The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-05-04
THE NATIONAL xoADEME.


and unsatisfactory picture. as. indeed. arc most
b Historically compounded landscapes Of the sort
There is fine work in II. and sense OF tropical
splendor in its uxuriance OF color that is inter-
esting and highly decorative; but like many
Raudy flower and seeming luscious fruit OF
climes too sunny. that defraud the sense that
each would fain appeal to. 1t is n thing OF outer
show and shallowness-theatric and meaning
less. There is. after all. something dspiritnR
and heartless about tropical landscapes. They
may contain wondrous wealth OF form and
color and be filled with objects Of great grace
and beauty OF outline; but the emotion that they
excite partakes more Of the nature OF curiosity
than anything else. This is undoubtedly a
prejudice Of latitude. but 1t is nevertheless
deeply rooted and 1t obtains widely. No one
who visits our Academy would be very deeply |
moved by the moet skilful depletion OF a tropi- |
cal forest or by the most faithful rendering OF |
the icy spendora OF the Arctic. and none OF the |
artistic explorations that we have had from |
time to time oi the higher and the lower lati- |
tudes has ever had any renl value or other than
passing interest as something outre and
curious because removed from common human
experience. For this reason. II Is not surprising
that Mr.. Moran should be moro effective when
concerned with a subject nearer home even II
1t be only just across the river and consist Of
-
and tho gruesome atmosphere OF mingled
smoke and fog incident to the fragrant water
front Of Jersey City. His After Thaw-Com-
munipaw Ferry" (No. 2S9) is much
more profitable work than his Ponce
de Leon in the Everglades Of Florida"
OF which IL IL very quiet rebuke.
There Is no more grateful task than that which
such a theme presents to the artist who. seeing
and believing in the truth is content to express
II for it's own sake. Mans undocorative handl-
work. the coarse monuments Of his material and
mechanical purposes-the factories. the great
chimney stacks. the piles Of mere brick and
mortar. the roofs and sheds. the railroads. the
wharves and ships the whole apparatus OF daily.
uneventfu toil-these things nature sometimes
takes unto herself. softenng their hard out
lines. mitigating and subduing their grosser
aspect. and bestowinR upon all the gentle
glamour OF her own spiritual mystery
Ordinarily tho ideas associated with
all these things. these factories. these
contemporary forges OF social progress. these
things that smoke and emit tho dull monotone
Of labor. are unRratefu But the objects them
selves are part and parcel OF our daily lives;
they enter very largely into the scheme OF our
common existence. and our nature is coored
by them. just rs in the economy OF life animals
assume conditions that are comfortable 10 the
objects by which they are surrounded.
The poetry Of all this material is not very OBJ
vous. but there is n measure OF expression Of
1t conceded to art. for every instance Of which
that is produced by an American artist we
should be grateful. thoughtful study OF
landscape brings us into n certain relation with
and gives us access to the deeper feeling Of some
phase Of MIXTURE. and makes us conscious Of its
poetic quality. The same office can be performed
for more familiar objects. not commonly recog
| nizsd as elements of a picture TO which the
! term landscape. In its ordinary significance.
would be reudily applied. Unfortunately the
! chief ambition Of artists has long been for Brit
| any skies or Mediterranean waters. and few
| have had the vocation TO look about them Mt
| home and near them among the scenes from
! which their earliest and unconscious nspra-
| tons wero drawn. and among the objects
| for which such sympathy as they might be COM
petent TO express could not fail to be the truest
| and wOrthiest OF which they were naturally
CAPABLE. For this reason we have had few such
pictures: but looking over all that has been
done by the landscape painters Of America, all
that has been brilliant and popular and truth
! full and honorable one is brought unhesitatingly
| 10 the conclusion that among such pictures lies
all that is good and enduring in the work OF
those painters. There is but one source OF in
SEPARATION aud that Is nature. and mans at
]
| directness. sincerity. honesty. and humility
with which he has sought 1t Of nature herself
Mr.. Moran's Communipaw Ferry" only
partly suggests these things but there is enough
in il TO make one wish that the artist would more
concern himself with subjects OF its class. We
have NO artist with such facility OF execution
such exquisite apprehension Of form and ahso-
Lutte certainty OF touch as Mr. Moran. nor any
that has less probably used these gifts. He
paints skies in which he treats cloud forms
with all Of Turner's marvellous quality Of
Interpretation but he puts those skies above
landscapes. in which, however decorative the
general scheme may be- however rich and
superb the detail and the precision of the
drawing. there is nevertheless no soul. no
real depth OF feeling. In his "Communi-
paw" sketch there is sky full Of
the radiant mystery OF diffused sunlight.
soft. tender. and exquisitely delicate. and
below ii the wet marsh and stagnant pools Of
the inundated. noisome flats. Between the two
there is bond OF harmony. into the compo-
sition OF which enter n few simple bits of
the material already described. There is n
double pile of buildings united by an arch
and exalted in the haze OF smoke and
vapor; there il locomotive sending
up black eXhalntions to minElo with
the clouds these are suggestions OF wharves
| OF shipping, OF roofs, anu OF figures, ana above
all there Is a distinct purpose and coherent
idea tho one attained and the other firmly on
pressed, 1t might all have been better done
but there is enough in it to be thankful
for and 10 make ono hope that
Mr. Moran may feel in the same way
about it aud do more OF such work. He has too
long gone after false gods and aimed too much
ut the ideal expression OF crude and visionary
poetic ideas. and too many OF his pictures make
him to appeal to prefer To be decorative rather
than truthful. and clever rather than sincere
No artist that We have can be further above such
things than he. II he but so choose
Two assiduous seekers after genre in Brittany
and notable among the younger men for the
rapid strides they are making in technical ac-
quiromrnt, are Mr. Thomas Hovenden and Mr.
Edgar NJ. Ward. The former contributes three
pictures OF which the best is entitled Pendant
lie Repos"' NO. 3l4l. 1t IS q very carefully
drawn and well painted study OF child
OF Brittany type. seated in a quaint
old chair and playing with u jumping Jack. II
shows nice apprehension OF motive. and the
breadth and decision of the treatment nre nota-