The New York Times from New York, New York • Page 27

marcti 19, THE NEW YQRKT.iMEj BOOKS ART. Zhe Woek in tho Jtrt World. Qub Exhibitions An Exhibition by Scceders A Portrait of Mrs. Burke-Roche. After a comparative period of inaction, following the great picture odes of February, the art world has revived, and the present week has been filled with" in cidents and events of Interest and Importance.

The Colonial Club held Its annual exhibition of not over-important pictures by foreign and American artists on Thursday, and yesterday the Manhattan uud opened its annual exhibition, which was composed of the more Important paintings from the recent sales, a group of American landscapes and other good canvases, on Thursday and yesterday, and yesterday the press view was given of the annual display of the Society of American Artists, one of the most Impor tant events of the art year In New York. The group of Holy Seceders," as the ten artists who recently left the Society of American Artists are now called, will hold their first annual exhibition in the Durand-Ruel Galleries, beginning on Wednesday, March 30. Press and varnishing day will be Tuesday, March 29. The pictures will be" hung in one-man groups. The spaces will be drawn for by lot, and there will be no place of honor.

There will be no borrowed pictures, and the display will represent the personal work of the ten men not heretofore shown. William Macbeth has arranged a timely and inter esting little exhibition of landscapes by the lamented and recently deceased A. H. Wyant and Homer Martin in his attractive gallery at 237 Fifth Avenue. The exhibition is timely, because it supplements the remarkable display of canvases by George Inness and Wlnslow Homer, now at the Union League Club, and affords an opportunity for comparing the work of these four masters of American landscape art Wyant and Martin head the Becond group of American landscapes without question, and indeed, with Minor and Inness.

form a quartet of landscaplsts whose ongi nality and ability have done more to make a place for American art than is generally understood or believed. Wyant and Martin hang well together. They are both painters of sympathy and sentiment, and botn nave something of that originality and individuality which have given Inness his high place. Mr. Macbetn.

Has selected these few canvases to represent these painters with keen appreciation, and an hour spent in the gallery In the study of these tender and yet strong transcription of nature's moods on our American hillsides, In our valleys, and along our rivers will be spent pleasurably and profitably. As far as possible, Mr. Macbeth has selected canvases which represent the two artists chronologically, but, as Wyant did not date his pictures, it is not entirely possible to know, except by close study of his methods and his gradually broadening treatment. Just what periods they represent "The Dawn" Is probably one of his earlier works, while a Catsklll Land-- scape that remarkable study of rich greens, was painted in 1S92, the year of his death. It Is probable that the powerful and sombre Avalanche Lake Adl-rondacks," is an earlier work, and it is.

equally probable that the Old Dutch House, Long Island," solid and rich In color as It is. is an earlier canvas, xne RMen Sunset that marvelous glow of color, and the cool and fresh Landscape with Pooy and the sunny where Sklea Are Fair," are unaouDteaiy ww. If all sketches were as charming in tone and had as much quallty of color as that which Wyant called A Sketch" In No. 6. American landscape art would be more generally appreciated.

Note the luminous atmosphere of A Mountain Pasture and A Dewy Morning," and the sunlight of A Summer The poetic side of Wyant's nature Is most manifest In these examples. He was almost a lyric painter of the field and fold. The six examples of Homer Martin which Mr. Macbeth showed include the well-known canvas paint ed at Trouville. entitled "Normandy Coast that low coast line, with its row of poplars, whose feathery foliage is blown by the prevailing west wind toward the east and the' sun, and which Inspired the wife of the artist to give the canvas the better title of "Sun the broadly painted and fine "Westchester Hills," with Its splendid browns and sweeD of air and sky.

and the yellow tonal "Missis Bippi, near St Paul," recalling the impressionists, and which was painted the year the artist died, and Sar- anac Lake," with its smooth finish, painted in 1870, and which shows the influence of the well-termed una son River School." from which Martin was Just then emancipating himself. The feeling for nature and that indefinable sense of largeness of view which was such a marked characteristic of Martin's work are all present In these canvases, with the single exception of the Saranac Lake." The young Spanish-French portrait painter Antonio de la Gandara has Just completed a portrait of Mrs. Burke-Roche, formerly Miss Fannie Work, which is now on exhibition In the Durand-Ruel Galleries. The portrait la the most satisfactory that Mr. de la Gandara has shown here.

