Omaha daily bee., 1898-06-26
ART At THE EXPOSITION

FNhth tts sFht /
On the south wall OF the water color room
hangs a picture by one Of the best OF the
modern French water colorists-Madelaine
Lemaire. II is a picture. light, graceful and
pleasing. representing a group OF men and
women dancing the minuet in a French
salon. They are dressed In the attractive
costumes OF silk, satin and velvet OF the
eighteenth century, and the textures are
remarkably we'll preserved. The compost
ton Is very good, the figures in the fore
ground are carefully worked UP; those in
the back are merely suggested, allowing the
eye to be impressed by the crowd OF people
as a whole. Each figure is carefully drawn
and painted in a very delicate, high key.
The values have been sacrificed for purity
Of color; the faces have been painted In the
painstaking Italian method OF stipllng, in
stead of by broad washes. The handling of
the costumes and floor has been much
broader, although nothing has been left to
accident 1t is brilliantly transparent
throughout, as the artist has used no opaque
color, and If 1t lacks a certain strength, 1t is
exceedingly refined.
Nothing could more clearly show the
difference between the French and Dutch
schools OF painting than u comparison in the
water color room of this picture OF Made
laine Lemaire's with Nos. SS6 and 3S7 of
Neuhaus. In the first place the disparity in
the subjects is striking. One is sparkling,
gay-society; the other is lowly. simple
homely. The Minuet is polished and pains
taking: the Dressing the Baby"-No. $50.
and the Evening Meal 3S7-ts broad and
bold. In the former the painter has caught
all OF the sentiment of the group. A peas
ant mother dressing her baby, who, as he is
stretched on his mothers knee, reaches out
a chubby arm to play with the cat, while
another solid, sturdy little figure stands in
front. The whole is very low in tone, al
, most merging into the browns-yet still
2 full of color. The light coming in from the
: left side lights up the humble interior.
where each detail-the table on which is II
!, green bowl, the cat. the line of the wall
{ back of the mothers head-aids the compo-
sition.
The woman's face is but roughly sug-
gested, yet full of character-her hands are
well drawn and seem to have been painted
. while in action, so well do they suggest it.
h Neuhaus has painted both 1856 and 3S7 with
+ Opaque colors and with all the hrmness
e and solidity of oil.
e In the Evening Meal" the light comes in
II through the window at the right and lights
n up a peasant and wife as they are serving
e themselves from the common dish. The
dog, who waits his turn in front, is badly
& drawn, and wooden in outline, and in treat
ment, yet the group is so suggestive Of real
ity and life that one overlooks the dog.
Neuhaus has painted the common folk as
they are in their humble, everyday life, and
has painted them with n strength and d.
n l%rectness which appeals to any one who will
n take the trouble to look at them. AnOtho!
water color, which is very interesting, is
hung up so high that no one who is not
NJ persevering, will find it. 1t is The Lantern
no by Hugh Breckenridge-No. 5S--a study o
G. a nude figure. holding in his hand a Lighted
Japanese lantern, which lights up the bod!
with a yellowish red light, and leaves til,
. rest of the figure in a green shadow, en-
ba yeloped in a vibrating green background.
rv 1t is very artistic and very interesting
- especially to those who have studied colo
~ by artificial light. | suppose it was an dcCi
- dent that it should have been hung high
ho while on the line was hung a hideou
~ Psyche-or whoever she may be-with n lis
-. located shoulder and a manned hand-sittin
y, on a bench in a garden Of flowers inanel,
y" looking at a little statue of Cupid-or who
y ever it may be-No. 1856.
ie f. Hopkinson Smith, the artist, architect
q author, has five or six sketches of the Nash
, Vile eXposition-which, as they are loaHe
~ by one of the magazines, | infer were orig
at inally made as illustrations. They are eX
a tremely simple and effective, and painte
90 in the same manner in which he has of lat
III painted his Venetian sketches. He use
nc gray paper-which. of course, gives a ton
rs to the whole sketch-uses Opaque white 70
all the notes in his sketch, higher in valu
II. than the gray, and transparent washes, whC
he can. This makes the greens look rathc
in dark in value, but it gives a certain eiiec
with very little work, although many deer
mt the method as being unOrthOlOX.
Miss Hawley, a teacher of water ColorS &
Colorossi's, in Paris, sometimes gets charm
N; ing effects in water ColOrs. In the piCtuI
T. she has here of a mother giving her child
II bath it is the purple which intrudes upo
lrd one. Then, too, a white cap, when see
on, against a window, is no longer white, bl
ry is many shades darker than the light.
ty; the light is strong, it appears almost blaC
nd, against it. BY painting the bonnet and IL
ly' face of the woman so light in value, ST
in has destroyed the strength of the source
w light. The composition is very graceful al
ar pleasing-the window seat and accessori'
rye artistically suggested, but the color seen
too much the color of bon-bons to be ST
&C. ductive.
MT The head of an old man reading, by Mi
eli Engley, caused quite a discussion, the 9th,
ol day, between two visitors. who seemed
IAN be inclined to appreciate what they saw.
'Ihat is loo much Tor me, one salu.
can stand blue hills, but 10 one can tell Il
VI there was ever such a thing as a blue beard
That sounds like a very logical criticism, b
VI there is a difference between local and a
parent color. 1t is the artists duty not
match the local color of whiskers, or wha
wa ever is to be painted, which any hou
ipn painter can do equally well, but to pal
it as seen through atmosphere, changed
it is by light, by reflected light, by lg
!" and shade, by contrast, and various 9th
" causes, which may affect it.
" So the high light on a gray beard, sc
through a certain atmosphere, with certa
w. =" reflected lights, may look blue, even, If I
b,a nosooto e'"' 49, N' "'' ''
,a THE EVANS