Page Ten
THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE
Sundav. March O 1958
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1
Variety and Creativity THE S
(Coninud from Page 3)
Local Artists Exhibit W orks to be accomplished with "all de-
liberate speed" and yet it failed,
in many instances to take ade-
BIY JOAN AATZ quate action. Further, one may
Dary staff writer -well argue, as does Ashmore, that
LOCAL ARTISTS create works the Negro the South professes to
for many reasons varying from understand is not the Negro of
hobby interests to perfection of today. The Uncle Tom of song
and story is no smore. Like the
rative abilitics southern white, the Negro, too,
This creativity was recently ex- , has his own mystique, He wants,
amplified by the 35th annual Ann } so Ashmore contends, to be like
Arbor Art Association's exhibit. >the whites who dominate his so-
Amateur artists and professionals ciety and give him his values.
A a a s Moderation and gradualism are
participated in the show which in- x' 3 giving way to a demand for a con-
cluded students and teachers. The tinual acceleration of the integra-
exhibit consisted of pottery, paint- tion movement.
Ing, sculpture and needlework.
Membership in the group comes HIS NEW OUTLOOK is only
from all levels of artistic accom- part of the change taking place
plishment. ' ain the old social order of Dixie..
'U' personnel often participate , Following the Civil War slavery
In the group as "hobby" painters r was converted into the three new
tnhy.erEtperhubby"painrs institutions of sharecropping, one
only. Lea Etter, publie relations ~ party plitics and the system of
manager for the Board in Controlspart but supndlyemlf
of Intercollegiate Athletics, clas- separae but suppiosedly equal f a-
sifies his painting merelyas a cilities. From this system was de-
past-time. His exhibit Boy Scout veloped the three point credo of
Still Life pictures his twelve year the southern politician, tariff for
old son's Scout equipment which ABSTRACT ART-Dick Wilk, past president of the Ann Arbor Art revenue only, states rights, and
was out in preparation for a Scout Association painted "Potato Peeler, Pea Picker and Noodle Head." white supremacy. According to Mr.
meeting. Ashmore, these institutions are dy-
Mrs. T. McClur,'s hook design Kaufman's painting, Grey, recent national trend to more local ing; in the Southern cities they
exhibit The Cat was started be- Green, and Blue grew out of a trip art work, are already dead.
cas i emdlk u okto Provincetown, Massachussetta It Is within this broad frame-
e " fTHE FIRST EXHIBIT of the or- work of basic social change that
designs are a fairly new idea used during the past summer. He de- ganization took place on May Ashmore sets the integration prob-
in interior decorating and are cided to paint an impressionistic 15, 1910 at the dedication of the lem. In fact, it is this New South,
made from wool, yarn and felt study of the intriguing combina- Alumni Memorial Hall, original the reasons for its development
strips. Mrs. McClure often exhibits
her work "for the added income tion of the colors grey, green and gallery of the Association, and the prospects for its future,
they can bring in." blue and the combination of the Now approaching its 50th an. that is the real subject of his
niversary the group sponsors five book. In approaching his subject
water, light and beachfront at local exhibits annually as well as from this point of view, the author
RVING KAUFMAN, of the Uni- dusk. The vertical lines in the veral art films. has made a real contribution, for
versity art department, enters painting represents his "feeling of svealdatilms, has ad aeal cobltin fh
exhibits on the philosophy that movement felt at the time" In addition to the annual show a large scale social probem suc
"one cannot teach well if one can- The Ann Arbor Art Association the Association presents a Christ- as integration cannot be studied
not do well" and the shows offer was founded in 1909 for the pur- mas show and places all crafts apat i twhicheitsocimeonomic
an excellent opportunity to prac- pose of stimulating art and r projects and paintings on sale. Te sysm in i t m
i fit ndIntegration is merely the most
tice outside the classroom. Paint- appreciation within the commu- group is non-profit and only re- spectacular of the many problems
ing is a pastime and a profession nity and county, according to Mrs. tains a small percentage of the with which the New South must
because "basically one is an artist R. V. Churchill, president. The sales revenue to meet exhibit costs, wih to grips
and then a teacher." history of the group parallels the In the spring a show is usually come
held to display the best of the
artistic efforts of the Ann Arbor IT IS A WEAKNESS.of Ashmore's
youth from kindergarten to high treatment that he does not ex-
school age, plore some of the other issues that
are likely to arise. For example,
a; p THE OCTET SHOW, displaying increasing industrialization will
the work of eight artists both probably lead to increased efforts
professional and amateur, is one by organized labor to penetrate
of several groun shows prepared he southern states and a good deal
by the Associatioh. In addition a of unrest may be foreseen on this
rotating exhibit is displayed at a account, but Ashmore does little
local restaurant and at the Ann more than suggest these problems,
Arbor Public Library. On the whole the regional lead-
Besides encouraging local inter- ers seem to be aware that im-
est in art, the Association also mense changes are taking place.
