New-York Tribune from New York, New York • Page 51

American Art in Washington The Corcoran Gallery's Eighth Exhibition By Royal Cortissoz With the approach of tho holidays draw near to tha dividing lino in the matter of auction Through the fall and early winter they are very largely concentrated upon furniture and miscellaneous objects. In that wide field the galleries have brought quantities of interesting rhings But now the paintings are in sight. The American Art Galleries an? nounced the other day the forthcoming sa'o of the Peacock collection, from Pittsburgh. It consists of Barbuon and other French works, with Inness snd Wyant upholding the American school. This sale will occur early in It will be followed in rapid succession by a number of important collections, enough of them to carry the subject on until the spring.

AH the signs point to a good 6eason. The picture market thus far has not been prccisei; exciting, but neither has it been neglected. Inquiry as to one, mixed exhibition lately held developed tha fact that at least ten of the pic tarea had been sold. The exhibition Mr. Sargent's fifteen water opened on a Saturday.

On the follow? ing Monday thirteen of the pictures boro the little star indicating that they had found purchasers, about as iti a record of tangible appreci? ation as could be desired. Old masters continue to flow into American collec? tions, as witness the and the Quentin Mats bought by Mr. Fried It is also said that the superb i.integna lately acquired by the Duveens from the Duke of Buccleugh is to come to America. The outlook for ia auspicious. Good Painting Some Native Type? at Their Best Washington exhibition held bi ly at the Corcoran Gallery has been a stimulating affair.

The atest in the series, the eighth, which vas opened with a private view last tight, strikes again the healthy note haracteristic of its predecessors. It 3 the note which lias its origin in a Liberal yet exacting policy. The public, we have not infrequently remarked, rtain claims in these matters. It OPEN TO-DAY (SUNDAY) 3 to 9 P. ML The Whitnev Studio Club 1 nnouncev un of PAINTINGS and DRAWINGS by the members of the club John Alrer Elizabeth Fulda Wavier Barile Samuel Halpert Cocant George 0.

Hart itadore Fei'sehon Eleanor Sauxay Watanabe from DECEMBER 8 to 24 Weekdays: 11 A. M. to 10 P. M. 3 P.

M. to 9 P. M. 147 WEST FOURTH ST. j.

m. am NEEDLEWORK i AND ACCESSORIES 1 STAMPED LINENS WOOLS, Etc. 1 i Exclusive Holiday Novelties 1T.E.D0ELGER&C0.1 I 26 West 46th Street -j Formerly at Broadway and 81th St. EstaWished 1898. I a.

FRANCISCA REYES La ge Collection of Genuine Spanish Antiques Monthly Shipments Spanish Shawls 675 Madison Ave. f.vecr etst su i ORIENTAL RUGS Antique and Modern at less than wholesale prices A. ARZOUYAN S3M? DUDLEY JAMES OF THE ORIENT 817 AVENUS E. CORNER OF 53RD STREET. VOBK PAINTINGS of the SOUTH SEAS Armstrong Srerry to 84th.

Inclusive. Art Centre Building W-67 East 56tb Street I visits an exhibition to be interested, to i be edified and pleased, not to encour age lame ducks. It is hard to sny where a jury should be most alert, in watch I ing for the good picture to be let in or in watching for the bad ono and bar i ring it out. And by the "bad one" we mean more particularly the speciously smooth article which is essentially mediocre. It is tho plague of all our The Corcoran Gallery has not escaped its ravages.

But the show is refreshingly significant of a high standard, sagaciously and coura geously maintained. There, has been a kind of moral in fiuence flowing from tho Washington I hypothesis of what an exhibition I should be. The artists recognize the I value of their opportunity and send the Corcoran Gallery of their best. If there is one thing moro than another which prevails in our broad impression of the ensemble it is a sense of professional solidarity, of the ardor with which numbers of our leading artists have got together to make a good exhibition. They form a fairly impressive com? pany, having for its slogan "skillful technique." And circumstances make the efforts of thl3 band of painters peculiarly worth while.

