Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-01-21
ART NOTES.


be set up in New York. in some place yet TO be
fixed BY the park commissioners. The figure is
nine feet high, bare headed, clothed in frock
and in its left q roll Of paper. II is TO stand on
pedestal come ten fest high, placed in the
| center Of . semi-circular bench, at either end
OF which-some forty feet spart-stands q six
foot bronze nymph. who holds aloft in both
hands globe. which wal have electric light.
The statue n intended a. . gift to the city by
few personal friends of the late President, who
provided the funds necessary therefor by VOL
untary subscriptions quietly obtained
s.s
A good deal Of misinformation has found its
way into print recently in regard TO the pro-
posed new building for the Corcoran Gallery Of
Art, one Of the most conspicuous errors being
the statement that it will cost a round million
or more. 1t can be truly said that up to the
present time no single conclusion on the sub
jet has been reached. The Trustees have be-
for them, for suggestive study, several sketch
plans to which they have given more or less
consideration. but it will probably be some
time yet before final decision can be made
even upon preliminary points,-so many con-
sderations are involved and so many collateral
questions are to be settled. As the purpose of
the Trustees is to provide far as possible for
the probable future needs Of the Gallery. rather
room, they will naturally proceed with great
deliberation realizing that il is much easier to
correct errors on paper than to remedy mis-
takes after they have reached a concrete form
in such solid and expensive material as brick,
stone or iron.
There Is q disposition among prophets to
proclaim that Dutch art is the coming vogue
that it is to replace the fads of the repulsive
Roalisfa of 1Sa INV Ia I
ists that it is to blot out that sinister tendency
to sensational;sm which taints some Of the
modern Frenchmen; nay, that it is to replace
the Barbizon school itself. However that may
be- it is largely conceded that the Dutch school,
as a school, represents today the most earnest
and sincere. the deepest and most vital prin-
ciples in modern art Imbued with the
national spirit. faithfully and persistently
it searches out the truths of nature
and of human life in the footsteps Of
its old masters. Its development is from
within outward 1t strives not for the specious
showiness Of technique, the dazzling effect of
some striking coup" Simple and direct, it
seeks always truth,-an effects Yet the school
is already passing away. The great names,
fsraels, Mauve. Bosboom, Neuhuys, the Maris
brothers, are stin in the prime of their glory.
but as they drop out the younger men who are
rising up In their places turn away from the
intensity of their ideals into newer and more
frivolous paths And foreigners, forgetting
that the power and charm of Dutch art is in its
Inconsistencies. by initiating it, making their
work thus artificial and conscious, lose the su-
preme quality.
There are too few examples in Washington Of
the best Dutch painters. In fact, they are
almost unknown here. and for this reason the
Importance of such a collection as Mr.. Thomas
E. Waggaman is gathering about him is not
I'D had hofar e,
pictures Of this school, but his recent purchases
raise the average Of excellence to something
notable. Indeed, it is an unusual thing to have
acquired, in a few months, half a dozen water
colors as fine as these later ones
Josef Israels at his best is perhaps the great
est water-color painter now living, and many of
those who thoroughly know his works consider
the Dutch Peasant Child in a Baby Chair"
owned by Mr.. Waggaman. the best water-color
he has painted. Certainly there could be no
more delightful rendering Of all that babyhood
suggests than this baby. this tiny scrap of
humanity, alive in every line and touch. alone
in space, reaching out to the cat, to the world
beyond. The rich harmonies of color in the
background and in the room around are so
subordinated that they seem only a sombre
shadow. yet they are there. and they serve to
concentrate a glow upon the child.
Probably next in rank among the new water
colors is one by Jacob Maris, a scene at Dor
drecht, similar in motive to the large oil paint
ing owned by Mr.. Waggaman, and not I'M
worthy the author Of this latter. which is one
of Maris' best works.
Two superb landscapes by Mesdames Mesdag
and Van den Bose Bidders testify that women
artists in Holland have achieved a power and
strength as yet unapproached by their sisters in
other lands. The Neuhuys, "Alone in the
World" is fine rendering Of dark shadowy
interior, and the old woman has character and
pathos, but one feels a vague dissatisfaction.
Somehow, it is hardly picture; it seems more
like study,-a suggestion for a picture. 1t
fails to group itself around the central point Of
interest, as the lsraels, for instance, does.
-
Paintings intended for the worlds fair must
be gathered together and forwarded before the
latter part Of February. The jury OF selection
will then begin its sittings in Chicago. An ex-
hibition was opened in Philadelphia on the 10th
instant, OF the pictures painted BY PENNSYLVANIA
and southern artists, to be sent to the great
fair. This exhibition will close on the 4th of
February. Are any of the artists of Washing
ton or of this section of the country to be
represented II SO, the fact has not been made
public up to this time.
-
new idea in hanging pictures and exhibit
ing statuary has been adopted at the Slater
Museum in Boston. This is to have the paint
ings and sculpture each arranged in carefully
selected groups and divided into curtained Sec
tons. This plan serves to relieve sculpture
hall OF that repulsive aspect complained of by
Theodore Child: "How chilling. how dead.
how tiresome, is a museum Of sculpture,
How unsympathetic those rows of statues gaz-
ing fxedly into space with their big white eyes.'
Then, in most of our picture galleries. how
grateful it would be to have the eve screened
from those vast wastes Of ''stale. fat, unproft-
able" canvases, and able to rest placidly on one
group at a time! Not only this. Even in gal
lery where all is fine. it is well known what a
disadvantage most pictures suffer from being
placed with many others around. Thus pic
ture which looks best at an exhibitian is apt to
be one Of giaring tones, Of bold. striking feat
ures, which kill the subdued harmonies, the
delicacy or soft richness, of a finer painting
which may be near.
An interesting feature of the art gallery at
the worlds fair will be a Retrospective exhibi-
ton Of American art, to include only the works
Of deceased painters and those painted before
1876. Application has been made to the Corco-
ran Gallery for some Of its examples by earlier
American artists and it is understood that the
request will be granted.
="
An important statue by the great French
sculptor, Rodin, "Orpheus and Eurydice." has
been Fought by Mr.. Yerkes of Chicago. As
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