The Portland daily press., 1882-06-16
FINE ARTS.
The Society of Art Exhibition.

| ton given by the Society of Art at their rooms
| in Motley Block and the opportunity was fuiiy
| enioyed. In the evening the rooms were
brilliantly lighted frightening the effect OF the
| efforts of the various artist contributors. AS
we stated yesterday these contributions come
from leading artists all over the country and
afford the best examples OF the various schools.
| In landscape painting it is interesting to
note the difference in style between the artists
whose fame was made twenty-five years ago,
and those who have lately become distinguish
| ed. With the one everything was carefully
| elaborated and the picture, when completed,
possessed finish that left nothing to the
imagination Take No. "a by Casllear. In
the foreground we have q pool beside whose
banks group of horsemen have halted to give
their steeds refreshment. In the middle dis
lance extend broad green fields, bounded by
clumps of trees beyond these fields others still,
and, in the far distance, rise blue hills whose
SUBMITS are capped with snow. The prospec-
tive of the painting is admirably managed;
there is abundance of atmosphere; the grass
takes on the shadows thrown by the gsnisl
rays Of the sun, and there is grace and
polish expressive of an artistic eye and hand,
and refined intelligence. You see the pic
ture, to use a valgarism for all it is worth"
you enjoy it, but you do not expect to con-
tinually find something new suggested by 1T.
Now turn to the picture next to it, No. 81,
incoming" by G. Y. Turner. Here you have
an artist of the present. Two great trees,
with their interlacing baughs, in the fore
ground, form an arched frame through which
the eye chances to rest upon green field with
an old farmhouse, and patch of woods beyond.
At the bases of the trees in the foreground, a
young woman and young man are resting; the
girl stretched at length upon her side, the
young man sitting, and evidently engaged IN
an animated conversation with his fair com.
panion. Close by, leaning backward against
fence, or gate, with one foot upon the lower
rail, and rake over his shoulder, stands an
other young man evidently much interested in
the conversation of the others of the party
This is all there is in the picture but it sug-
gests volumes. The attitude of the girl is full
of repose. She is incoming in every sense
of the word. The cosy, careless pose
of the youth leaning against q the
gate; the active, nervous temperament OF the
seated lad. These conditions all suggest them
selves at the first glance, but the romance they
tell of the relations of the parties, breaks upon
the student the longer he studies the situation.
The girl listens, but evidently with almost
the interest of blase coquette, and the youth
leaning on the gate evidently thinks his friend
is wasting his powder. In the grass in the
foreground are the bare spots where the heat
of the sun has burned away many Of the
blades while, in the meadow beyond the noon
ers, there is feeling that the great luminary
is pouring down with July fervor. The
closer you examine the landscape effects the
more evident it appears that the elaborate
polish and finish that marked the
other picture are wanting. The grass. the
trees in the foreground, the woods, are all
treated in different way,-one might almost
say indicated rather than painted-but you get
boldness and strength that is not so noiicea-
Bile in the other.
Another noticeable feature of the exhibition
in paintings, representing scenes in every day
life, is seen in those in which the artists
change the size of the figures from that occu-
pied SO many years. In "The Old Beau" by
Gaul, No. 105, all the characters seem as if
they would be better fitted with a larger can
vas They are all properly graded, from those
in the immediate foreground to those in the
background, but it seems as if all should have
been smaller, and even then the artists idea
would have been carried out. The story told
by the painting is in a nat-shell. An old beau,
in old-fashioned dress coat, tight trousers
reaching to the ankle, black stockings and
pumps, one wisp of the hair carefully brushed
forward over his ear, one hand beneath his
coat-tails, and the other pressed upon his heart
makes a ceremonious bow to q lady attired in
old-style, short-waisted, tight brocade dress,
Canton shawl, which is resting on her arm,
where it has dropped from her shoulder
and wearing a coal-scuttle bonnet. The lady
has evidently just stepped from the pew-the
scene is laid in church--snd the occupants of
the other pews are looking on with evident in
terest. The lady is apparently belle, and has
very sweet face, and the old fellow is evil
IDENTIFY bound to see her home. All the details
of this picture are admirable, and the painting
will have many admirers.
we must close this article with No. %, "The
Cantatrice," by Phoebe jerks. A young girl
in white satin dress, holding a piece of sheet
music, leans against a yellow, or rather old
gold, colored curtain, her head thrown back
and the face bearing a sort of don't care ex-
preston. The expression is the weakest part
of the picture. 1t seems as If the countenance
lacked soul, as if it was the face of the model
reproduced on the canvas. But the pose is
good, and the figure graceful, if listless. The
artist has succeeded most admirably in con-
trasting, and yet harmonizing, the old gold of
the curtain, the white of the girls complexion
the white satin of her dress, and the paper of
the sheet music, the latter evidently discolored
by age. The drawing of the arm is exceeding
ly good.