The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-05-22

of other FTenohmen with rotten hearts,
but who lack the power to express and
display them. The picture should be
taken down and publicly burned. It's
author should be barred from ever
again practising his profession. The
chief mission of modern art is to make
happy by the presentation of beauty.
1t should be in the hands of angels.
The hands of devils should not be al
lowed to touch it. The fact that the
theme Is presented with marvellous uni
ty with agoni2lng distinctness and with
crucihcial power is no excuse in coun-
try which still claims to acknowledge a
God of goodness and of love.
The two other pictures do not spring
from the depths of the heart. They
therefore do not stir deep emotions and
convictions and may be examined and
criticised calmly and dispassionately,
Laurens' picture, which you may re-
member is about twenty feet square,
represents about four hundred square
feet of ploughed hill side. There is a
huge hill reaching nearly to the top of
the picture stretching from one side of
the frame to the other, and a lesser hill
stretching from the right to about
three-quarters of the way to the left.
Between the two is a valley marked by
two rows of trees. The rows appear
where the lesser hill stops. Then they
| swing round to the front of the picture
in eXpanindg perspective lines If 1t
were not for the trees you could not tell
there was valley, nor could you dis
| ttnguish the fiat foreground from the
hills, for one hill looks as near as the
other and they both look as if they
might tumble out of the canvass and
bury you beneath ploughed land of sew
eral shades of disagreeable browns and
| yellows. There are four men and four
pairs of oxen ploughing to the front and
right. There Is one man and one pair
| of oxen ploughing away from the left.
Two small men and two small pair of
oxen are ploughing down the smaller
range of hills. One still smaller man
with still smaller oxen is ploughing up
| the larger range of hills. There is one
| tree at about the middle of the smaller
range, and two small houses near its
| top and center. There is also one very
small house on the crest of the larger
range, and that is every blessed thing
there is in the picture to relieve the
coarse, common dirty glare of upturned
earth. The work is so raw that it looks
as if Laurens with a few of his pupils
might have daubed on the whole thing
in a few days. The humbug mystery Of
the impressionst school is cheapness.
Pictures are so hard to sell now a-days
that painters can't afford the time to
finish them. Impressionist pictures are
unfinished daubs. The key to every Sc
|
Powers" are in the hands of the Roth
schilds and must do their bidding.
Laurens would have his picture regard
| ed as a grand epic of labor. His fol-
lowers gather in front of it, sing prais-
es and point out the epic and the labor.
The sensible man does not know wheth-
er to laugh at or to deplore the condi-
ton of a country that can set forth
such a huge, meaningless, ugly, dirty
| production as work of art. What be-
comes of such pictures? No private in
| dividual would hang them in his house
even if he had a room big enough. Is
the state forced to buy them? Must it
lend itself to continuing their corrupt
ing influence? Gervais' picture is
queer and false, but it is not offensive,
except in its useless display of the nude.
The theme Is the love of Titania for
Bottom. The scene is laid in a cedar
grove on the border of river or lake.
On the other side of the water are hills,
clouds and the rising full moon strug
Cling it's light through the clouds The
last glimmer of sunshine illumes parts
of the personages and the smooth
trunks of the cedar trees. In the very
center of the foreground is a well. On
it's curb Bottom with his asses head is
seated holding with his right hand his
right leg, which is crossed over his left
leg. His head Is turned at right angles
and to his right. His nozzle is against
Titania's left cheek. Her hands are
clasped over the ridge of his nose. She
is six feet high, stands full to the front
and is stark naked She is painted
somewhat In the thin, skinned milk,
impressionist style. But the colors are
laid on evenly and nicely. There is
good drawing and fair modelling. Here
and there the faint glow of the depart
ing sun gives her the color of the skin
of a dull orange, The glow part is very
effective The expression Is that of a
dying calf" as it used to be called.
That is the expression of Pennington
IHSlEl WlGIl lOI IuG lllSL lAlliS III IlGl llLC
she finds herself head over heels in love.
To the left of Titania is a cedar. The
trees all look as if they had come out of
toy box and were just made. Then
further to the left is a seated naked fe-
male displaying her right side and pro-
file. In front of Bottom, crouched
against another tree, is another naked
female displaying her left side and pro-
file This one holds her right hand to
her face as if properly ashamed of the
whole performance, as well as of her
part in it. To the right of the same
tree is a standing nudity giving a back
view of her entire person. There is still
another squatting nudity and two or
three more trees. The painter has de-
graded Shakespeare to a display of the
nude, and that is all there is to it.
Perhaps you have had enough of the
Salon. PERIANDER.