New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-12-17
THE CHRONICLE OF ARTS.
EXHIBITIONS AND OTHER TOPICS.

GEORGE INNEss AND THE SHOW THAT is TO BE
HELD IN HIS MEMoRY-soME PICTURES BY
puv1s DE CHAvANNEs-A DESIGN BY
Mr.. cHURcH-THE PORTFOLIO.
Saving the matters which will be found discussed
In detail below there Is nothing 10 ahnou"ee W."
week for which need be especially erdei'i'
The Autumn Academy and the water Coio' DIV"
both continue but neither contains any feature 80
striking as to Invite renewed comment vi ine
minor exhibitions there Is that 1t VIII be wen 10
remember closes the 22d. THIS Is the "hS..''
Show at the Grolier Club. a highly interesting MS
play which students OF this master snou'd not over
look The Trllby drawings by Mr.. Du Maurier were
Withdrawn from TIE Avery gallery Saturday h'sh'
after a phenomenal season OF fortnight II Is esu-
mated roughly that between 5000 and 1000 People
visited the exhibition, and II the drawings haa 1ee'i
for sale they would have been disposed OF over and
over again. The enthusiasm with when reacer' o. the
most absorbing OF recent novels Hooked 10 see 'nese
pictures offers a suggestion TO artists generally Lei
the,n mt as much human interest into their WORK
as Mr. Du Maur.er puts into his and their audiences
will be larger. OF course they VIII retort that MI
Du Maurier IL not mastery technician as any
one of themselves but dispassionatc observers VIII
balance this by the just remark that however iacH-
ing in some ways the accomplished art Of MIR. Du
Naurer NAV be- 1t certainly does not owe its de-
hclonces to a preoccupation with literary IDEAS. IL
never hurts an artist to think and to have feeiins
q maxim tina, Is not 80 much or n platituue az IL
looks The Avery gallery will have another special
exhibition. opening on Wednesday IL "i'i oe vi
pictures by Mr.. Percy Moran
The announcement made in last fridays Tribune
that there would presently be an exhibition IN
memory OF George inness at the Fine Arts Bulidihg
touched an event IN the history Of painting In this
country which knows no precedent. we nave done
honor 10 American painters before this. but never
in quite the same way The show Will not. 1t Is ex-
al
studio by Inness his death last August but these
roles aone VIII furnish forth collection important
in quantity well in the quality which belongs
to his smallest sketch. There VIII be about 2oo paint
lngs and studies hung They VIII be introduced WIN
al possible dignity the opening night toward the
Christmas holidays. Mr.. Parke Goodwin will deliver
an address and he will rise In the name OF COM
mttee whose members Will represent the stancnest
and finest traditions in American art and letters.
Whether the exhibition VIII result In some perma-
nent memorial to Inness is n question at preseht
under discussion. but not yet decided upon among
the numerous admirers Of the artist The members
OF the American Fine Arts Society must be espe-
cally jealous in this matter, for one OF the hrsl
purposes OF this organization is to step In at JUST
such a juncture the present and give a Kind OF
official stamp TO Innesss career. The Academy TOOK
appropriate action at the time Of his DEATH put noth
INK of any enduring nature has been accomplished
In these quarters yet IL Is the obvious business
Of the Fine Arts Society. which stands In the rela-
"A
city to take such steps as viii either provide
monument 10 Inness In public place or assure
the production OF such a'pr!n.ed record as was sus-
rested in The Tribune few weeks ago. really
good catalogue Of the approaching exhibition with
adequate plates and a memoir or the painter. would
be- Il seems 70 us. very serviceable tribute to him
and his art, provided more costly memorial is Inn
possible at this time
II has been said OF a famous English poet that
he had the large utterance OF the early gods
Such language needs TO be applied with much
caution In the province OF art yet there are paint
ors In reference to whom IL may be unhesitatingly
employed Puvls de chavannes is one of these
painters and whoever wishes to see how he de-
serves the encomium just quoted may do so by
visiting the new galleries OF Mr.. Durand-Ruel
There a large and well-lighted room Is devoted TO
some thirty works by the great French decorator
some I'm color and others In red chalk or black ana
white one and all they demonstrate the broad
sweep OF his genius and the beauty OF the express
sion he has given IT, He conceves his compost
lions on "a grand plane and works them out on the
same noble lines. or all the modern decapltations
OF St John Baptist which have been produced in
France We can recall none so stately and so
touching so sincere and mastery as the one
which figures In this collection. The Saint is kneei-
ins with arms spread out. on the left enters
Herodas made more feminine, more lovely, more
poetic than the dancer ever has been made In the
Partisan Salon. To the right the brawny execu-
sctmitar descending with fearful force. These
three figures disposed In what looks like one Of
the mllor courts OF "A prison. have behind them
only a wall and superb tree rising In three tower
Ike masses. The whole makes group OF which
the naturaness Is no more striking ihan the SYM
metry Indeed this intensely dramatic scene Is
rendered "a much a unit as any one OF the artists
most p.acid decorations. Therein is the secret OF
his power. He is always a poet always a media
tive and imaginative designer but In addition 10
his gifts OF mind and temperament he has the
clarity ana constructive faculty OF master OF the
great epoch. Look at the sketch for the cele-
brated decoration in honor OF 81. Genevieve In the
Pantheon at Paris 1t is descriptive. II is nara
tive on canvas but even in the study here cut up
and placed In three or four frames you can trace
the continuity and logic OF the decorative scheme
In little idyls like No II, Autumn" and No H.
The Wine Press" and In more ambitious compo-
sitions like the charming ailegory called me
Mower" the adherence to balance and slmpnei,,y
Of design is always noticeable. The trihing study
of couple OF fruit carriers done at Marssiiles IN
the picture OF two women at a fountain painted In
the present year Throughout this painters career
he has always found that for which he has
striven Take the little studies OF Peace and
decorations In the museum at Amens. NttaSed.
fun Of meaning; rich In the fruits OF close s'uS 10y
touch OF sublimiiy in pure archltecturai sense
which rnys de chavannes shares b " a 'ns
himself. cultivating naivete for which they iur-
utsh a marked parallel ana elhuidtiHB, wv '"",
,h,my NJ their tenderness and reticence in color.
Pale nlacs grays and greens, mpid silvery mesh
tInts and sometimes sober tawny reds are the
nr,ncnal notes In the gamut which he covers Hts
outlines are so delicately handled that sometimes
they fan short OF the vigorous standard when In
othsr respects he maintains and they give eN-
cuses for the animadversions which have been
made upon his technique. The technique or fuVis
de cha Vannes Is indeed very modest In us Claims
Ia special consideration and has none OF tho priil.
iancies which dazzle In the works or his most
noted colleagues in Paris But 1t Is more mature
than II seems at first sight, the touches when
IN ha
The reflection of "A profound sympathy with the
unsophsticated spirit presiding over the entire
work In his sketches. In such a study as NO -;
"A dra wing in red chalk, he answers once Tor all
the objection that he Is no draughtsman AS a
Il In drnN