The Portland daily press., 1883-11-15
PORTLAND SOCIETY OF Art.
The Winter Exhibition by Portland
Artists.


The private view to members Of the Society
of Art, of the work of Portland artists, both
professional and amateur, was largely taken
advantage of last evening. The spacious aud
comfortable rooms in Motley Block were filed,
during the falloted hours, by ladies' and gem
tlemer, coming and going, SO that there must
have been very large attendance.
The rooms are singuarly we'll adapted for
the exhibition and the hanging committee
have done their work we'll. Every picture
has been placed so as to bring out its merits
aud conceal its defects, and last evening, the
light was so good and so equally distributed,
there were no unpleasant shadows. The faI-
Their room is devoted to the oils, and few of
them also intrude upon the apartment devoted
to the water colors, and black and white II
is not our purpose today to go into systematic
and thorough description Of the pictures, but
merely to generalize, selecting specimens here
and there.
About every kind of subject has been treat
ed by the exhibitors. In the two hundred and
odd numbers are included portraits, still life,
genre, landscapes, marines, interiors. 1t was
necessity of the hanging that in some cases,
1.-TWO of kind are placed side by side, but
there is an opportunity thereby afforded for
comparison. 1t is interesting also to compare
the difference 10 styles OF the respective
schools; between Tilton and Goldman on one
hand and the young artists of the present.
Harry Brown shows one of the strongest of
his pictures in No. 20, (the place of honor a
| huge cliff or chain of cliffs, the farthermost
enwrapped In fog, while the OF in the fore
| ground is revealed by streak of light pene-
| tratiDg the reft in the clouds, which also dis
closes the bright verdure with which the cliff
| is crowned. AT the bases of the rocks the
waves boil and rage. In No IL we have one
| of G. f. Kimball's. 1t is like scene in Brit
| tany. The same bright spring sky and atmos-
| phere, the quaint old house EMPOWERED In
| trees, and the queer dike-like arrangement in
| the foreground which protects the road from
the river its front filed with huge boulders.
On one side of the road are two figures both
| instinct with action. No. II is Titon and
| possesses the softness and richness of the Eng
lish scene it represents; possibly Windsor, for
there is the tower of the castle. the winding
river, and the noble trees, all observed in the
mellow light of an English sunset.
No. % is especially deserving attention. 1t
| is by Walter Griffin, son of the carver, and
| young man whose excellent portrait-bust of his
| father, the PRESS called special attention to
some time ago. Mr.. Griffin is pursuing Lis
studies in New York. The picture before us
| is not great in subject but shows the ability Of
the young artist to make telling story out Of
| prosaic text, An old fisherman is climbing
fight of steps to wharf, and another is
I Ia min net ha uzo11 ott Ia ton 1nnkipo
at the bay. The figure of the climbing fisher
| man tells of the effort of ascent The specta-
tor tolls up the steps with him. The other
fisherman has pose full of ease and abandon
He is enjoying his day-dream. In No. A Miss
| Brown-daughter of FL. B. Brown-shows
careful work. happy harmonizing of color and
arrangement in picture of still life.
Stanwood in No. 45, gives US marine full Of
life. The strong breeze bears on the gallant
bark, while the other craft in the ofing all
add to the effect, and give breadth and motion
to the picture. Scott Leighton shows great
advance in his art since he resided in Portland.
His horses, drinking at a trough, in No. 1876,
Tin the front room, just by the entrance) are
very strongly painted Their limbs are sturdy,
but well shaped, their attitude capital. The
snow blowing against their legs, the ice on the
trough, the contrast of color of the horses with
that of the shed and of the snow, all show
careful study, thought and finish.
We cannot do more in this article than call
attention to the strong head of Frenchman,
! No. 1S8-full of color for black and white,
giving all the sensuousness Of the Creole, a
fine effort of Miss Crocker's. Just beneath
the Frenchman's head are Nos 1856, 189, 1872,
1876, and 1919, all in black and white, all deli
cate as paintings, but the artists names we
cannot give, as the catalogues we're not ready
last night. Mr.. Stevens, of Fassett & Stevens,
shows some admirable designs for buildings
| and for interiors, including the new Society Of
| Art building. There is lovely water-coior by
Miss Longfellow, No. 172,-a quiet sea rolling
in upon beach, bordered with cliffs-snd two
excellent paintings by new artist in Portland,
Mr.. Huskins.
Miss Jennie Anderson exhibits two medal
lions, modelled by herself. One is evidently
an ideal head, that of lovely girl, whose
tresses are blown before her by the wind. This
medallion, Mr.. Lawrence Barrett, the actor,
has secured The other is the head of Ney
York lady, of Portland ancestors, and the DEL
icate features, high tone, and other details
are carefully and artistically reproduced.
The exhibition will be open day and evening.