The prizes of fered are on an attractive scale and Senator Clark's recent gift of $100,000 lends a special interest to the subject this year. It settles the security of I arrangements which from the begin ning have owed eveiything to his gen erosity. But, without underestimating the potency of the prizes in drawing I ambitious works to the show, we are inclined to attach even greater im portanco to the mode of hanging. Every artist is "on the line" and profits by the ample space that is left between himself and his neighbor to tho right or to the left. There is no second line.

The result is a serene and dignified ef i feet which must be like balm to the ex hibitor. It must also add enormously I to the pleasure of the public. There are centers, of course, in the different rooms, places of honor in which it is not unnatural to look for works in themselves salient. From a short-sighted point of view these posi? tions might be regarded as disappoint I ing. They are taken by no spectacular canvases.

The Corcoran Gallery con? tains no "picture of the year." It tes? tifies once more to the weakness of the American school in creative power, in the invention which might give us I great designs. In our exploitation of the human figure we are persistently decorative, not dramatic. Where doe3 i the explanation lie? Perhaps in the i foolish fear of. the literary, anecdotic I motive which fell into such disrepute i about the time of our discovery of "art i for art's sake." But what we lack in the adventurous sphere of desijrn we i make up in taste and in feeling for I sensuous charm. Mr.

T. W. Dewing well illustrates in "La Peche" the fruitful indifference to I human passion which we have in mind. The lady with the fishing rod who gives the picture its title is, we sur mise, no more interested in a possible 1 catch than are her companions on the scene. Like them she is in evening dres3.

Like them she figures in a land I scape for no other purpose than to gratify the artist's whim. But what if i the whim happens to be that of a man envisioning beauty for its own sake'. Dewing's figures are akin, in essence. to those rustling in tho gardens oi i Fragonard or gliding romanticallj through the sylvan glades of Monti celli. What they are doing does noi matter; it is enough that they exist i Comparatively few of this painter', com.

i positions are based on open air sub jects. When they are bo conceived I they possess a remarkable interest This example is masterful. The greei tones in it make us wish that he woulc more often tackle landscape. Severa i of his comrades of "The.Ten America! i Painters" are represented on this occa sion. Metcalf has two fine landscapes one of them the beautiful "Bcnedic tion," in which an old New Englan? i meeting house takes on the majesti character of a temple under the nigh light which bathes the scene.

This i an instance of tender emotion lifting i familiar theme to a higher plane, in vesting fact with the interest tha I springs from personal feeling. It is appealing bit of subjective painting. Objective, we suppose, In the stric sense, is Mr. Benson's essay in sti! I life, "The Silver Screen," yet here, to? there is som.thing more than the ade quate reproduction of the things see: i There is a kind of happy ardor in th 1 manipulation of color, the search after beauty in the subtleties painted surface. Mr.

Benson semi also one of hi? studies from the figur a lightly touched canvas, having a ce: tain elegance. It is a good performanc but it is in "The Silver Screen" that 1 achieves a real triumph, Mr. De Camp in a felicitous vein also in "The Windo Blind," but this interior with a figur one of the broadest and handsome canvases to come from a member of tl Boston group since that group begt I taking leaves from tb? book of Ve: i meer, has one oddly disconcerting pa sage. The face of the woman is in shadow so deep that it almost masl her, and the equilibrium of the who picture is thereby threatened. Mr.

Ta bell's contribution is a portrait, techn cally a very swift, precise exercis matching in its nervous force tl spirited manner in which the artist hi visualized his sitter. Mr. Robert Rei fig-ures among "The Ten" with an expected canvas, unexpected because 1 gives a fanciful turn to his This is a Colorado mountain peak, bi he calls it "Moon Phantoms" and ju tifiea the title by modeling his blci rock into faint sus-gestions of ghos like Tho idea involved danges but he haa avoided them, persuasively poetizing his bleakness. It is an inter? esting venture, skillfully managed. That other group which has a desig? nation of its own, the Taos group, is present in good that is, numerically, and from its own point of view.

