers on Fifth 
 Avenue and on Avenue A. But the 
 
The Civic Aspect of Art 
 
 inhabitants of Fifth Avenue have a 
 far greater and more continuous sup- 
 ply of diversions, artistic and other- 
 wise, than those of Avenue A, and 
 therefore, are naturally not as re- 
 sponsive and susceptible to the sim- 
 pler appeal, do not bring the same 
 freshness, zeal and enthusiasm to 
 their enjoyments, nor carry away 
 from them the same degree of stimu- 
 lation and satisfaction. That is one 
 of the penalties of Fifth Avenue and 
 one of the rewards of Avenue A. 
 
 The dividends which we receive 
 from having fitted ourselves to ap- 
 preciate and enjoy art and beauty, 
 no Bolshevik can take away from us 
 and no income tax can diminish. 
 
 Not the most profitable business 
 of my banking career gave me that 
 sensation of gain which I experienced 
 when, a boy of seventeen, I had the 
 treasure house of "Tristan and 
 Isolde" opened up to me. Nor did 
 I ever come so near to having the 
 feelings which are generally attri- 
 buted to a plutocrat as on that oc- 
 casion. It so happened that I was 
 taken to that performance by one of 
 the rich men of the town in which I 
 
 10 
 
The Civic Aspect of Art 
 
 then lived. He fidgeted restlessly 
 through the first act, but during the 
 divine duo in the second act he fell 
 asleep and actually snored. No 
 plutocrat, not the most "hard- 
 shelled" capitalist, ever looked with 
 a more lordly feeling of superiority 
 upon the benighted poor than I did 
 upon that snoring rich man. 
 
 America's Unlimited Possibilities 
 
 It has been said by a foreign ob- 
 server that America is "the land of 
 unlimited possibilities." And that 
 is true. The saying was meant in a 
 material sense, but it is equally ap- 
 plicable in a spiritual sense. Under- 
 neath the crudeness, the newness, 
 the strident jangle, the jazz-iness 
 and Main Street-ness of our young 
 country, there lies all the raw 
 material of a great cultural and 
 artistic development. In this vast 
 country, with its multifarious mix- 
 ture of races, all thrown into 
 the melting pot of American tradi- 
 tions, soil, climate and surroundings, 
 every kind of talent is latent. All 
 we have to do in order to bring it to 
 fruition is to call to it, to look for it, 
 
 11 
 
The Civic Aspect of Art 
 
 and to extend to it guidance, support 
 and opportunity. 
 
 American energy, enterprise, vi- 
 sion and daring have produced, on 
 this new continent, a material devel- 
 opment which has astonished the old 
 world. If, as I trust and believe will 
 come to pass, we will give to art that 
 full scope and place and honor to 
 which it is entitled, if we make it 
 widely and easily accessible to the 
 people, if we afford serious en- 
 couragement, fostering attention and 
 adequate opportunity to worthy as- 
 pirations and genuine talent, and due 
 reward to true merit, we shall, I am 
 convinced, astonish the world and 
 ourselves by the greatness and in- 
 tensity of the manifestation of the 
 American spirit in art. 
 
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