New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-11-26
THE CHRONICLE OF ARTS.
EXHIBITIONS AND OTHER TOPICS.
TILE SUCCESS OF THE wATEH-COLOR SHOw-MH.
ST. GAUDENs's NEW DIANA-THE STATUE
OF NATHAN HALE - OLD POKTi,AIrS

| ST. GAUDENS'S NEW DIANA-THE STATUE
OF NATHAN HALE - OLD pokTRAITs
FROM EGYpT-MINOR UCC URRENCEs.
The Water Color Clubs exhibition. 1t is pleasing t.
learn, is meeting with the success 1t deserves Dur
ing its first days nearly 700 persons visited the
galleries. and only about $50 Of these students
The majority were all bearers Of fuprced admis-
| sion tickets. The following sales have been re-
ported: His Country Cousins" by Leon Moran.
| s25; Ready for the Dance" by Leon Moran. $40;
| Rolling Ground" by Mary Il. Williams. SOS; "Win-
ter Evening" by L. +. Van Gorder, $50; "Zephyrs -
by Mabel II. Smith, slS "Lamplisht," by Lydia F.
Emmett 500; 1.-THE Coming Storm" by s. p. iris
cot $3.50; Child with Lantern" by Albert Herter,
800; THE Flower-Cart Dance" by Albert Herter
$3.50; Across Tokyo Bay from Meta" by Albert
| Herter $780, Total of sales sl,0SS When the
| water-coor show and the Egyptian portraits
| referred to below have been withdrawn,
| about the Sth of next MONTH the Archi-
| tectural League and the Sculpture Society will
take charge of the galleries and open their COM
blned exhibitions December 10. In January the
| Fine Arts Society will exhibit the pictures shown
| In the Swedish and Norwegian sections at the
| Worlds Fair-a wise plan as regards the Swedish
| paintings, but ill-advised as regards the
Norwegian. The Society of American Artists opens
In March and occupies the galleries until time
| In April, when the Society of Amateur Photogra-
piers is to have an exhibition Among current
| hibitions we would call attention particularly to the
pictures by Cain at the American Art Galleries
He is among the finest of living landscapsts and
this collection does him full justice. The Groier
Club is preparing exhibition of watoniana. 1t
Will include some rare editions of the gentle
| Izaak.
Inc chaste goddess once more presides over Mad
ison Square Garden. When Mr.. st. Gaudens de-
signed the Diana which surmounted the tower I'M
I'll the opening of the Worlds Fair he made her
100 tall She was transferred TO the low, swelling
dome OF the Agricultural Building and there she
proved to be in scale with her pedestal. The figure
which the sculptor then proceeded to model and
winch has been placed the tower within the last
Few days Is in every way improvement upon
the earlier work. Where the final was once nine
teen feet high, ii now measures only thirteen feet
ana in its new form It reminds us, among other
things. that it Is final indeed, well as statue
that its relation to the structure beneath it is
important its intrinsic beauty. The old Diana
was so large as to be aggressive. and looked more
like an Independent figure perched upon the tower
IMAM beautiied utilitarian adjunct to the latter
She was fair. but the present Diana is fairer She
rested on her heel but her is poised more
gracefully and naturally on her toe. In everything
that relates to contour, 10 of movement
ana attitude and TO refinement and individuality
or execution. the Diana is ncomparaby the
superior Of the old She ought to be- for she has
been restudied with the utmost interest by Mr. ST.
iaudens. He modified the lines Of her scarf
changed the style OF her bow and calculated her
proportions narrowly. As a termination to Mr.
Whites fine tower she is as logical as she is
charming. And still. in the eyes of Mr. St
Gaulens she is not perfect The tilt of the drapery
does not satisfy him quite. 1t seems and 1t Is to be
corrected.