owns a small collection of works rngthe inta ouerers
of art. Included in the collection regarded as inevitable, Southerners
are four or five oil paintings, 15 realze they are merely fightig a
water colors and about ten prints delaying action. The battle cry is
In the recent annual exhibit the not "on to victory" but rather, "not
Myron Chapin purchase, Province- in this generation." This change
town, was shown in honor of the in attitude reflects a basic truth.
late professor of architecture and South simply cannot afford
design. racial violence. It has lured bust-
den ness into the area with a promise
of stability and it cannot go back
LANS for the 50th anniversary on its word without suffering
celebration include an exhibit financial leases.
of the art collected through the
annual shows for the past 35 years. Further, the slowly rising eco-
nomic status of the Negro has
With the evolution of national made him a progressively better
interest in art work the local com- customer in the shops of many a
STILL LIFE-Boy Scout Still Life, was done by Lea Etter, public munity is beginning to show its southern Main Street Even more
elatilons manager for the Board In Control of Intercollegiate appreciation of art-this is sup- important Is the fact that the Ne-
ported by the example of the Ann gro constitutes a large part of
Athletics, Arbor Art Association. the surplus labor pool, which, ac-
cording to Ashmore, is the South's
-- greatest asset in its effort to in-
duce more and more industry to
locate in the area. It would be im-
prudent, to say the least, to drive
this group away at such a time.
4 xTHE KEY to an understanding of
the South today is to be found
Yg in this long term process of trans-
% ition from an agrarian to an in-
dustrial economy. Industry was
ir first brought to the South follow-
ing the Civil War as a means of
supporting the landed aristocracy
whose means of sustenance had
been shattered beyond repair. For
2 the Southern gentry this was a
fatal step.
The old tradition of noblesse
oblige was not adequate to the de-
mands of modern industry. Today,
those few who have anything more
than the surface manifestations of
aristocracy are viewed as harmless
cranks so that in still another re-
spect the South is becoming like
the nation as a whole,
OIL PAINTING-Carolyn Lannam, a member of the Association, painted this work, entitled "October The traditional political behavior
tet °'of the South is also being modified
OUTH
I
in accordance with the new social
and economic arrangements. For
instance, the solid southern sup-
port of a tariff system for revenue
only is beginning to crack.
This position is designed to ap-
peal to an agrarian economy and
as the South becomes more and
more industrialized the demand
for protective tariffs is likely to
grow. Already there have been
defections from southern ranks on
this issue and one cannot help but
agree with Ashmore in deploring
this trend. The South has long
been a bulwark of the internation- r
alist position and it is discourag-
ing to see a retreat from this point
of view during a period of inter-
national unrest.
THE ONE PARTY system is also
likely to come to an end. Here
again the default of the southern r
leadership is evident. By its in-
transigent attitude it has forced
the Republican Party to assume a
position on civil rights so closely
akin to that of northern liberal
Democrats that the South no long-
er has a real choice between the
two parties on the segregation is-
sue. The only political alternative
to submission appears to be an-
other blind, bitter attempt to form
a third party, but all this would
accomplish would be to boost Re-
publican chances in the 1960 presi-
dential election. Since Little Rock,
the South must know that little
is to be gained by that.
Ashmore contends that Texas,
with its oil wells and booming in-
dustry, represents the wave of the
future for the New South. It is
here that industry and Republi-
canism have made the greatest in-
roads. In the long run these
changes should be for the best. In
particular the stimulus of real
party competition should awaken
long dormant political leadership,
HOWEVER, no basic social
change is painless and one
cannot blame Ashmore for looking
back at the Old South with a cer-
tain nostalgia. On the other hand,
one cannot help but feel that his
view of times gone byis obstructed
by a sentimental attachment to
certain aspects of the past.
However, Mr. Ashmore's occa-
sional lapses into sentimentality
are minor flaws in a generally ex-
cellent book. Essentially what he is
saying is aside from the grave
moral issues involved, social forces
beyond its control are inexorably
moving the South away from its
traditional moorings.
Change may be rapid in the eco-
nomic structure or slow in the so-
cial structure but it cannot be de-
nied. It is the current abdication
of responsible leadership that has
intensified- the conflict over the
vital issue of integration,
UNLESS the polarization of
of southern society that has
resulted from this phenomenon
can be alleviated, the prospects for
more than token integration in the
near future must be rated as poor,
particularly in some parts of the
Deep South. It is unfortunate that
Ashmore did not more fully ana-
lyze the reasons for this situation.
The decline of the aristocratic
tradition, however important, is
not a sufficient explanation. The
real gentry were a group very
much smaller than readers of ro-
mantic novels would expect. Such
a study of the decline of leadership
could well be the subject of a large
scale work in itself and indeed
could profitably be extended be-
yond the South.
NORTHERN liberals must face
up to the fact that they too
have failed to provide adequate
support for southern moderates.
Many tend to view themselves as
crusaders sworn to rid the South
of a pernicious social evil, Unfor-
tunately their efforts frequently
result in an intensification of op-
position against everything they
stand for.
While not on the same level, ei-
ther in perception or in literary #
style as W. J. Cash's magnificent
The Mind of the South, Epitaph
for Dixie is a well written,
thoughtful and sympathetic ac-
count of the problems of the South
and her peculiar institutions.