He has, as Is his custom, painted Mrs. Burke-Roche standing, or, rather, as if pausing in walking across a room. The picture is full length, with the head fully turned toward the front There is a sense of arrested movement In the canvas, and the lines of the figure- Just indicated under the simply made and close fitting white satin evening drees are very graceful. The background is a warm and rich one of dark brown, suggesting mahogany, and the artist has produced a charming effect by the intro duction of a veil of soft tulle, which drapes the front of the figure and flows backward. Very artistic in effect also is the delicate shoulder band of pearls, which holds the bodice up.

and on which there is a glint of light The likeness is admirable, and the portrait with much refinement, has a warmth lacking in the artist's other portraits of women shown here. There are now on exhibition at the Wunderlich Gallery some portraits of Old World celebrities of the last century by Sir Godfrey Kneller and other lees-known artists, which have a historical as well as an artistic interest, and are worthy the attention of art students and lovers. A young illustrator, Malcolm A. Strauss, whose work has appeared In Life and other periodicals, has placed on view at the Max Williams Gallery, 390 Fifth Avenue, twenty-four of his drawings. These all illustrate some society dialogue or humorous conversation.

Mr. Strauss draws easily and on the whole well, but his work Is at present such a palpable imitation of that of his more Illustrious brother, Charles Dana that it does not call for extended notlceMr. Gibson should -feeT flattered by this Imitation, but It Mr. Strauss will follow the suggestion and advice ot his sincere. Mends hlTwilf resolutely determine not to even glance at Gibson's drawings for a year, and endeavor to produce something that will be at least original.

If he will do this, and then invite us to another display of bis drawings, there is little doubt that something in them will be found that they do not at present possess. When William Hamilton Gibson died a few years ago, American art lost 1' not a great sincere and accomplished painter and Illustrator of American landscape and bird and flower life. A large collection of Gibson's studies and sketches and a few of his finished pictures are now on exhibition at the American Art Galleries, and will be sold at auction there next week. They are all filled with an intense feeling for and love of nature in her milder and sunnier moods, which marked the artist as a man as well as. a.

painter. Born In a little Connecticut hamlet, even in the busy turmoil of a city life Gibson's heart and mind dwelt ever in ths country, and he lost no opportunity of revisiting ths scenes of his boyhood days and of pursuing with ripened Intelligence of his maturer years the same investigation into the life of bird and flower that as a boy was his chief diversion. He was particularly happy in ths use of the lighter medium, and, although he painted well in oils, those who best know his works prefer his water colors. He had a delicate color scheme, and his landscapes have as a rule clear atmosphere and are well composed. His drawings of plant Insect, and birds are skillful and accurate.

This sale should be well attended, for there are many art lovers who will doubtless wish to have an example of Gibson in their collection. George a Thomas of Philadelphia has recently purchased and presented to the University of Pennsylvania an excellent portrait of the poet Wordsworth, which was painted in 1884 for Prof. Reed of the university. This portrait was painted during Inmaa's visit to England, when he was commissioned to paint Chalmers and Macaulay for James Lenox and Edwaj Carey, respectively. The Wordsworth portrait is panled by a sketch, also by Inman, of the poet's house and garden at Rydal Mount with the figure of Wordsworth In the foreground and Inman sketching him, and there is a letter extant signed by Mrs.

Wordsworth, expressing her appreciation of the artist's portrait of her husband. The loan exhibition of modern paintings now In progress under the auspices of the Boston Art Students' Association in Copley Hall, Boston, la attracting wide attention among the artists and art lovers of the Hub. There are ninety-two oils and sixty-two water colore and pastels shown. The collection Is eclectic in character, and the best painters are represented, if not in every case by notable, still by representative examples. The Harbison painters do not seem to be as much appreciated in Baltimore as In New York.

Or, perhaps, the remarkably low prices which some examples by these famous men recently brought at. the Myers sals In that city are due to the lack of an art dealers' trust to sustain the market there. A Daublgny sold for 4C0 and a Van Maixke for Corot brought 11.000 and a Dial 1.000. American Artists Annual Exhibition The Society of American Artlats celebrates this year Its twentieth anniversary and its annual exhibition of the Fine Arts Building. In the galleries of the Fine Arts Building.

