The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-06-14

sterner qualities, and Truth ncu~ns shs
state of art which leads bold, strong. exea,1.
tive and imaginative men like MiIlais 20 ba
taking commissions for the eternal represents-
ton OF other peoples babies" A frank appeal
to the transient popular taste is the trick OK
tueking IN to half the pictures of children
blossoms from the fashionable plants of the
season, such as primroses and daisies. Whether
or not 1T be the duty of artists TO give them
selves over wholly to painting children because
the public demands pictures of children. their
doing so this year has given to the Academy
exhibition distinctive and very charming
character.
After the portraits and the pictures of chill.
dren, the strong point of the exhibition is the
collection Of paintings of animals and land
scaPes. Dogs, sheep, horses, and deer: mead
ows, mountains, country houses, and scenes Of
foreign travel are dear TO the heart Of the Dur-
chasing public, aud, since the English artist iss
Bfiton, they are doubtless dear to him, too,
and he paints them well In cOnseqU
on THE WHOLE, CHARMING.
Taking the exhibition as a whole it is very
charming. The subjects chosen and the tastf,
reelected are alike clean wholesome siuDFe
human, though neither is strongly imaginative
nor on strikingiy lofty plane There is no
escape from the conviction that art IN England
at present Is a branch Of manufacture ruled
absolutely by the popular demand and that
the popular demand Is for pictures IN no sense
great. The simplicity Of taste goes so far that
the artists field of work is often limited 10 the
production of a single figure and dramatic
quality is painfully wanting throughout the
exhibition The whole atmosphere is like the
atmosphere of WOrdswOrths poetry. and.
while there IS nothing so inane as Ruth y or
Peter Bell" there is a suggestion Of vulgarity
IN the struggle for popular interest from which
Wordsworth IS free The lyric quality, 50 to
l. rFk
enee IN too great abundance Of Egyptian cam
paign heroes and landscapes whose Interest,"
centers IN the labels Z" Kassassin " and Tel-eI-
Kebir"
All its shortcomings being taken into consid-
Grafton, however, the Academy exhibition Is a
very satisfying one, and gives the English peo-
pie reason, so far as it is true index of the
state Of English art, to thank God that they
ara not rs other men. That is To say, it is
thoroughly pleasing, free from any tendency
to the grOtesque and from all faint of unclean-
ness, which cannot be said of al the national
annual exhibitions of Europe. 1t is, moreover,
wholly national, being the work Of English
artists for tAe English public from subjects
which are chiefly found in the British Islands.
When the subjects are not distinetively En-
gllsh, they are almost invariably connected in
some way with the British dependencies, and
the only marked exception to this rule, the
Italian landscapes, tell the story of the English
fondness for foreign travel, for they are apt TO
be painted from the fayOTite haunts OF English
men and appeal to purchasers as souvenirs
quite as much as works of art
This is the most valuable lesson that the
Academy exhibition contains for the American
artists and the American public. Its pictures
are not great with the divine beauty of the
italian painting, nor with the strength and
humanity Of Mailet and Duez, but the present
English art IS as complete an embodiment of
English life and as accurate reflection OF
English taste as any Englishman could desire;
1T is national art and it has honesty, vitality,
and promise of development, because it is
English. When our American art becomes az
thoroughly American there viii be no further
need Of a tariff upon foreign works of art.
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