The herald., 1895-05-01
IMPRESS|ON|ST PAINTERS
Discussed at the Art Association
Meeting Last Evening
MRS. GARDEN MACLEOD
Read a Paper-.-Mr. 7. S. Van Dyke
Made an Informal Address
And Mrs.. A. M. Hicks Recited HoweTs
Exciting College Boat Race Before
an Interested Audience

L. Judson presided in place of DR.. }. O.
Fletcher, who was prevented by illness
from being present. An interesting ana
instructive paper written by Mrs. Garden
Macleod, entitled Impressionists-O ana
New. WIS read by her husband, Malcom
Macleod.
Mrs. Macleod opened her subject by
stating that we are living in thinking.
critical aud fertile age.
The old masters are not to be ignored,
but must be studied intelligenty, for all
good work is more or less based on what
has gone before; yet tie artists OF TINS
century prefer fresh study of nature TO
the exclusive consultation OF old form
ulas.
Since early Italian ideals died the world
has learned many new ways OF seeing
things and many new ways OF expressing
feeling. Leonardo da Ninci represents q
man OF acute observation ana 1eallstic
feeling, turning from old, or from ont
conventions. to study truths OF lilumlna-
ton and new facts of anatomy.
Art reappears in three new strains;
First. with Nicholas Poussin. Claude, and
the Franco Italians; second, with Ruoens'
Rembrandt. Franz Halz, Terburg, Ra-
phael: third, with Nelasquez and Rlbero
In Spain.
There are two main roads running
through the maze of paths which lead 10
the epoch Of landscape and its allied art'
modern figure painting.
First. that of the so-calied classic 1orm-
alists beginning with Clauoe ana rous
sin ending in Turner and the school OF
David; second, that of the realists the
class beginning with the Flemish and
Dutch and eliminating i'll Constable,
Gericault, Delacroix and the early French
masters; all these Joined most consplcu-
ously n Corot, and became the pathway
of the future-a high road to IMPRESSION
istic vision treated decoratively.
Landscape led the way. aud of all the
school of 1880 1t was Corot who was the
main factor in bringing about the reyolu. .
tion. His style is a com bination OF
Claude and Const bic with the very
unique personality OF Corot added.
The most that can be hoped Tor IN art
is the telling of old truths with the addl-
ton of a personal flavor Since Corot.
one can no longer look at a tree with the
eyes of Rubens, Rembranpt. Watteau or
even Constable; it has become forever
something else and stands in dlfferent
relation to what is around 1T.
IL we are as earnest in observation OF
the trivial as OF the essential, we shall
infallibv overstate the small and let the
large go uneXpressed. On the other
hand. he who feels strongly the effect OF
the whole. will take care not to overestl-
mate the value OF the parts.
The impressionist reproduces exactly
what is Sc en- at the moment of sight, the
fugitive aspect of things, and, therefore,
tries to present a true realism:
The practice differs much in different
artists, but all have the common merit OF
luminous harmony. The impressionists
and impressing; they show knowledge
of the laws of color, its contrasts, compile
lnents adm irradations.
The mpressionist sees and reproduces
blues and violets in the shadows. and in
many of their landscapes light blue and
purple become the ,predominating hue;
but at the requisite distance all fall into
place; the blues become mist or simply
distance; the pinks, light, tinged by some
refracting medium.
The luminarists' method OF spotting or
Matching with unblended color is good and
their work is less likely to suffer from
the ravages of time than is that OF the
painters who tease their colors and re-
work them on the canvas. The failure OF
critics and the public to see any good or
true art in the movement of impression
ism was aided by the extremes adopted
by some OF its votaries in accentuatlng
the most extravagant form OF the new
faith and exaggerating its already strange
effects.
Results as vet show tendencies rather
than complete achievement; they have,
nevertheless. influenced the entire French
school; have broadened the artists views
of the actual and by protesting against
hard lines which certainly do not exist
in nature. and depicting masses instead i,
have unquestionably developed the pre-
sent study of values; that is, the relative
intensity of light or dark that colors
possess, independently OF their hues.
With the clear and broad generaliza-
=, Nr-
iC up in the concrete and spoke OF the
great disciples of impressionism OF Ed
ward Manet to whom belongs the chief
honor of the initiation OF the impressions
istc qualities that. characterize the new
school of Claude Monet, the head OF the
and Degas; OF Bastien Lepage. Duez.
Gervex and Bagnan Bouveret. of-Whistler.
1nnes and many others. %
Manet and Monet had undoubtedly a
mission to deliver to the art world, and
their message has been accepted. Few
artists OF any, age have been 50 generally
discussed and few have lived to see their
influence SO widely spread among their
fellow workers.
In Mon cts work the great charm is
light and brilliancy in that of Manet,
breadth and simplicity. Renon paints
chiefly portraits and the middle class o1
soical life and are i'll Hat tints. entirely
without relief, ,oand al OF the same tone.
Pissarro has a tendency to see blue in
everything he treats OF peasant life. Bas
tien Lepage painted sincere. penetrating
interpretations of nature; his brush pre-
sented views of fields. woods and sun
light, of his home and of the simple life
around it. He said II acquired my trade
in Paris, but | did not learn my ar
there"
Mrs. Macleod next turned to the Lon
don school of mpressionists, and that O.
Glasgow, comparing them to one another
and to the Frenchmen; and from them tC
the Japanese. who. she said, were I'M
pressionists centuries ago and they exec
in this manner of representation. They
have without doubt strongly influenced
the modern school OF art. given new
ideas, new suggestions. new impressions
In closing Mrs tacleou stated that the
only works in any school that have stood
the test of posterity's judgment are those
in which the artist has put much more
than the depicting OF passing fancy. o
a pretty note of color that catches the
eye: that the best in the worlu art is
that in which the artists thought is sin
cerely expressed in every part with thu
conviction that this and nothing else j:
truth.
That the idea expressed should be dom
inant yet clothed with good drawing
composition. color and technique, all useC
as means to an end. the language b,
which the artist expresses himself. Th'
strength with which the scenes. or Incl
dent. or fact. has appealed to the artist t.
reproduce it, is the measure OF the ap
-