The times., 1897-07-11

The truth is always surprising We arc
surprised and delighted to lie told some
thing that we did not know we knew
Thus the most significant thing bout the
International Studio for the month Of Juiv
is not its wealth Of pictorial reproductions
not the article on the revival of English
domestic literature, nor George Horton s
Introduction to the sketching grounds of
SoCth Holland, nor the studio talks, but
the first sentence of text.
1t begins an article On the work of Fritz
Thaulow, written by Gabriel Mourav. and
lie SAYS: In the general history OF art the
nineteenth century might justly he STYLED
the age of landscape. For this, l think. viii
be, in Les TO come, if not its most un
doubted claim to glory, at least one of its
most pronounced characteristics.
There is a fact which may not have es-
capped You Perhaps it has. Confess Re-
view artistic expression through all the
catalogue of your acquaintance and the
fact comes back to you with astonishing
revivification that the compass Of tie ho-
rizon line has never furnished forth sug-
gestion for canvaSes as at present Even
the Greek artists who worShiped nature
as goddess, We're not adhesive to impress
sions OF trees, flowers, mountains, water
and distances. They gave expression al
most exclusively to the human form
With enigmatictl playfuncSs Mr. Mouray
asks whence springs this modern taste of
ours for landscape, and then consider ately
goes to wors, TO answer the question Its
causes are many and various saws he
apart from any question of aesthetics,
and from a purely general point OF view,
the mattermay be explained psyehologicalIy
in the need that exists for the man Of today
to escape from the artificial, overhedted T.
mospherc his severyda ylife, asIived among
abnormal crowds in the large cities, in to
the real air, where he may tread real earth
and gaze on real water andreal trees andrea
grass.
And seeing hat his actual intercourse
With nature must be somewhat of rare
event, he is all the more susceptitle of
fresh Impressions, and such a thing as
safety in this respect is unknown to him.
For this reason there is no one better quail
fled than your citizen to appreciate the
beauty and charm of q landscape paint
ing. To the man who has spent a whole
week in office or factory, amid the luxury
and worry of business, in whirlwind of
anxieties anG struggles and hopes de-
ceved, in that state OF tension and nerv-
ous excitement inseparahle from all work
nowadaysto such a man modest clump
OF trees appears majestic as forest, the
smallest hin high as a mountain; few miles
out of town he fancies himself in the heart
OF the country, instead of in some surdld
suburb, as IS generally the case''
If busy townpeople's attraction toward
the rustic be the reason for the prevalence
of Landscape art then Mr.. Mouray leaves an
unuttered premises in his syllogism, which
leads US to believe that art is in com
merciai leading strings. For we infer
that artists then paint rustic pictures be-
cause they sell best.
Let us look for the reason In some other
direction Ancient art found expression
in the human form; medieval art IL re-
!igious topics, because the genius Of an
cient times was the carnal and Of the
middle ages religion In cur civilization.
the former element is eliminated by PurI-
tanism, however presently dormant, is
still potently influential, and it has not
the poetry OF medieval religion to inspire
"a religious art. So art has sought new
channel 1t sought nature. The discovery