CHANCE FOR VENUS
SCHOOL BOARD WILL PASS ON
QUALIFICATIONS MONDAY.
NOW KEPT IN SECLUSION
PARK BOARD MEMBER AND EN-
GINEER EXPRESS VIEWS.
Both Call It a Perfect Work of Art --
Mr. Buchan, the Donor, Says
Cleveland Accepted a Sim-
ilar Statue Without a
Single Blush.
THE STATUE OF VENUS GENETRIX REJECTED BY
THE KANSAS CITY, KAS. SCHOOL BOARD.
The fate of the statue Venus Genetrix, now reposing in the basement of the public library in Kansas City, Kas., will in all probability be finally decreed at Monday night's meeting of the board of education. The members of the board who have been keeping this particular piece of art in seclusion ever since its presentation by Senator W. J. Buchan, will be asked to render their final decision at the next meeting. It is understood that a large number of lovers of art will attend Monday night's meeting and try to convince the board that by turning down the gift it will be depriving the library of a valuable and beautiful work of art. Leading citizens are manifesting much concern in the matter. The majority of them are in favor of giving Venus the most conspicuous location in the library building.
George Kessler, landscape architect, who has been employed to lay out a park and boulevard system in Kansas City, Kas., examined the statue at a recent meeting of the Kansas City, Kas., park board and pronounced it a most beautiful work of art.
PERFECT WORK OF ART.
J. P. Angle, a member of the park board, to whose office the statue was consigned by the park board, says that he has never gazed upon a more perfect work of art.
"While I do not put myself up as a critic in statuary," said Mr. Angle yesterday, "yet I have visited many art galleries, and from the collections of fine art I have seen I am frank to say I I do not believe I could pick a more beautiful piece of statuary than that which the school board has rejected."
Nathaniel Barnes, former postmaster, in speaking about the statue says that no one with a spark of love for the fine art could find the slightest objection to Venus. However, he suggests that if the school board is in doubt as to the propriety of accepting the gift and giving it a proper place in the library building, a commission might be appointed to determine its worth as a piece of fine art and also decide whether or not it should be exhibited in the library.
Mr. Buchan, the donor of the statue, in speaking about his gift and the subsequent action of the school board, said:
"I think the whole affair is too ridiculous to discuss. I went over to Italy, in my trip around the world, and while there did not forget my home town. I saw this beautiful statue in the original at Rome and bought the fine replica I presented to the board of education in Florence. I made a special trip to Florence to get the piece and paid $450 for it. It cost in transportation another $100.
FUNNY TO BUCHAN.
"For the life of me, I can't understand the aversion of the school board for the statue. A man who was making the trip with me got a similar one for the library at Cleveland, O., and he tells me there were no objections from growing young people there.
"The funniest thing about the deal is that the excuse of the board is that young girls and boys who see the statue may have read Ouida's book in which it is criticized. Now, I may be wrong in my judgement of immoral things, but I think a girl or boy who reads Ouida's proscribed books can not be injured much by looking on the4 excellent piece of art work she condemns."
W. E. Griffith, a member of the board, said yesterday that the statue was too nude to be placed in the rotunda of the library, if not in a collection of such pieces.
"I am not prudish," said Mr. Griffith, "but I am opposed to tempting girls and boys who have not reached the age of discretion, to make remarks and draw inferences. The statue was given to us in good faith, but it is unfit. We can not help that. We are only sorry we can not use it out of courtesy to Mr. Buchan. The statue would not be half so suggestive if there was no drapery at all."
WOMEN NOT DISPLEASED.
Attorney Edward Barker, 713 Minnesota avenue, who has taken considerable interest in the disposition of the Venus, yesterday conducted a party of women, including his wife, to the park board rooms where the statue is stored temporarily awaiting further action of the school board.
"What do you think of it?" Mr. Barker asked them.
"Oh, it is just lovely," they answered in chorus.
Afterward, all of the women said they would not be ashamed to have the Venus installed in their parlors or hallways.
"The school board is trying to out-Comstock Comstock," is the way Attorney Barker expressed his opinion of the action of that body regarding the Venus.