A pupil OF Mr.. 81. Caudens who has reflected the
greatest credit upon his master unveiled in City |
Hall Park yesterday his best statue The colossal |
in in fia az l,l.f
given Mr. Macmonnes a certain celebrity but the |
Nathan Hale" which he has just added to the |
slender list of good monuments In New-York will |
give him more. 1t will. believe. give him a good |
snare OF the lasting reputation which his talents
seem to promise and 1t will give II him precisely be-
cause IN this work he Is really monumental-some-
thing which he was not in the beautiful but
what unsatisfactory fountain. The statue OF the
devoted American spy has all the dignity which
would remain to him in such an ignominious mo-
ment OF his career Mr.. Macmonnies has chosen
TO celebrate. Thus Nathan Hale might have stood
as he uttered his famous words of regret, a serious
even impressive. figure, without trace of theatre
cality in his bearing The realism Of the statue
may perhaps be criticised. but with justice. Mr.
the bourgeois de Calais If he needed precedent
Tor the presence OF the ropes about his subjects
to show his heroes with haters. As Il happens
he Hale needs no precedent it justities itself
% repugnant 10 our feelings II grant the wis
iom OF portraying him in this fashion. we must ad-
nit that the ropes do the lines OF the statue no
strong i, is conceived with spirit and composed
With good taste. Its best qualities are in its hand
ing. As modeller Mr. Macmonnies is than
worthy Of Mr.. st. Gaudens: His Workmanship is
accomplished and IL has a tone which. II slightly
reminiscent OF the sculptor's master is. the
he Municipal Art Society ; and the Sculpture Society
I Is exactly the kind OF ornament which they
re striving to make popular in New-York.
Two thousand years ago. when the Egyptians
nummihed their dead. they laid over the face of
he corpse n panel bearing portrait OF the latter
nd left exposed The rest of the mummy was
wathed in the wrappings with which museums
ave made us acquainted Centuries ago some
CEMETERIES ancient Fajum in Egypt were
flied by marauders in search of precious metals
nd stones. The portraits thrown aside to
covered by the sand as the wind listed and there
hey remained unframed until some four five
ears since. when. upon their discovery In the
esert, Herr Theodor Graf purchased them and !
rought them to Vienna. Last summer they We're
Exhibited on the Midway Plaisance at the Fair !
incc then they have been on view In the Boston
iuseum and now they are to be seen in connection
nth the Water Color Clubs exhibition. They pos {
he pictorial art OF a Heenized civilization in
Egypt which was wreaking It's genius chiefly. as
n eng what 4 was two hand d 5 b
pre- Christ an art mperfectly DEVELOPED still! I
pcaking. In the interesting gallery OF portraits f
err Graf has formed. The artists then. whether r
inception of color tone. transparency, light and
made. and on, such belongs to any modern
tinter. What they did have was the lndefinabe "
ri Of vitalizng portrait OF making IL live and "
)eak long after all means of Identifying It's sub /
ct had disappeared In somewhat conventional c
ay these portraits astoundingy realistic. a
cntures after their death the men and women O
no were the models FOR portraits like Nos. 3 a. L
% q and 2S greet you with an animation In the 81
yes and lips that painters of to-day might envy. 81
hey prove once more that the art OF the ancients
as nothing If not faithful to nature. Much Curl o
rs value attaches to the panels and they well r,
me objects Of study 1t would be gratifying il OF
'ecmens from the collection were added to our h
etropolitan Museum of Art. The great museums c,
London. Paris and Berlin have purchased por- l.
ats from Herr Graf, and NewYork should al
oft by their example. To purchase the entire m
hch its owner holds ii. S250,Oo0 would be as i'm n,
ssible as 1t would be unadvsable To secure a ca
Cup of the best pieces In the collection ought to I'm
small matter for public spirited connoisseurs /
New-lork. h,
49, 90, ,., A
rhe nth annual exhibition of American water Il
lors at the Keppel Gallery, opened yesterday, cl
r,.i,s fouracora ,icturos op,ony u,hch 4, 4, &C