In Went Fifty-seventh Street, this rooming. It is difficult to realize that a generation haa passed since the small band of art students, headed by William M. Chase, Carroll Beckwlth. Twachtman, Wior. and rotiiminir from their studies abroad.

v.nm irlven the genuine uuwui m.ik Mwi." revolted rrom me- an quated rules of the old Academy of Design, spread their banner of Independence on the outer wall, and organized the Society of American Artists. These bold and brave young artlats scarcely realised themselves at the time what their revolt and their new move meant to the causa of American art. nor how It wrote the doom of the well-termed Hudson River school of painting In this country, and the beginning of a new use of broader methods and more liberal Ideas, whlcn within a few years affected the old Academy Itself. Now, on Its twentieth birthday, the society lives to see a revolt among its own members, the secession of a band of ten painters who consider its methods too commercial, and Chase and Beckwlth et the radicals of 18.8. not only Academicians and Associates, but classed as conservatives by the radicals of 181)8.

Truly history doth repeat itself! The exhibition of the society this year, of which a press view was given yesterday afternoon and a private view last evening. Is a good and Interesting, but not a great one. The catalogue contains 340 numbers, of which some thirty-six are miniatures and portrait busts, so that upward of 300 canvases fill the walls of the South. East, and West, and VanderbUt Galleries, the miniatures and portrait bunt being in the Central Oallery. The star pictures of the display are.

as usual, with two or three exceptions. In the large Vanderbllt Oallery. it will not surprise the art lover to learn that the names upon them are those of Sargent. Whistler, La Farge, Chaw. J.1 W.

Alexander, Barse, and Bogert. i ne wi two artists are winners, respectively, this year of the Webb and Shaw PrUesfor the best landscape painted by ao American artist under forty, an the beat composition la oil containing one or more figures by an American artist. There can be little or no question of the Justice of the Jury's decision In the awarding of these prises. Mr. Bogert' landscape, which secured the Webb prise, and which hangs in the south gallery, Is entitled Evening-Honfleur." While It shows the Influence of the modern French Impressionists, It is still full of originality, la strongly composed, clear and fresh In color, and charming In atmosphere and sentiment.

Mr. Barse's figure work, which secured me Shaw Prise, hangs In the. Vanderbllt Oal- ry. and la entitled Mght ana tne vamn Day." It is a large allegorical canvas, two life-size female figures, personifying Night and Twilight floating side by side through the dusky violet-hued sky, the figure of Night supporting that of Twilight. The conception la exceedingly poetical, the treatment refined, the color soft and harmonious, and the drawing easy and graceful.

It la a dignified one might almost aay a noble-piece of work, and will add much to the artist's already high reputation. John S. Sargent Is well represented In this year's display by no lea than Ave examples. The most Important Is hi double portrait of Mr. and Mrs.

S. N. Phelps Stokes. The young couple are depicted In Summer outing costume, Mr. Stokes in white flannels and Mrs.

Stokes in a white duck skirt, a dark gray ahlrt waist and sailor hat. The figures are full length and standing. Mr. Stokea In the background on the left and both are full fas to the spectator. The canva la Instinct with life and vitality, the faces full of expression, while the simple details of the costumes are forcefully and well painted, but the heads seem abnormally small and out of proportion, and are painfully reminiscent of the small-headed Australian aborigines.

This curious effect or defect will lead to much discussion. Sargent's remaining eanvaaes are a small and Interesting- portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson, a brightly colored sketch of a Spanish cloister, a clever sketch of a Spanish girt, and a portrait head of Dr. C. itrong and well modeled, but with flesh tones so tot as to suggest rouge or apoplexy. Whistler Is represented by four examples, all of which evidence that bis master hand baa not lost 1U cunning.

These are West minster Bridge," dellclously warm In color, and with marvelous detail work; a marine, "The Blue Wave," hard In color, but full of movement; another marine, characteristic In color and title. Symphony in Violet and Blue," and a little Interesting sketch, A Note in Carmine." John" Farge, the society's President, fills the west wall of the Vanderbllt Oallery with his single example, the large and noble decorative allegorical panel, Athens The Goddess Minerva Makes the First Sketch from Nature," splendidly composed. strongly drawn, and chararterlHlirnlly rich color. Mr. La Farge a colorful brush has not produced a worthier work In years.