But it does not add to tho charm exhibition. On the contrary. It introduces an altogether too assertive element wherever it makes itself felt Taos hardness and hotness need elbow room, obviously. Yet even when they get it, as they do at the Corcoran Gal? lery, they leave an unlovely impression. There is a lot to be said for "life" as distinguished from the figure posed in the studio, but we would scarcely cite i the Taos painters, briskly efficient as they are, as being on the side of tho angels in the familiar argument.

Prac? tically all the really plausible evidence at this exhibition goes to strengthen the cause of the studio. As we have already indicated, the show may be deficient in compositions of a large meaning, but it is rich in the kind of work which through sheer good paint? ing easily lures us into forgetfulness of other issues. Mr. Burtis Baker's i "Interior with Figure," to which the second Clark prize has been awarded, and his "Black TViantilla" bring out the point. He is a striking representa? tive of the younger men, with some? thing added to the manual dexterity on which the younger men are apt to pride themselves.

His color is good. He draws well. And his picture in each case is a unit, painted with breadth and energy. That is the virtue oi American figure painting as it here makes its demonstration. It is compe? tent and in good taste.

It needs cos? tume, as a rule. There are severa nudes on the walls, but only one ol them denotes authority in the delinea? tion of form. That exceptional canvae is "La Rubia," by Mr. Robert Henri, the polished work of an old sophisticated hand. But the draped figure is effec? tively, interestingly painted by more contributors than it is possible to dis cus3 in detail in this place.

Miss Vio? let Oakley's "Weavers of New in which realism and the studio atmos? phere struggle together; Mr. C. Hawthorne's "American a victorious attack, in tho red robe upon one of the stiffest problems ol the colorist; Miss E. H. Wetherill's im pressively somber "Theodule," are near the head of a surprisinglj long list.

We forbear from closer ex amination of this heartening sion of pictures partly because man; of the things in it have been touchei upon before, at exhibitions in Nev York. But it may be noted in passinj how exhilarating an atmosphere ma; sometimes be. Since the whole level i so well kept up at the Corcoran Galler; even well-known types take on a meas ure of freshness. The portraiture is not, on the impressive. The conventional pot boile has crept in.

But there are canvaae which redress the balance. There i a new Sargent, a rapid sketch, no very large in scale, of his friend th marine painter, Charles H. Woodburj Mr. Wiles, in "The Green Hat," make an excursion into mere frou frou an lifts canvas above "mercness. There is a fine portrait by Mr.

H. i Meryman, his "Theodore Noyes." Th The Silver Screen (From the painting by Frank W. Benson in the exhibition at Wash? ington) seated figure is admirably constructed, the head is modeled in a clean, work? manlike manner, and, in addition, the quiet tone? are enlivened by a judi? cious play of light, and with a discreet use of unobtrusive accessories the artist has produced a portrait" that is a design. The landscapes, strangely, are like the portraits, in that their cumulative effect is not quite what it usually is in an American exhibition There are some works of a high order. Wo have mentioned Mr.

Metcalf'a "Benediction." There is also a serenely beautiful "Winter Landscape" by Mr. Charles A. Platt, almost austere in i composition, pure in tone, an exquisite piece of interpretation of nature There are good landscapes by Symons, Redfield, Ryder, Dosch and many others. But almost all of these ac-l complished men are terribly direct and The subtle approach of Mr Platt or Mr, H. Davis, the mode of approach most convincing in our land scr.pe art, is rather overborne in the melee.

On the other hand, the very melee points to a certain wholesome vitality. If there is a good deal in the exhibition of a. kind of defiant affirmation it connotes in but few cases the disordered, uninstructed and crude self-assertion we associate with the so-called modernists. Although those gentry have not been given the cold shoulder at the Corcoran Gallery they have been sifted, so to say; as they have reached the portals, and not too many of them nave beon admitted. The jury has steered a sufficiently generous and the same time discriminating course.

