New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-11-08
THE CHRONICLE OF ARTS.
EXHIBITIONS AND OTHER TOPICS.
AMERICAN WATER coLoRs-A PORTRAIT BY MR.
sARGENT-EARLY WORKS BY GERoME
FOREIGN NOTES.

lngs by BartoloZzi and his schos at the Wuhserh'n
Gallery, the American water colors noted below al
keppeis. and the etched portraits OF celeonues oy
Leopold Flsmeng at the Grolier Club, which were us
cussed in The Tribune last Friday. Tickets for the
Grelier exhibition which lasts until November H. may
be obtained by applying 10 members. at the ciuo-
house, No 20 East Thirty The Vereschaeh
exhibition has only nine days to run. The Union
League Club did not open its first exhibition last thurs
day. was expected, but will do on the same day
Of the present week.
At the Kepp-l Gallery small collection Of Amer
lean water color has Just appeared Informal pre-
cursor Of the regular shows which tie painters IN THIS
medium will arrange for the public during the winter
The prospect Of the larger exhibitions has evidently
acted deterrent upon the bringing forward OF any
distinctly important works but the pictures shown are
well up to the standards of the various artists who con-
tribute them and they win give pleasure TO the anna
tcu7. Collectively, they have been honored with
catalogue, but only few have arrived at the dignity
OF frames; the majority are inclosed In simple goie
mats which has at least secured artistic unconven-
tionalty. II the exhibition has any star II Is MT
Horato Walker, whose farm dys, executed in emula-
ton o. the modern Dutch waer-colorsts. with strain
OF individuality in feeling added, effectively coored,
very faithful studies. He and Mr. Ranger, By their
exhibits here, both prove the value Of the method of
painting in lowtoncd fat washes. Artists seem to
lose most Of the positive hues from their coorboxes
when they take their cue these two do, from men
like Jsraels, Mauvc, Kevsr aud Ter Meulen-from men
whose experiences OF sunlight tful and one-sided-
but from those sombrc tones which left them they
may evoke endless interesting harmonies In addition
TO his water-coors Mr.. Keppel exhibits three pastel
portraits Of by Mile. Breslau, the young French
whose at Juan's used 10 provoke
Marie Bashhrtsefs jealousy. They spontaneous
pictures, swiftly trawn and very spirited. They have
the French note of chic and finish to an extent that
might easily have inspired envy in the breasts of Mile
Breslau's fellowstudent
portrait of Speaker Thomas B. Reed by John 5.
Sargent may be seen at the schaus Gallery. 1t differs
from nnetenths of Mr.. Sargent's known works in re
lying for its effect solely upon strength OF modeng
and fidelity to fact The charm Of color Is con
spicuousy absent. Such color there is In the
ford face black coat and almost black background. is
fresh and right but It's significance is subsidiary. The
painting makes pretensions 10 pictorial beauty as
do even the most commonplace productions OF MI
Sargents master. NelasQuez. Ii aims at nothing more
than the forcble presentation Of personality rich in
masculine undecorative points. on the side CT vital
ity it is triumph 1t preserves the atmosphere OF
the subject the clear eye and expressive mouth the
reposeful yet alert attitude Mr.. Sargents insight has
shown him a very different character from That which
the opposition has preferred TO credit to Mr. Reed lie
portiays the Speaker undoubtedly man OF hrmness
but as a man Of geniay well. and has suffered the
suggestion Of smile 10 play about the lips There is
less Of the bravura style in this picture than is usual
with Mr. Sargent. II is finished up TO the frame ana
the hands not Sighted.
one of De Neuvle's finest military paintings has
been acquired by the schaus Gallery. 1t illustrates an
episode In the Franco Prussian Va, the arrest ana
search OF dispatch-bearcr. The composition was
worked up from sketches after the war-t Is dated
1sso-bu 1t has the vvidness and dramatic force OF
picture painted direct nature. The grouping Is
extremely Mfellke. In tile centre stands tie dispatch
tea.er submitting with dossed, defiant face TO the
examination Of his pockets and blouse. number OF OIL
GERS seated their pipes and coffee watch tpe per
Torrance. some with langud and others with lvely III
teres From the and windows and outside staircase
of the old inn before which the scene Is LAID prVaes
and servants look The little drama is well planned
each actor plays his part naturally and unoo-
trusivelv and the quiet village street with lis
gray buildings is well chosen setting. In tms' a.
in all his paintings De MELVILLE IS master OF form and
detail and lie the historians faculty OF conveying
a single sharp impression. As colorst ne Is Only
moderately successful. A humorous monastery scene
by vibert in this gallery IS pleasing chiefly because 1t
is free from the blatant scarets which his fondness
for cardinals has caused him to affect study OF an
interior with reflected lights by Claus Meyer IS a
modern German work, freely painted in the style OF
Yer Meer It is initiative, but deserves praise for its
fine light and for its color, which, in tastefulness
beyond the wont Of most German artists
At the enlarged and altered galleries uptown OF
Boussod valadon & Co. there two newly imported
career OF which be regretted that the signs have
faded gradually from his later work. They belong To
his series Of Eastern studies. One Is Of Caene
street lined with bazars and alive with chsfering mer
chants warlke riders, yelled women, naked children
and slatternly hounds; the other is OF homeslck
Albanian tending his goats in sparse Egyptian pasture
In both works the dlrecs contact with warm oriental
life enables Gerome TO free himself little from the
GOODNESS Of the Academy. which was then iufencln2
him The sky In the Egyptian pastoral IS ahlaze Win
crimson rose and gold. Gerome never could capture
the maintaining actuste' CT landscape as the Fon-
tainebleau men could because he rTersed their doc
trne and has always been scientist fist and nat
rr,I.t aftervard But just his scientific faculty
which fitted him 10 paint the clear prismatc splcndors
of a sky like this Egyptian one SKY III Which the
colors are reduced elemental simplicity and gnter
bv The absenc. of any moisture Ia the all or OF any
trees 10 soften mingle them. The brushwork Is sun
unconstralred In these two pictures which testify 10
an eager appreciation of picturesque living nature
II l. a pity that tierome never cultivated TINS appre
oiation His own pupil Bargue, proved to him that IL
could be made consistent with claSS:c pefectioh OF
draurtsnanshp. but he has elected to remain intent
Mon the latter object. His hand is mastery but MS
heart is seldom felt in hi, work nowadays. OF more
ultimate personal work than any which Gerome ever
nroduced Boussod, Valadon & co. possess examples
in pictures by Barye Millet and Decamps
A number OF grotesque Chinese drawings in wafer
,,or once owned by the eccentric author Of Nnthek
hav. found their way to New-York. Two Of them are
exhibited by Mr.. p. Avery ir They represent the
God OF War and the God OF Music Respectively
and are the work Of F-on-qua, whose time OF acu'iN
a K impossible TO determine yet, but who must
have nourished more than a hundred years ago at the
very least for Rockford bought them ont Of colec-
lion in 1903 The ooors have lasted all these years
without the slightest hint Of fading In the clear cut
style Of workmanship these drawings have something
IN common with the illuminated missals of the medaeVal
age No medieval monk ever imagined such grewsone
eods a. these, though. The God Of Music Is almost
As torbidding as the God Of War. though he has ONLY
one face and the latter has three. The extavagant
fancy of the artist has first bodied firth an incredible
ennhelIished II with the same ncense.