English
A passage for editorial review. A BUDDHIST TRINITY The stone sculpture which has lately been purchased for the Museum by the trustees of the John Huntington Art and Poly- technic Trust is worthy of being brought to the notice of the readers of the Bulletin a second time. In this issue a detail of the figure at the right of the Buddha is given, so that a better idea of it and the interesting areola is obtained which, in the full view, is not wholly appreciable. The full view in the July Bulletin showed the Buddha stand- ing on a plain base and on each side accompanying Bodhi- sattvas. The Bodhisattvas, or saints who have not yet attained Buddahood, are standing on lotus flower bases which are them- selves a source of attraction to the interested observer, as are also the splendid areola and surrounding background of flames. On closer observation the attention becomes focused on the benign countenance of the Buddha, as he stands in the attitude of teaching. The expression is a spiritual one and typifies that universal expression in all good Buddhistic art which has proved the secondary importance of technique. One must see the object itself in order fully to realize that no physical strength and corresponding action is necessary here, but that there is something that speaks from within, to all who would give ear, and that the effort of the unknown carver was first and last the eternization of religious emotion and not the mere representation of form. The original chiseling has become dull in places, the soft micaceous limestone being easily marred; but the face of the Buddha has suffered little, and the drapery of the three figures is in especially good condition, as well as the areola and the surrounding background of flames. The last is nicked and the piece lost, but it is extremely diffi- cult to find Buddhist religious sculpture which has not suffered from the vicissitudes of time and neglect, as well as the ravages of iconoclasts; and this stone, some fourteen hundred years old, is on the whole well preserved. This example shows certain touches of the Gandhara style, in the treatment of the hair, for instance, and in this particular reminds one that the Northern Dynasty was no doubt influ- enced by the art of the Gandhara School of India; that school which flourished, probably, from the second century, A. D., to the fifth, in Gandhara, where the influence of the Bactrian Greek was felt. The strangeness of the Chinese conception may perhaps be puzzling to those who have seen it for the first time; but so, perhaps, is Byzantine art strange at first sight, even though it is our own Christian art; or even, to the uninitiated, the paint- ings of the European primitives. It is through companionship that we have found those friends, or things, which we now like best; and thus a masterpiece, even though it speaks in foreign terms, may suddenly and strangely enlighten us simply because its language becomes a universal one. The Far East has many things that may reveal to us enlightened moments. May we become more and more familiar with them so that this seeming strangeness may become a thing of the past. j. a. m. PROGRESS OF THE BUILDING At the time of going to press the building is nearly enclosed preparatory to heating it for winter work. The marble walls will soon be up to the roof-line, when the large derricks on the roof will come down, the balance of the marble for the parapet course being handled otherwise. The roofers will thus be able practically to complete their work before severe weather sets in. The illustration, from a photograph taken on November third, shows the appearance of the south fi^ade on that date. STAFF APPOINTMENTS Mr. J. Arthur MacLean has been appointed Curator of the Museum, taking up his work on October first. Mr. MacLean has been for many years in the Oriental Department of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and is well known to many con- noisseurs of oriental art throughout the country. During the preliminary period, Mr. MacLean will act as a general assis- tant to the Director, in addition to his duties in caring for the growing collections of the Museum. It is hoped, however, that his enthusiasm and his knowledge of Eastern art will so stimu- late interest in the art of the Near and Far East in Cleveland that his whole attention may, before long, be required for the care of a department of Oriental Art in the Museum. Mr. James F. McCabe has been selected to have charge of the building as Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds. He has had a thorough training during his years of service in the Boston Museum. Mr. McCabe will come to Cleveland Decem- ber first, in order that he may follow closely the final stages of the building and be thoroughly familiar with the installation of the heating, ventilation and lighting systems.