Honest workman.hip has been the test. It is in its abundance of good work- manship that the exhibition commandai nigh praise. Vedder A Notable Example of His Art at the Museum In that amusing book of biographical reminiscence, "The Digressions of there is a characteristically amuse ing reference to one of the best of Vcdcier's early pictures. "'The Lost! he says, "was called by the Boys 'The Idiot and the Bath-Towel'; in fact, tho drapery wa3 a httlo thick about tho nock." That is all he ha. to say about it, beyond recording that it I Interior With Figure (Front the painting by Bttrtis Baker in the exhibition at Washington) was bought by Mrs.

Laura Curties Bul? lard, who "was from the beginning, and always remained, my good friend." In memory of that friend it was be? queathed to our Museum, along with an early Dutch "Adoration of the Magi," by Mrs. Helen L. Bullard. The picture hangs in the Recent Acces? sions Room, and will in due course take its p.acc in one of the galleries devoted to the American school. It, will enjoy high rank there.

The date, 1864-'65, recalls one of the most significant phases of Elihu Ved der's long career. He was then on the verge of his thirtieth year and his permanent settlement in Home. It is not unnatural to think of him as dat- i ing, so as to say, from the beginning of I his Italian period. But, as a matter of fact, Vedcler had an extraordinary efflorescence before that time. He was never more happily even when he drew his famous illustrations for the in his early American days, the days only tinctured i by a brief European experience.

Hia imagination teemed with picturesque conceptions. He painted "The Lair of the Sea Serpent," "The Roc's Egg," "The Cumaean Sibyl," "The Ques? tioner of the Sphinx." He painted "The Lost Mind." Perhaps "painted" is not altogether the right word, Vedder has never been a man of tha bru.h, in the rtrictest sense of the He has never been much of a colorist. It has been through' drafts? manship rather than anything else that he has triumphed, technicall and there ha has been a trifle heavy- handed. But "The Lost Mind" shows us tho curious manner in which a man of idsas may sometimes counterbalance his own handicaps. It belongs in the category of those i fairly numerous pictures which touch na through spiritual qualities and i through merits of design where other traits are best observed after they have been translated into the terms of photography.

Ros.etli and Burno-Jones are types of thi? kind of art. There is a other presented, by coincidence, at trtia very moment, ir the recent accessions room, Gustave Morcan, whose "Sphinx and Oedipus" figures in the Herriman bequest. These are men of imagination, purely, who have never cared as much for painting as painting as they have cared to give pictorial expression to some romantic or poetic thought. But Vcdder, in "The Lost Mind," has at least not be? come indurated in tho technical habit of his later years. His tones might he more transparent.

His handling might ho smoother, more elastic. But in both he is still freo from tho tur? gid, leathery method which finally overtook him. And there is no gain? saying the dignity of composition or the fine linear distinction with which he treats not only the figure but hi? ground forma, and especially the simple mountain mass in the back? ground. Thera is grimnes3 and thero is tenderness, too, in this picture. Tho pathological element sinks to nothing.

We aro conscioua only of a kind of eerie beauty. Hero is a good instance of the noto which years ago gave Elihu Vedder a place of his own, a place which he has never lost. That it has como to stay in the museum must be gratifying to every thoughtful student of American art. There ia a suggestive little exhibition in one of tho Oriental rooms at the museum, one of paintings representing members of the Nippon Bijutsu-in, or Fine Arts Academy of Japan. Mr.

Bosch Reit, explains in tho "Bulletin" the origin and purposes of this body, formed "to conserve and tc develop the art ideals of He emphasizes its usefulness in drawing tho Japanese school away from indiscreet contact with Western ideas. We had an odd illustration of what that might lead to when the late Millet brought from Japan, years ago, a sketch book filled for him with drawings made by a number of his artist friends In tho East. They had been bitten with European notions. The results were of a merely nondescript nature, inborn cleverness being overlaid with factitious strivings after incongruous effects. The pictures at the museum disclose the trend of men faithful to tho genius of their country's i ancient tradition.

They are not, on the whole, men of remarkable gifts. Save for the "Catfish" of Maeda Soeison, the "Plum Blossoms at Dawn" of Yasudo Yukihito, the "After the Rain" of Yuko- jama Taikwan and the "White Cat and "Wild Rose" of Kirotara Buzan, there is nothing on the walls reviving anything like the brilliance of old Japanese work- manship. Of these four pictures only tho "Catfish" denotes an absolutely authoritative technique. On the other hand, it ia interesting to noto just the adherence of those artists to the law. of their past.

