New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-11-27
The American Art Union.

j
ever before, and that there will be q corresponds
ing increase in the number of pictures distributed.
AS for their quality we cannot say that it is much
better or worse than in preceding years. We
lave looked frequently and carefully through the
eaery-always with sense of satisfaction at
the fact that such gallery is thrown grstutously
open to the public and is thronged from morning
till night. Though the works exhibited are not
the best in the world, we regard that gallery as
great public benefacton, and should lament its
close as a calamity.
We are we'll aware that the Art Union has en-
countered violent hostility from certain quarters
within the past year or two, and that its Mana
gers are accused of gross unfairness and misuse
Of the funds of the Association. 1t is not our pur'
pose here to inquire whether those charges are
true or false The public evidently regard them
with Indifference or ncredulity, for the Institu-
ton thryes better than ever, We feel bound
however, to express our decided suspicion that
personal motives have a great deal to do in these
assaults We have little doubt, that, had the
purchases of pictures not been made just as they
have BEEN the Art Union would have been spared
g great deal of the i'll will now directed against it.
/ We do not understand that any of the more gifted
and popular artists whose pictures have decided
merit, and command a ready sale, are engaged in
this warfare.
The pictures already in the catalogue are be-
tween three and four hundred in number Taken
together they afford fair representation OF the
state of Art in this country. with perhaps its de-
fects more abundantly illustrated than its merits.
Certainly the Committee have not been stringent
in the exclusion of poor pictures, for there are
plenty on the walls which we should think dear
at any price above the value of the frames IN
/ which they are set On the other hand. there are
some which would do credit to any living school
! Coles Dream of Arcadia is the chief OF these
/ 1t is one of the best works Of that admirable ar
list which we have ever seen, and beyond dis
pute the very best picture in this Gallery We
regard it as far superior in point of poetic apprec
alton of Nature, originality of invention and fell
city of execution, to the sentimentalities which
the same painter put forth as a Voyage OF Life
and which have been so much talked OF On ac
count Of their moral. This is production pure
beauty full of uxurant Grecian nature, and
diant with the light of that matchess cline. 1t
was plainly genuine enforced creation of its au.
prize better worth having than this
! GLAU has several pictures in the gallery which
attract attention and receive praise Two OF
them the STANDARD in Danger and the Standard
Bearer pendants to each other are superior to the
others. There is feeling about them which is
agreeable and they evidently cost good deal of
careful labor. But too much of that labor was in
the study of English engravings, and too little in
the study of Nature. G1GNouX has some good
landscapes. His Dismal Swamp we praised
last Spring when it hung at the National Acade-
N.Y. and it has lost nothing by its removal. 1t ex-
hibts conscientious and receptive study OF color
and manly holiness of treatment, Mr. GignouX
ia not afraid Of the severe school OF Nature. His
Moonlight and Snow Scene are attractive
and satisfactory. HICKs's Peasants OF Ceryano"
is remarkable for the flood of day light which per-
vades it, as well as for artistic conscience in every
part. He has also two little Venetion Scenes
which have always charmed US. They have all
the minute fidelity Of Daguerreotypes with a
atmospheric quality which we never weary of
admnng What is perhaps most remarkable in
this artists pictures is the freedom and fidelity
with which he uses nature and certain unex-
hausted power. You never feel that he has laid
himself out, and done the best he has to do
KENsETT's landscapes next strike US in looking
/ through the catalogue. We never see picture
by this artist without congratuating him on doin@
;nst what he can do best. The leafy depth of the
woods, the dewy morning air, the freshness of
early Summer especially, belong to his pencil
No. II, No. 50, No. 60, are prizes worth having
If Coles picture is the best in the collection,
one OF those by CHURCH is the next best. We
mean No. 2G, Twilight" picture on which it is
impossible to gaze without delight, and which
must not be COMPOUNDED with No. Al, also by Mr..
Church, and bearing the same title We
marked on this picture at length when it was In
the Academy, and need not repeat the encomi-
ums then passed upon it. But the more we look
at it the more we are convinced that it is of
those rare feicites which chance to genius, and
which cannot be voluntarily repeated. Such
works grow spontaneously from the inner soul,
and cannot be constructed by the planning intel
lect no matter how sagacious. In this picture
the sentiment is so grand and true as to render
every part harmonious and to make impossible
that mannersm which appears strongly in some
of Mr.. Churchs works, and which results from
conscious inability to master the natural elements
of the subject treated.
Mr.. HNcxLEY has one picture, No 49, a land
scape with cattle and another No. l04, " Disputed
Game" They are pleasing to superficial OBJ
servers, but badly colored and himsy. Mr..
HINcKLEY's easel seems deficient in some OF the
most useful pigments. RAMsEYs picture are all
weak in color. However, they tell their story
with spirit and success Ills later works bear
the mark of industrious study, and all of them are
favorites with the public. No l2l, the Hals on
the Prairie, is especially admired not without
reason. We notice two pictures by CLoNNEY,
an imitation of Mount. One by LEUTzE always
attracts attention. 1t is No. II, Illustrating an