North American: III - Rembrandt and Aristotle

That most expensive of all museum requisitions—Rembrandt’s ‘Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer’—is in its way an authentic symbol of American culture, and that not merely because of the cash it cost. The picture, with its grave evocation of one generation contemplating another, of one genius paying homage to a predecessor, sums up the seriousness of American interest in the arts—a seriousness, however, which is constantly in need of reassurance. It is not enough to respond to the beauty of a painting or of a symphony: they have their public place, their established share by this in the American image, and they should be made to appear so. Nowhere in the world are there such temples set up to the glory of the arts, and new and exciting projects, such as the Lincoln Centre in New York, will give fresh and overwhelming evidence of how much Americans care for their heritage, which is no longer simply the possession of old masters or the establishment of superb orchestras and opera. Art is to be used, and the lending services attached to every gallery as well as the huge popular response to concerts, not only in Philadelphia and New York, but in Cleveland, Minneapolis and many places besides, are proof of a genuine and generous interest.