New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-01-14
TUE CHRONICLE OF ARTS.
EXHIBITIONS AND OTHER TOPICS.

! RESTORATION OF THE VENUS DE MILO
! Worlds Fair to which reference has been made IN
I this place. will be here very soon A special an
nouncement circulated by the American Fine Arts
Society names next Tuesday as the opening day.
/ There is to be a grand reception the preceding
evening, with music; number Of ladies have
agreed act patronesses and the affair is to he
rendered the select by the high charge OF 81
for a ticket of admission The occasion ought to
be brilliant for the exhibition deserves it. The
pictures from Holland and Sweden among the
most interesting at Chicago. and no one who failed
to see them during the summer should miss seeing
the collections now. At the American Art Gal
leries there IS shortly TO be important sale Of
pictures and other works of collected by the
late George l. Seney. The date of opening is yet
unsettled 1t will undoubtedly be before the end
Of this month. After the dispersal of this collection
some Orlentalia from VI. Bing OF Paris. will he
sold at the same place. The Fifth Avenue Art CAL
leries sell this week the Vapereau collection no
ticed below. Then will follow some paintings be-
longing to c. Klackner; then collection formed
by twelve American artists from among their own
works and then the studio remains OF the late A.
H. Wyant The Autumn Academy has been closed.
The last sales of which we have been given record
are as follows: "A Gray Morning" by G. Wigand.
sj0 Solitude" by G. Wigand, $50; "A Halt for Re-
freshments" by W. Thompson y. A.. 800; Spring"
by Irving r. wiles. A. y. A.. sl25 These raise the
total of sales Of the season to s2,575.
That repetition weakens is an old axiom, but the
repetition of a success disproves II. Mr. +. Hop
knson Smith has repeated himself in an exhibition
of water colors at the Avery Gallery. lie shows
there the same Venice. painted in the same style.
with the same method and from the same point or
view that he has made familiar here before But
he has made an advance. His color ise more posi-
tive and more varied than II was. The handling IS
more firm and decisive. The atmosphere is more
subtle. The values adjusted with more deli
cacy and with depth OF tonality Ana while
treating. have said. exactly the same Venice
the Venice of sequestered canals and sober rather
than vivid efects-he has given to each picture the
freshness and interest which tell of an entirely new
and complete impression. We have praised Mr..
Smith before for his pictorial treatment of Vene-
tan scenes not obviously pictorial In themselves,
and we are glad to praise him again for the Same
thing The perfectly commonplace aspect OF unim-
portant localties-commonplace only relatively, OF
course-he pictures with much taste and artistic
feeling that he gives II really beautiful, which -
IN saw really Venetian. existence upon his paper.
There are thiry-nin water colors in this exhibi-
ton We refer them briefly. for upon the tech-
meal points which they Illustrate have enlarged
before and more than once. 1t is sufficient to add
NOW that in them Mr. Smith has produced his very
hest work. and that his exhibition is an unmixed
pleasure.
NJ Charles Vapereau of Picking. has consigned to
the Fifth Avenue Galleries where is TO be sold
next Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, a small
but very valuable collection Of porcelans and metal
work from the East. The cases in which IL Is dis
trbuted are few They make very modest en-
semble in the galleries. Examined closely however,
they reveal real of single color and dec
GRATED porcelain, OF rare Chinese cloisonne. and or
the plastic art in which some of the religious ideas
of China and Thbet have been crystallized The
single color pieces from TIE eighteenth century are
in some instances unique and splendid examples
We may cite No. 81. turquoise crackle; No. Sc,
n galpot of robins egg and No. II, dark tur-
quoise vase. In the group OF larger pieces there
are two numbers-l4S. a sangde-boeuf crackle. and
al a cream cracke-which are prominent; and In
the little collection of Ming gazes there is one vase
No 2l7, apple green crackle. which may De
pointed out. There many single color gems OF
medium size and of enamels there is a gathering in
which no one piece is less than fine. The high
quality OF individual pieces, like No. 2'O. the large
cloisonne wedding dish. is not equaled quite IN
every case. but taken whole the collection IS
represented truthfuy by that work OF art. Con-
noisseurs will appreciate the opportunity that Is
offered them in its breaking up. No other ike IL
has been here in some time
We have received from Mr. Charles Barmore q
publisher at No 265 Broadway, two etchings OF
Lincoln and Walt Whitman respectively, which
were executed by Mr. T. Johnson after photographs.
The plate employed in preparing the Lincoln was
one In the possession of L. +. Chttenden. Register
of the Treasury under Lincoln. 1t shows the Presi-
dent he appeared in the first year Of his Admin
isration. in 1851 the age OF fiftytwo. The face.
adorned by the short beard which Lincoln wore at
t hs i and b IN PrS Mi'6 or the man We
expressed. The head is less striking In this portrait
than 1t is in the beardless full-face belonging we
believe TO Mr.. Garrison. but Il Is stu very char-
acteristic and vigorous. The Whitman photograph
was taken in 1891 shortly before his death ne saw
the present etching. approved IT, and signed num-
Der OF proofs. They were worthy his SIGNATURE Tor
in this, almost more than in the Lincoln Mr John
son has made very able tranSlation from 'he
camera. preserving the truth Of the latter and at
His style Is painstaking and both plates are closely
worked. yet they are not overcrowded In respect
TO linear treatment, and all the minute passages,
such those in Whitmans great beard, or Lin
coins eye and forehead. are rendered IN a NOR
oughy artistic manner. Both are excellent as
etchngs and as portraits. and can be eheerfuly
Mr.. John Ben. well-known English SCULPTOR
Milo with view to demonstrating that she was
not Venus, in the senSe OF a mere ,,Vp type OF
vreaths for distribution to the victors.' Apropos
If this experiment, which has resulted in small
IF fu r te be bepvrG The WestmaSter
azettem adds the following: "Coinc lien, with
@shs bo k S at the br 1 Museum e on
lwarf column. while the hand held an apple the
light hand drawing up a fold of the drapery. The
acf "o' Of grace ' in The statue ' Itself third pro-
'osal. coming from Paris, rejects the Venus idea
which the wings have been broken OF | believe
hat VI. Rochefort-the premier authority. believe,
N this subject now in England-proposes 10 combat
his theory: while Herr Furtwaengler's idea has
,een put out of court by NJ Renach. The
anne authority equally dsmisses Mr.. Bells at
empt, while admitting its ingenuity. on the ground
hat the idea Of the distribution of prize wreaths
: not. in fact, an antique idea at all
In London the black-and- white artists have Just
ecided t. organize themselves into a society. Mr..
'urniss Mr.. Partridge and Mr. Pencil are among
hose Interested in the scheme. and II promises to
~ carried through. IL provokes an inquiry as to
Why own black and-white men do not do some
romised to keep the black-and-whit artists be-
ore the public in regular yearly exhibition, but
long since dropped out of the race. and has con-
ned It's efforts TO informal shows of an inconse-
uental nature The black-and-white artists, who
o much for our magazines. get their originals
nto notice now and then. but there Is hint In
he action OF their London brethren which they
iould do well TO take.