for prosperity takes the place of artistic integrity and courage. But
America need not be surprised to find that it has a creditable
grouping of artists sufficiently interested in the value of modern art
as an expression of our time, men and possibly some women, who feel
that art is a matter of private aristocratic satisfaction at least,
until the public is awakened to the idea that art is an essentially
local affair and the more local it becomes by means of comprehension
of the international character, the truer it will be to the place in
which it is produced.

A catalogue of names will suffice to indicate the character and
variation of the localized degree of expression we are free to call
American in type: Morgan Russell, S. Macdonald Wright, Arthur G. Dove,
William Yarrow, Dickinson, Thomas H. Benton, Abraham Walkowitz, Max
Weber, Ben Benn, John Marin, Charles Demuth, Charles Sheeler, Marsden
Hartley, Andrew Dasburg, William McFee, Man Ray, Walt Kuhn, John
Covert, Morton Schamberg, Georgia O'Keeffe, Stuart Davis, Rex
Slinkard. Added to these, the three modern photographers Alfred
Stieglitz, Charles Sheeler, and Paul Strand must be included. Besides
these indigenous names, shall we place the foreign artists whose work
falls into line in the movement toward modern art in America, Joseph
Stella, Marcel Duchamp, Gaston Lachaise, Eli Nadelman. There may be no
least questioning as to how much success all of these artists would
have in their respective ways in the various groupings that prevail in
Europe at this time. They would be recognized at once for the
authenticity of their experience and for their integrity as artists
gifted with international intelligence. There is no reason to feel
that prevailing organizations like the Society of Independent Artists,
Inc., and the Societe Anonyme, Inc., will not bear a great increase of
influence and power upon the public, as there is every reason to
believe that at one time or another the public will realize what is
being done for them by these societies, as well as what was done by
the so famous "291" gallery.

The effect however is not vast enough because the public finds no
shock in the idea of art. It is not melodramatic enough and America
must be appealed to through its essentially typical melodramatic
instincts. There is always enough music, and there are some who
certainly can say altogether too much of the kind there is in this
country. The same thing can be said of p