New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-07-23


excellence as to imply the existence OF cur
r.,od firmly established, national school. quite |
. ,r,hr cor,c from our own States, and Illus
,r,,o =. school which contains much good MATERIAL
more that is PROMISING and in course OF arriving
n a mint which the oil painters have aireauy
ro,ched II il not torpid Neither is the french |
school II il in fact, in its more dcllca'" anu
sprgbtIv vein as active as that of Holland |
Rut il takes no part, as a school, In the fair' |
There is good work from Germany, l'aN, "'o''
Britain and Sweden. There is not enough ho'"
any one OF those countries TO give IL eminent
Thus is the water color exhibit brought WITHIN
the compass Of few lines The eXhlot oi 'nc
only works in color that are left Is more teh"o"'
than that of the water colors and is more quicNi!
summarized. In section is there group vi
pastellists large enough and brilliant enough 10
warrant the assumption that in their country
their medium is employed in any but casual casual
occasional way If such an assumption IL nla"o
in fine case of France it is based on eNperich"e
had elsewhere, than at the fair l'fc =, a ~,
pictures by Blotte, Blanche, Chcrct, i iiht
lointelin, Rataelli, and some o1ne's o, hat tLe
significance give very poor idea Of whaI tnG |
artists Use pastel clcvcrly. William Stott, OF
oldham has skctchcd Swiss mountain sce Tthsi
81 George Hare has treated the nude, Miss Etr,l |
Wright has made fancy costum" study d. VI.
Swan has drawn some wild animals. ana tnc Worh
Of them all is artistic Capranlca del .Tll'o ;n Is
a good Italian pastcllist. and three OF inc I'M
pressonistic Swedcs. Norlstrom, Prince Euseh
and Waander are sltilful in using the m'1'ii'1'
In the American section there is Nreer COZ
lection Of pastels than anywhere else IN the ar,
building. and it comprises some good pictures by
Cecilia Beaux, W. NJ Chase, Appleton Brown'
hoycn Charles Corwin, Jules Stewart and Anna
Kumpkc But the New-lor< Pastel Club when |
was once little centre of vitality in its province,
has not been heard Of in its home for long
time and il is not heard Of here apprecably. |
Chase being the only conspicuous member present
The conclusion TO he drawn from the cNhlp,,, |
and il is in broad sense correct is that pastors
are in America, as in every other country eAcep |
France seldom used for their own sake and used |
to good effect
BLACK.AND.wHITE ART.
The greater part of what there Is OF black |
and-white art at the Fair is good. 1t is aiSo'
with one two exceptions, American TREAT |
Britain, which has no school Of illustrators to |
speak of, fails to send any of those artists ike
Sir George Reid and Hugh Thomson. who are the
pillars of what little black,and-white art there
is in the country. She sends instead Sir James
Linton, who is correct ana dul anu 'rc'
Punch" artists of celebrity, Dn Mauricr, Icnnlr
and the late Charles keenc In" only one IN
the quartet with fine technique Is k"ene, ana |
he, it must be admitted is every inch Il master
of his pen. The French, who have dozens OF
capa lie draughtsmen. follow in this o. Partmncnt
the same prchensbc policy which has been |
pointed out in other parts OF their exhibit lhcir
lack-and-white school is rcprc sentcd by some |
drawings of political personages by R"nouard.
series of historical illustrations done some time |
ago by Laurens, and an exquisite portrait IN !
pencil of his wife by Camille Bclengcr The |
drawings are good, but as giving an abstract Of |
such work in France they are udicrously INSULT
cient. The Germans have been able 20 DO them
selves justice in small space for although they |
have bright pen drauGhtSman in Sclllitgen, who
is absent and another illustrator Of equal calibrc,
kenccke. who has only one water color on the
walls, their master Of back-and.wlitc is Mcneil,
and when Of his work has been shown |
there is little else that is worth while TO bring
forth. One corner in the German section has
been filed with a collection of bis drawing
hey are maryels of truthful draucht'manShip |
enhanced by freedom and original style.
Mcneil stands alone in hi' own country and has no
superior in any other save; possibly. Daniel
Verge, the Spaniard, who lives and WORKS III
France
In America the German and the Spaniard have
two equals Edwin Abbey and Joseph P"nnel,
and there are number of men who, II not a.
remarkable those artists. are nevertheless very
close to them in the artistic quality of their
work. If American art We're national IN no
and important place among the nations on the
score of its blacIi-and-whitcs. large collection
of the latter has been installed in the Art Build
ing. 1t is almost too large. To exhibit thirty
eight drawings hy one man, even when he IL
as clever C. ID. Gibson is TO run the risk of
frustrating the purpose of the OCCASION. Mess
a man is a genius such a display of his work
produces WEAKNESS. small group Of say half
a-dozen Of his best drawings would give. full
observers attention. leave clearer impression
II is likely that Pencils exhibit would have
been improved il half Of his forty-fvc drawings
had been omitted. But this il not vital point,
and the abundance of work exhibited certainly
contributes to enforce upon the mind t" vast
amount Of time and energy which i cNp"rdc upon
American illustration.
1t is unnecessary to explore in detail the col
lection Of nearly five hundred drawings There ar"
few of them which have not seen the light III me
principal monthly and weekly periodicals. All
that need be said here in rcfcrcnc" 10 the familiar
drawings Of Abbey. Pencil, Blum. Pyle. Rim
hart, Gibson, Fem, Remington, SIn"dley castaignr
and a great many Others. may b. pat into some
general observations on the movement in which
they figure II is a movement which has carried
the technique of drawing with the pen or in
gouache for reproduction as far as il has been
carried anywhere save by some isolated master
like Verge. The American illustrator is intclli-
gent and receptive. He rcproduccs contemporary
types, manners and costumes with the accuracy OF
the camera. If he is AN Edwin Abbey Howard
Pyle he is no less successful in imaeng the
Castaignc he will put into his sketches the very
aroma Of foreign lands, the accent Of Japan %
OF Provence. If he is Joseph Pencil he will
give the architectural monuments Of Europe a
new life upon paper And whoever he is he
will have a pictorial faculty that will make him
interesting though his work be reduced TO
block three by four inches in size. He will have
a style that will make him noticeable though
he he set in the company of any number Of illus
traitors in the same number Of periodical lie
almost never has imagination except in the sens"
that he can interpret an author who is not too
imaginative Abbey and Vcddcr are exceptional
creators But the typical American illustrator
has humor and he has taste lie has above all
and this is his most precious gift, "a thoroughly
American note, intcrpcnetratinq all his work.
II IS vitalized. artistic work, and it is character
istic of the nation
TNGEAvINGS AND FTCnINGs.
In the photographic department there is a
strangely different condition Of things in each
national section which contains any prints. Whist
Ter, the greatest original etcher since Rembrandt,
is in the American section represented by three
score well selected plates. With him are few
talented original ctchcrs, Parrish, Platt, Alden
Gill L. L..