It means that they are content to remain in their natural ele? ment, that they are not running after false gods. Some portent may some day arise in Japan to prove that the East may masterfully adopt the artistic idioms of the West, Meanwhile it is good to know that thero are men of talent who see the wisdom of cultivat? ing what is in their blood. The Roman Academy Paintings and Sculptures by Divers Alumni Another aspect of thi3 matter of tra? dition is brought up by an exhibition at the Art Center, one which has been ar ranged the rooms of the Tiffany Foundation, it is made by alumni of the American Academy In Rome. The Japanese, we would say, are well ad? vised when they cultivate their own garden, follow the instinct that comes to them by inheritance. Why, then, should Americans go to Rome instead of falling into tho ways of their fore? fathers? The answer is simple.

We aro in tho nature of things and, what is more, all the masters of the Western schools are our forefath? ers. There are things for us to learn Romo as thero aro things for us to 1 learn at Paris, things addressed to us in our own language, the language 1 tho Western tradition. It is difficult to make this plain to some of- our artists, not only tho young "modern- ista," but some of their elders. We fear I that is because there are still too many believers in the end of art as being nothing more than a trick of painting. The Roman Academy enforces a few other lessons and the present exhibi tion offers some persuasive arguments on their value.

There is, for example, the lesson of composition. The young painter who can handle his brush with a certain adroitness is nevertheless sometimes as clumsy as a child when he attempts to put his picture together. The Roman Academy does not give him a Roman formula to study. It simplv turns him loose upon the scene creat composition and leaves tl fluence of the masters to make an il pression not only upon his eye, but upon his mind. If ho has any imagi? nation it is inevitable that he suffer what we would call a refinement of his artistic manners.

There a droll story of a brilliant American painter who had been in Rome for a veek or ten days when a friend from i'orae met him in the street and was shocked to find that he hadn't visited the Sistine Why hadn't 'Because," he replied, with a grin, "1 don't want to risk a dislocation of my individuality." There is an element of truth at the bottom of the joke. Rome, 'or the weak brother, may easily lead to disaster. But the weak brother vould collapse anywhere. The man with a genuine gift will bring it back 'rom Rome not subdued to an imita? tive feebleness b'lt really enriched. Mr.

Ezra Winter, the decorator oi" the Cunard Building, offers a good case in point. Italian precedent lies un- mistakabiy behind his work. It is ap-1 parent in the fragments he shows at I the Art Center. But has it done him any harm? Has it not, on tho con- trary, fitted him to produce a remark- able scheme of decoration, fine in de? tail and in the ensemble? In composi-, tion, in drawing, in stylo it is obvious that he is the better for his Roman sojourn. Take another quite different Russell Cowics.

His "Classic Landscape" is interesting because it has a sound basis of design. In his 1 "Colorado Landscape" it plain that fie is using greater freedom. This freedom is bound to be enlarged as he proceeds. But it is abo tolerably cer-1 tain from the "Classic Landscape" that whatever he docs in the future will have graceful form. He will put unity into his work.

He will not be addicted to the inchor.te fragment. It is merit of design, with an insistence upon purity of line and contour, which we see cropping out most suggestively in the various works by Mr. Winter and Mr. Faulkner, Mr. Cox and Mr.

Jenne- i wein, Mr. Fry, Mr. Manship and Mr. Thrasher. It is perceptible, too, in the contributions'of Mr.

George the broadest interpreter of the Roman idea. Does this exhibition reveal the Roman Academy as an institution "turning out" great artists? It has never pretended to be anything of! the sort. Its object is to envelop certain picked men in an atmosphere calculated to stimulate and heighten their sense of beauty. That it sue-1 ceeds in this the exhibition proves beyond the shadow of a doubt. Two exhibitions have been opened at the gallery of the Junior Art Patrons and will continue for a month.

