New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-14
ART EXHIBITIONS.
THE LOAN COLLECTION OF PORTRAITS
AT THE ACADEMY OF DESIGN.

portraiture. There is the portrait when II nrst
and last a likeness. OF this character, We may
presume. those canvases with which Paolo
Giovio, the old historian, filed his famous villa
In his enthusiasm for communion win the
spirits OF the great dead Then there is the por-
trait which Is a picture work OF art 10 De
enjoyed without reference to the identity Of the
person deIineated. And lastly there is the work
which is at a portrait and a picture.
study Of character and thing OF beauty. The
superiority Of this last kind Of portrait seems
obvious until you are brought face to face with
the fact that the merely decorative or merely
descriptive portrait can be- In its way, as I'M
pressive a masterpiece. Then you realize tnat
one must draw distinctions, but may not frame
rules. A realistic portrait by Rembrandt, an
ideallzed portrait like Leonardos Mona Lisa,
and portrait picture like Titian's Man With
the Glove" when brought together illustrate
the curious ramlfications OF an art yet VINO shan
say that any one OF these represents the essence
of portraiture? We reminded or all this by
the exhibition Of portraits arranged at the
Academy OF Design for the benefit OF the Or
thopedic Hospital. The general effect is, from
one point Of view, mOnotonous: from another It
is full OF variety. At the same time there is
predominating motive, the second OK 'he three
at which have glanced.
nearly always decorative. Possibly this Is be-
cause he paints women more often than men.
These galleries fairly rustic with the frou frou
NJ fashionable gowns and not only the costume
Of the evening" but the dress OF the street Is
made to serve the artists purpose. Witness in
respect to the latter, Mr. Weir's charming por-
trait of a young lady. evidently prepared FOR
walk out OF doors. The face is carefully studied.
yet we think the work may fairly be praised
rather for its decorative quality than FOR It's
effect as portrature. We find ourselves pausins
before canvas after canvas in the same spirit
The heads are sometimes interesting, but the
color the scheme" IS the main thing. THIS Is
NOT IN beIittle the value Of the painters abors.
The owners Of these portraits must doubtless
think first Of their personal significance, ana
are satisfied. But II is not often that this per-
sonal significance IS made manifest 10 the
stranger He is concerned chiefly with the flow
Of a drapery the turn of an arm. the treatment
Of a background And he, too. II may be added
il satisfied for the portraits. as ne REGARDS
them have a great deal OF vvacity and charm,
though they do not speak TO him or character
eoquently interpreted. A certain eIaoorateness
underlies some of this work, and in portraits
like NJ Chartran's Mrs Clarence II. Mackay
or Mr.. Porter's Mrs. Harry Payne whitney,
there is disclosed ambition to revive the
style OF the last century, with its outdoor Access
.ories its Climpses Of architecture, and us pro-
fusion of flowers but this kind Of portrait Is
rare The composition is usually simpler ana
both the painters we have mentioned SEND
smaller panels in which they gain their enects
by less imposing expedients. The huge portrait
Of Mrs. Potter Palmer, painted by Zorn' may
be cited illustrating an attempt 10 convey An
impression Of a stately. academic portrait py
entirely unacademc means. Mrs. Palmer STANDS
IN q hall whose decorative features are lost in
the general tone and all that the artist mas
sought TO do has been to show the white-rooed
figure strongly lighted against gloomy back
ground The scheme is impressionistic, sketchy'
and yet through the scale or the Work anu
through It's simplicity there is something gained
OF that dignity which Mr.. Porter mas uieo I'd
se. along other lines Perhaps the most inter-
esting specimen Of portraiture. almost wnony
modern. and yet Hinged with the ideas OF Rey-
nolds and his school. is the full-ength Of Mrs
ROYAL Phelps Carroll. by Mr.. Harper Pennins-
ton The stvle is abundantly clever, but the
nose and the conception OF the whole have
sobriety and quiet dignity very suggestive OF
the older men.
n is interesting to observe that while the por-
traits Of women are so much in evidence they
nevertheless cannot deprive certain portraits or
men from looming above everything else IN the
modern wing Of the collection. Mr.. Nintons
Thomas G.. Appleton" and the late Frank
Hollis j. Pierpont Morgan are masterpieces
trimming over with character. ard revealing
that strength OF execution which is one OF the
chief ingredients OF artistic beauty. Long after
much that is more specifically charming Is for
rotten these two noble and powerful canvases
stay In the mind. There are other good mascu-
line portraits. the Gladstone" Of Mr.. Mcclure
Hamilton. the Colonel Cannon" OF Mr.. Beck
with. the "Abram s. Hewitt" OF NJ. Bonnat
Mr.. sargent's Calvin S. Brice" and the John
ston Livingston" OF NJ Duran. 1t Is pleasant
to meet them in their solid strength and SIM
plicity They provoke a passing surmise as to
whether, after all. the masculine portrait may
not bring out to-day. as 1t has so often In the
past, more Of the masterfu in art than Is lifted
TO the surface by any purely lovely models. II
will be interesting to compare Mr.. Sarsent's
..Wertheimer' with Whistler's Woman In
White" when the former reaches the exhibition.
The place is waiting. AS soon as the "Wer-
theimer" arrives it will face the Woman In
White" across the south gallery Now. the lat
ter is one OF the most subtly fascinating por-
traits Mr.. Whistler ever did; the ''Wertheimer"
is audacious and even blatant In its rendering
Of the sitters ford features but no one who
saw this amazing canvas Of Mr.. Sargents in
the Royal Academy two years ago could doubt
for a moment that 1t will look across at the
Woman In White" with fash OF triumph.
And II is hard not to regard the situation with
sympathy. Plainly the masculine portrait, when
1t is splendidly painted, is one Of the most con.
quering things in art.
The patriotic American will be struck by the
way in which the foreigners, among the modern
men, remain comparatively in the background
Bonnat Duran and Boldini are conspicuous and
justly so, though the second OF these is, in his
portraits OF women hopelessly below the level
OF his Johnston Livingston; II is interesting
no l,od