The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-02-09
THE WATER Color ExHIBITroN

timo
absorbed the attention OF n somewhat varied
and rapidly growing class OF people that con.
Germs itself with the flne arts The belief Of tho
picturc-buying class that nothing was good that
wns not foreign. and incidentally, OF course.
that price was the final test Of merit was none
the less vulgar belief because the facts seemed
to Justify IT, French pictures for instance. had
certain distinctive qualities OF style and method
that became familiar and that we're regarded as
tho correct and essential thing and also as n
sort OF private property OF those painters
Mhen' therefore. an American artist pro-
duced landscapes in which American scenery
was so treated that the pictures brought to
mind the private property in question which
private property. DO 1t remembered was what
constituted valuable and much sought for
eign school he was Immediately set down as n
mere imitator. and his work repudiated Hence
II arises that our most ambitious aud promis-
ing men are confronted with the confusing no.
ton that. until they attain a distinctive and
national style they shall account MS nothing
but mitators. and that no American landscape
shall be other than n mere imitation OF French
or German landscape until 1t shall happen
that when hung in foreign company 1t shall
Immediately and conspicuously declare its ma
tionaity a. well as It's art.
Because German period OF chromo-com-
polling landscapes OF unbounded fecundity and
unblushing mediocrity. and other so-caed
schools OF equal ngRrcssivoness. set UP in
mems minds types OF landscape painting almost
rs diverse and distinct as the mannerisms and
methods Of individual masters OF bygonc times
1t is not to be assumed that art is necessarily
thing OF scots and schools. Without absolute
and radical neutrality-suspicious. quality Of
nationality as marked and unmistakabe as tho
physical distinctions Of the human race ITSELF
there can be no art that any poor mortal can
pin his faith TO without mourning the nc
cusation OF being criminally ignorant IL not
knowingly pcrvcrse and deprayedl
Nature. therefore. has nothing to do with nrt
and It resolves itself into q mere question OF
national character wherein men shall DO
deemed deficient or superior accordingly ~
their art evolution shall reveal them 1t Is
quite true that this view Of the case would have
been very difficult one TO oppose had we
had a great painter of such power and indi-
viduality that all the men that came about him
and that followed him should have yielded to
his influence and painted like him. That
would undoubtedly have implied the creation
| OF what Is understood as n school: at least II
would more nearly have approached II than
ANYTHING else could. 1t does not by any means
follow. though. that individuality Of expression
in art is to be subordlnated to a mere idea OF
style or attractive conventonaty. any more
than 1t follows that all men after Shakespeare
should have written and thought like him. be-
cause he constituted q lofty example.
Turner undoubtedly gave liz present elevated
and noble character to English landscape art
and II is impossible to overrate the influence
upon their contemporaries and followers OF
men like Rousseau or Cor0t. For all that the
qualities In an artist that are TO be most re-
spected are not necessarily those that stamp
him rs tho exponent OF the principles Of a
school. but those that reveal his sincerity
his carncsincss. his nobility OF purpose. and
his simple and faithful adherence to the truth
OF nature for the truths own sake.
Tho skies Of Brittany are not any brighter
than ours. Tho clouds that sail across them
assume no shapes and take on no hues that we
know not here Our trees put on their leaves in
spring much ms do the trees Of France. and like
them. too they redden and ripcn and die in
autumn. Nature. under similar conditions. is
everywhere the same. and everywhere appeals
to mans senses with forms and hues that are
Identical. II Is only his ability 20 see and un-
dcrstand that is subject 10 limitations. and that
some surpass others in this cnpacity
Ia due simply to the different conditions
under which they have sought 70 attain it. II
the landscape painters Of France excel. It is not
because Franco is distinctiycly better for land
scape painters than any other country. Tho
inspiration Of all Is OF common origin, and the
difference lies merely in the acquisition Of the
method " Interpretation. which is a mental and
not technical achievement II cannot be sup
posed that If Rousseau or Corot had been trans
planted 20 America either would have painted
pictures of any less merit than they had been
painting in France or that the same pictures
would have been other than distlnctivey Amcri-
, can landscapes. Is il TO he understood that If
Turner had come 10 America he would have gone
ch. Ina f,, n INA nj frp
vulgar and irrational sensations ont Of them
; rs Mr.. Bicrstadt didY Ia no other way does tho
difference between identity Of Interpretation
and nero. empty imitatiy"ness SO clearly pre-
sent itself as when American landscape il
seen tricked In the cheap and gaudy garb o
some cnichpouny foreign habit.
In n great many respects we lack in our now
country tho incentive that obtains in older
/ places TO feel and be impressed by the pietur
. csque. Tho hanliwork OF man in our land
scape Is seldom other than now and repeant
particularly in those traces Of it that should
emphasize the best contrast and motive OF
q scene. and confer variety e. form. and interest
and color. The many things that make up thu
( atmosphere ~ our daily lives do not include
! much that In older countries Is inspiring AM
elevatiny. and that eXcitts 10 a deeper discern
, ment Of what is beautiful. An American arts
B can study more probably in Brittany than h.
| can al home. only on the supposition that h'
/ compares the results he attains with those o
y known masters in his art. and learns thereby
wherein his perception Of what constitutes Tho
beautiful and the picturesque in a landscape
r Il deficient The study Of landscape painting
. is an endless cndcavor to sec 1t does not con
sist Of expectations Of color and technique.
Nos 40 and AZ in the present water color ex
hibition at the National Academy are very sim
, ple and unobtrusiye pictures but they SHOW
how an American artist can arrive indepen
t IDENTIFY at such communion with nature as to b'
able 10 impart her deepest and most subtle sig
ninoance. and do It. as some converted buye
?, may one day say. rs well as the French.
+" These unprctcntious renderings OF unambi
tious truths-mere episodes Of commonplace
have in them more Of true feeling and delica
perception. and show deeper and moro rev
orent ms .ht into nature herself than anybod
n has supposed to he compatible with tho condl
tlon Of American art How idle 1t would be t
l. say that they were inspired 10y Daublgny o
s Iamhinet whom in feeling they resemble