John W. Alexander send from Paris, his adopted city, three notable example of his recent work, entitled, respectively. "The Yellow Girl," "The Pot of Basil," and "Peonies." The first represents a young woman In a yellow gown, leaning In a somewhat forced and strained pose over a chair arm to look at a black cat at retched on Us side on a rug. Strongly drawn and well colored, the poae gives the effect 61 an Inverted photograph, and Is not pleasing. The Pot of Basil." Isabella standing clad In a gray gown, with arms upstretched to the earthenware pot in which grows the bast, placed on a wtndowaill above her head, has all the artist's grace of line and color sense, but the wind-blown gown and the composition are too suggestive of the new happily1 waning poster erase.

"Peonies Is very decorative and the most successful of Alexander's three canvases. It la pleasant to record that William M. Chase 1 painting la bis old form. lie sends ten pictures to the display all marked by his old-time virility of brush work, and breadth of treatment. The Shtnnecock.

Hills, where be now spends his Bummers, and to whose scenery and atmosphere be baa attuned hknaelf. have furnished him six landscapes, all truthful, pleln-alr studies, filled with air and light, and one really notable canvas, First Touch of Autumn," la low color key, cool and fresh in atmosphere and superb la distance. Of hla two portraits, llou" and Young Miss the latter la the beet, simple and direct In treatment, sober and harmonious In color, and strongly drawn. There are good landscape by Bolton Jones, Blrge Harrison, W. A.

Collin, Bruce Crane, I OcbUnaa, Swain Oiffor. J. F. Murphy. W.

I Palmer, C. W. Katon, Pa rah W. Whitman, Ben Foster. Walter Clark, and and notable figure wort by Carroll Beckwlth, Herbert Denman.

K. Church, O. W. Mavnard, Kenyon Cox, Itouglas Volk, and Irving It. Wiles, while H.

Hyde. Vonnoh. Robert Gordon Hanlle, Thome, Moschcowlts, Edith Pre 11-wlta. and Lute L. Huestl are to the for among the portrait Pinters renreat-nted, following Sargent and faae Their canvases, with others, must be left for notloe until 'another time.

Hero's Accomplishments. To lh Editor of Thr NfW York Timet: EB'H BAIT HI) AT JUVIEW ol me Ill I llll! II 2th under thi caption Nero and Petro- nlus." J. 1. ri. aims, wm nrwy i- of literary, poetic, and artistic glftsT" waring In my limited reading I And no mention among historian of his art as a poet or singer, but simply that ha bad a tM for art and excelled In athletics." Bonn's edition of Huetonlus's Live of the Kpeaks of Nrn as a alnger and hsrplst, ays that the Itomans Importuned him to let them hear his heavenly voloe, which desire be gratified In the garden.

Life of Nero, pages 3fi. 3.M. and 353. Section 21, XI. Harper's translation of Tacltua, Vol.

pages IWA am, tella of his singing to the harp after the theatrical fashion at "Wr," and that some Mm after this event mounted the stage, tuning bis lute with much care, and flourishing before he began bis part." By consulting the index of both the uhove works I. If." can learn mor about Nero as a poet, singer, and harpist. WILFRID II. DUAN. Guilford, Feb.

28, ISM. Ths Personal Equation la. Children. th Siitor of The Ne for Timet: Not long ago there appeared In Ttrs Tlx (' SaTf dat Rrvrew an article bead ed Futility of Too Firm a ILtod." In which tho writer, Edison T. Vllmore, dlcuN4 children reading from a point of view based on hi own personal experience.

There is one thing, however, which he neglected entirely. A be points out la the sketch of his experience, he thinks since be wai lucky enough to adopt the right eour after hovering between the future paths of good or evil which were open to him, that all children should have the same freedom in the select ton of 'their books as he enjoyed. Mr. in I mors Is under a wrong lm fireaslon. Human nature never the mid any.

two persons. Even the slightest differences surface to change the whole future course of life. Were Mr, Fttmoro's character of a more wandering and weaker nature hi intellect would undoubtedly have been ruined. But few children can be trusted with their own reading, and therefore should be one of the principal duties of paw rnt to attend to the character and choia of the children's books. N.

I. New York. Feb. 2H, 1SW..