One is 1 668 Fifth Avenue CO! Galsworthy EXHIBITION New Lithographs in color Aquatints and Water Colors by Arthur B. Davies E. WEYHE OIL PAINTINGS SALE TO-MORROW AND ALL WEEK T.xfttuplr? by BOfeFKT. BXOvYrV. REIO and Ku-oyfiUi Artists.

OPEN EVENINGS THIS WEEK jCALO ART GALLERIES Between B'waj and SiMh At? 128 W. 49 St oampopod of paintings from the nud. by Messrs. Beilows, Davies, Henri, Hal pert, Kroll, Miller, Sloan and Sterner. The other contains etchings, litho? graphs and drawings by American and foreign artists.

At a general meeting of the students in tho schools of the National Academy of Design an organization was recently formed for their mutual welfare. They propose to give financial aid to students and to promote a spirit of fel? lowship in their body. They will funds by social functions and outside solicitation. An addition has been made tht. exhibition of works by Mr.

George Bel? lows at the Montross gaSery. 1 toom has now been filled with a col.ec tion of his lithographs. CHRISTMAS EXHIBITION of ORIGINAL DRAWINGS by ORPEN DEGAS JOHN FANTIN-LATOUR M'EVOY FORAIN DULAC BESNARD KAY NEILSON CARRIERE AUBREY BEARDSLEY AT THE NEW GALLERIES OF SCOTT FOWLES 667 Fifth Avenue (Between 52nd and 53rd Streets) EXHIBITION DRAWINGS Ta (FROM THE 108 WEST 57TH ST. EXHIBITION of American Prints by Currier Ive? CHRISTMAS PRESENTS that will be appreciated of their rarity MAX WILLIAMS 538 Madison Avenue Between 54th and 55th Street. EXHIBITION OF Cheney December 13 to 24 BABCOCK GALLERIES 19 East 49th Street Illustrated Brochure of? request 1 i-I-TS CRAFTS Unusual Gifts for Xmas MEAR JOIST ST OPB-N (f I SPANISH Antique Shop IMPORTS DIRECTLY FROM SPAIN AND HANDLES SPANISH ANTIQUES EXCLUSIVELY YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO IN? SPECT OUR LATEST IMPORTATIONS 768 MADISON AYENUt COMFORT TIFFANY GALLERY ART CENTER BUUHX' 65-67 EAST 56TH STREET Paintings and Sculpture By Alumni of ihe AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME DECEMBER TO Philip SUVAL Largest and best collection of Mezzotint? and Etchings.

Restored. 746 MADISON AVE. IXw-er? 64th and T. HANFSTAlReiT 152 WEST 57th ST. Fine Original Etchings and for Christmas Book Exhibition A Vint Now Ou Visw At Stonestreet'ft 507 3tb xnw tor? cirr.

MACBETH PARK I George A. for Holiday Gifl; 450 FIFTH AVENUE TWo Doora South of the I jbvy Opening To-day (Sunday) to 7 P. M. SPECIAL EXHIBITION Hobort Nichoi? E. Irving Cousc Geo.

Elmer Browne Karl Anderson Max Bohn Chis. S. Chapman Spencer Nichols Chas. W. Cxiaunrey Ryder John Noble Glenn Neweu Richard MiBer 8 IME ANNE OFEN EVENINGS Schultheis Galleries 142 Fulton Street PRINTS FRAMING Elmore Studios stone, etc.

Gsrdr? jfarnirnrc, reasonable one? Estimate? given. Chinese Antiques East 57th Street New York KIPPS ART OBJECTS 1NTFH10RS ANCIENT STAINED GUSS 571 LEXINGTON near 53th N.Y. D. B. Butler Co.

Etchings, Mezzotint? in Color Noted Etchers ard Engravers Frames 601 Madison Ave. (57 St.) HOLIDAY EXHIBITION jj Pictures for Children I Through December Brown-Robertson Gallery 413 Madison Avenue (40th St.) Bellows Exhibition lithographs Now included Tfcrongk December MONTROSS GALLERY Rftk 454.