New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-01-12
ART EXHIBITIONS
THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE n.v
W. POWERS

w. POWERS.
The art Of collecting pictures has bean .u..
waited with so much assiduity in Amer,c. A..
Ing the last fifteen or twenty years tina, 49,
taste OF the present generation has recs,v..
traordInary impetus. being carried an enoru...
distance beyond that of a time that Ia no, 90
all. very far behind us Things that ar. ~,
old-fashioned arc deemed positively ar.,.'.
though they arc not always regarded with -.
respect that We pay to antiquity. The pov..
collection. which has been placed on exh,h,,,..
at the American Art Galleries and may bo a."
there until It's dispersal at auction next w..
offers In point n was formed Nv .
citizen OF Rochester. now deceased. who bsv.,
TO buy pictures M time when WinierhaI,..
Underestimate. Ploty and innumcrable worth.
Germans and BavariaDs were supplying "a.
American market with stately canve.es % "a
great artistic merit. He bought arnbtor.
elaborate and quite tcpd historical comood.
lions: he bought smaller painted anecdotes
and he went on buying until his pictures ran uu
into the hundreds. There are nearly three hun.
dred paintings in this exhibition. II would b.
Idle to pretend that the pretty types and prst.
tier sentiments they celebrate can make the lon,
line OF medIocrlties interesting
one good picture figures in the show. ara
that IL a very good one We refer ~ the curious
allegorical design. Love Drives the World" By
Couture, which the artist left in unfinished
condition II is. indeed. hardly more than a
cartoon but It has some charming passages OF
color and what Is more important. I, 10 a
Academic composition In the early stage Of evo
luton which IL still innocent Of the pedantIc
conventional and soulIess qualities ~ the Acad.
emy The design has life. besides being put To-
gether with admirable scholarship and then the
draughtsmanship. the style tas the distinction
which a genuine artist gives 10 his work
Couture was genuine. Though artificial in SONS
respects and disposed 10 let his learning bury
his Inspiration out OF sight now and then ne
nevertheless had humor. vitality. and the DO.
lightful accent Of a strong individuality. One
is amazed 10 find this fragment Of his In nc
present company to detect a poet among the
dry story-telers. But perhaps for that yery
reason the pleasure of seeing Love Drives the
World" Is O. shade keener than when. some years
ago II appeared in a New York gallery After
the Couture we would rank the spirited ORR
entail scene by Fromentin, the landscape By
c. NJ Dewey which hangs near by, the Eastern
street scene by Gerome the rustic subject at
tr.buted TO Courbet and the little interior, The
Reprimand" by Eastman Johnson; but oncs
these things have been noted the collection BE-
comes too heterogeneous and faded to excite
much DECENTRALIZATION. II IN all excellent
enough In it's way. But the way which re
would not be at all inclined 70 consider with
severity II 1t were merely od-fashioned' Is also
lifeless and commonplace. the way OF men who
won fame for a day but had no lasting virtue.
We had hoped that some names In the eata-
logue. names still Justly held In high repuss
would be adequately represented, but the speci.
mems OF the Barbizon school are not exhilara.-
ing. and the observer passes canvases BY Hen
ner Breton Raffaelli, Leroe and others which
ought 10 he attractive. but which, In some per
verse fashion contrive 10 be generally unworthy
OF the men they supposed to typify. THERE'S
O. kind OF pathos associated with such BODY o.
pictures az this. II stands for old ideals and
brings back an epoch when both painter aaa
patron took art seriously. But the fates were
against them. They were living at the end Of
period OF transition The change was on 10
way In the seventies. and the harvest of ntT
ideas which we are reaping was ripening Slowly
but surely. Dusseldorf was left irredeernsv
behind. But to-day, somehow. Dusseldorf INA
pathetic aspect. and though the Powers colle'
ton is a mountain OF mediocrity We DO not haa
Il in our hearts to scoff.