New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-04-09
FINE ARTS.
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN.
F1FrY.TEIRD ANNUAL EXHIBITION.

proposition that In America the scuptors VINO na'o
arried their art above the stOneeutters leHeA arc u
ew And among these few, the poets TIE arnsts' are
fewer still Who will name, among the croWd Oh iSures
designed by cOuntrymen OF ours, more thah nan
dozen the bubble Of whose reputation has not broken
almost before tho little gust OF popular applause tha'
Yted II above the dead level has died away. where
a. Crawford where is GreenOugh, where oh where IL
Powersi Where, indeedl As well ASK Where are INC
SHOWS OF yester-year1 OF contemporary names, u Is
not gracious speak, but how few OF these sahd al!
chance of surviving 10 their cOuntys memory except
as useful remembrancer stone OF her great men gone
II is no great consolation 90 know that we nave doho
unite as well as the English much better hueeo oo
sdering the opportunities have had: for reh paos
OF sculpture have been fewer here than rch patrons Vi
painting whereas, in England, commissions ior sup
ture both public ana private. have been Peh'1 INC
question is not, whether we nave uOhe oet
ter than some others, but whether, When our
Ivork a compared with that Of men anywhere whose
fame secure we shall be found to have done well at
ALI Statues OF nOtables equestrian, sitting or standing
busts real or nOnsensCaly ideal; and tnen cro"o VI
Rebeccas and Ruths, Nydas and Nymphs, PToserpehas
and PenseTOsOs, Faiths and Fisher-DOys SlOyls anu
Semiramiscs, and SO forth ana 80 on an
alike weak In an art where TO DO weak
is to be miserable indeed this is the melancholy YER
dict OF the Muse Of Sculpture she looks oyerher Amor
lean domain. Much mechanic ceyeIness' she grants;
much industry much desire to do well among certain
of her devotees much learning; but everywhere inc min
imum of sentiment of poetic feeling OF any real ars'o
purpose. These things may come some day here ii
America or Americans wherever they may CHANCE "
be- but assuredly they have not come yet
The Academy exhibitions, however have never been
the place ia which to look for the promise OF
a better day, aud we shall find as few OF
them this year as We have ever found MI OH
Warmers small bust plaster, No. 731, is artistcay
the largest piece here the only piece that has denhe
artistic character but small bit is almost lost III
room full of fe-size buss like this STILL If the visitor
will seriously look at this head aud compare 1t with the
Others about IT, even with the best OF the others, with
Mr. ODonovan's civilian Page" No 722, he viii learn
the distinction between artistic feeling and artistic trlcK
between life and makebeleve life and he Will learn IL
much better by comparing these two busts than he can
by comparing Mr.. Warmers work with mere stone
cutting like Nos IA and 7l6. For, when we look at
these nanmate dolls or at the staring image Of General
Malone No 724 and then at Mr.. ODOnovan's
civilian Page" we are necessarily much impressed
with the mechanical skill OF this performance compared
with the crudeness of the Others and do not feel its
lack Of vitality and expression seeing how dead they are
But turn at once from Mr.. O'DOnovau's bust to Mr..
Warmers and this little head is so quick, so speak
ing so artistic in its composition that when we
turn back to Mr.. O'Donovans head again, we wonder
how it ever seemed to us alive at all Mr. ODOnOvan's
smaller busts Of Mr. Wnsow Homer and Mr. Beard, are
less lfeke stin than his head of Mr. Page He gets
likeness true but that any dO-he point is
to get life, and not man in twenty can get life.
The bust of Mr.. Page is not a composition at ALL 1t
might be taken from cast Of the artists
head. We ought to insist on the sculptor's
putting his art into everything he touches
Why should we look for art in q head, say OF
aspiring" or "Hebe," but think do without art
in a head, say Of Mr.. Smiths Outside of Mr.. Smiths
circle OF friends and admirers nobody cares whether
is staring or speaking likeness of Smith at ALL but
-l,o 11p1.vs !, ftxrto In
likeness OF not. Call Mr.. Warmers little bust head OF
Escuapus or the Indian Bacchusand say it dug up
on Greek ground and should all be eager for casts OF
It, 1t a cheerful rich little antique however he calls
IT, But Mr.. ODOnOvan's heads will not increase the de-
mand for pedestals. This sculptor is a Pygmalion
whose statue is vexatouSly coming to life. His
bust is watched pot that won't boil.
Mr. J. s. Hartley evidently belongs to the spasmodic
school His Lots Wife," in the exhibition Of the Art
lists Association, was wild and sensational enough to
satisfy the greediest appetite that supped on hor
rOrs but i'll fantastcalness his "Whrwind," in this ex
hibtOn is match for the other. There was, however,
no possibility Of recOncng Lots Wife," as treated 10y
Mr.. Hartley, with the beauty demanded by Art-the
conception fantastic, and it doubt scientific,
but there beauty in it, not even terrible beauty
woman dying in spasms Of agony the air.
saturated with salt envelopes her in its crys-
tails, is not q fit subject for art; 1t would
defy Michael Angelo. and Mr. Hartley dangerously
near making II ludicrOus. His "Whirlwind" is more
reasonable endeavOr, but still impossible one for any
body but cODsummate master to venture upon. There
IS far too much eralness in Mr. Harteys treatment Of
bis theme, much effort to reconcile science and
poetry, effort which results might have been ex
pected in giving neither the other. Just
in Lots Wife," we taken up with studying
the shape and grouping Of salt crystals than in thinking
Of the real horror OF the story, here we put of
with the law OF water-spouts, when all we ask is
che oFf tho Tn - Tota
there two thngs-an aggOmeratOn of saltcrysial
aud woman in the grip of death; in the "Whirlwind
there are two things water-spOut and woman who
has up the spout. What poetry what art demands
in either is the Identification of the human nature
with the elemental force each ought to be interpene
traed with the other the imagination Of the spec
tatOr is to DO satisfied. But this is something
that no art has yet accomplished, not even
Japanese art, the most imaginative Of all art in the
realm of mOnstrosities, and Western art has never
attempted it by any OF her greatest hands. What we
ask of artist is that he give us beauty Sublimy
grandeur terror may all be forms Of beauty but there Is
point beyond which, they be carried, they degcner-
ate into fantascaness and this is fatal degeneracy
Mr. Hartley is certainly in the wrong path his "Whirl-
wind" Is artistic than the headed bulls that
keep guard at the gates OF Gmores Garden The visit
tor however. may easily think it worse than
It's IT, while looking at it, he read Mr. George Innesss
"pOety" appended TO the title in the catalogue. This
Is most comical productiona kind of cross between
Mr. Tupper's thought and Mr.. Whitman's versnca-
ton, and there is Of the sort inscribed tho
frames of Mr. Innesss pictures in this exhibition,
90 that Mr. Hartley cannot complain that he is an ex-
elusive victim. But as Mr.. Hartley is victimized in
such way that he who may read, while the
"pOetry Mr.. Inness's frame is family printed
that not read it unless win Mr. Hartley is
after all, little the worse of
Miss Olivia s. Wards bust of Miss Maria r. Oakley is
not performance which the friends OF either artist
can reasonably be expected TO congratulate her Miss
Wards talent for sculpture is Of the most amateurs
kind and entirely unequal yet even to correct model
ing much less TO the artistic treatment OF her subject
1t ought be lost sight Of that up to certain point
modelling IN clay is of the cOmmOnest of human
mt merely animal capacities