New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-02-21
JOHN S. SARGENT
THE EXHIBITION IN BOSTON OF urs no.
TRAITS AND sTUDIEs-NoTEs IN
ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT
ARTISTS OF HIS TIME

ARTISTS OF HIS TINE
! Iron 4 STAFF CORRESPONDENTS " TIE rR,sr..,
/ Boston, Feb. 2O-In the Grundman e..hI
] Building Of this city. occupying the lars.
small rooms known respectively as conlsv ,," ri
and Alston Hall there has been oponAa .S'
evening an exhibition NJ the works ~ lob, -
Sargent. the first to bring together in Arner,c.
long and representative procession Of -.
finished portraits. studies Of heads. exper,p.n.'
in genre and miscellaneous sketches II r. A.,
10 the initiative and hard work Of the Ros,a.
/ Art Students Association. whose preside,, ".
Holker Abbott. has been particularly actIva =,
the matter: 10 the cooperation OF Mr. sarv.,.
himself who has not only gent mass OF ,uv
tive canvases from his studio. but has prevail,
upon dozen more Of his English patrons >,
lend their portraits. and % the courtesy NJ, ~.
score OF Americans who have contributed N.
traits and other works from this painters brush
Some important things are unfortunately abse,,
We miss the Lady Macbeth" Miss Terrl1 ~.
incompatible portrait Of little Miss Beatro.
Goelet. and the large picture % a Spanish dance
Tho Jaieo." which hangs in tho Museum on,v
few rods away. and. FOR some incomprehena
bic reason. has not been loaned But the chi
lection as it stands is sufficiently compreh.r
siye: IN fact II is a notable testimony 70 N.
strength Of Mr.. Sargent's art that with N.
"Carmenclta" held in the Luxembourg and wifi
several other Of his masterpieces lacking. h.
still leaves an overpoWcringly brilliant lmprss
sion.
Brllliancy is first and last the epithet 70 y,.
Copley Hall. IN which the finished portraits
to the number Of forty, arc hung is long enourA
for them 10 be placed in single line on The
side walls with one or two beside the doorway
at the end. The quiet olive tones Of the wall
aad Of the big benches running down the centre
~ the room provide rep0saful environment
which is enhanced by few bay trees judcous
Is placed and by band Of laurel strung
along the friezc. The light is ample. but NO,
too bright II falls upon the canvases at jus,
the best point and causes each one to protect
itself froi, rs background with precisely n.
right effect on entering, the first impression
one receives Is or great company az
beautiful and distinguished personalities
bodied forth with the vividness the reality. the
briillancy, that one might encounter upon soma
state occasion which had brought A number
Of men and women together in n ceremonial
group. The scene. 90 conceived. is intensely
modern So are the portraits when examined
in detail. There is nothing romantic in Mr.
Sargent's art. nor. excepting IN some q
his portraits Of children. is there any ten.
derness. that quality in painting which lies 8,
near 10 romance. Imagination manifests itse,
i'm 80 many ways that we hesitate 70 deny its
existence in work penetrating as this work
often is yet Mr. Sargent seems. on the whole a
painter Of intelligence rather than Imagination
a man who takes his contemporaries exactly as
he finds them. and aims rather at the portrayal
Of their superficial aspects than AZ the unveIng
Of their souls When his sitters reveal them
selves il is their own fault, the painter hap
pened 10 catch them off their guard. and, with
out giving the matter any special thought
painted what would have been obvious TO any
one. The cyuclsm which has been attributed to
him does not seem % Us % cover the ground at
all Mr. Sargent simply sees what every shrewt
observer ~ modern types sees and puts II on
canvas as one Of the things that viii contr!bus
toward he effect
The other things are form. color. design. and
OF these he would seem 70 think most He
treats them with such genius that we feel little
sense ~ regret in remembering that Rembrandt
dwelling upon the pathos IN an old womahs
face. could raise It to the plane OF the universal
.ho+ roorardo'. "Noua Lisa" or Titians Man
With the GioYe" or q portrait OF PhiNp U
Volazouez. or one Of Raphaers Popes has
profound aul inspiring significance we rece'
nize cheerfuy that Mr.. Sargent has no sucA
magic: we simply put the modern al's'
on a pedestal Of his own and lauo n'a
for paintlrg. more brilliantly than any OK NJ
contemporaries can paint in the way tha' NUE.
people at this end Of the century pIe1es -
their portraits. II is an age OK conformity ~
one likes 10 be conceived as type OF Ce''S'"
broad elements in the human race we "ah' q
likeness that our friends viii recognize dies'
and surroundings like theirs. These MI sa'gsH'
gives with the fidelity OF a mirror ana 10 1''sa.
he adds the beauty OF a brush playing win a..
the problems Of form and ga, ana shace anu
dazzling the beholder With rs play. lie o''Hs'
no preconceiyed ideas OF composition 70 MS '@s",
he has no formula. There il portrait mere -
Mrs Peter c. Brooks which suggests N !"
background the formal arrangement o. p'aN
tapestry and distant landscape or 9Ir IoSHua.
favorlte setting but this canvas, when MAJ y
may not deliberately echo the last ce"u','
not one Of the artists most characteristic '"H1s
He is most like himself when. as IN me p0'ua''
Of Mrs. Carl Meyer and her two children ne ~.
prlsos his models in their dra"ihs-Too" -,
leaves them posed presumably as they w.
themselves This respondent canvas - "
quite the last word Of Mr. Sargents ar'-.n ~,
a portrait of Mrs. Charles Hunter painted u -
present year. which shows a much looseT u .'.,
ment Of textures, broader mode OF hanu"-'
all through--but the former work Wh''A
reared in the Royal Academy OF 100 -
wavs reaches the painters highest !eNe" 49,,
Mrs Never. in an evening dress OF rose ul
faces the spectator, with her right manu- 49,.
TO the children. who lean over the oaoA -.
chair. The boys jacket is Of steei-sray iA''
His sister is in white. The room Is seen
curious perspective. floor and walls seeinns
slope slightly upward until they recede INV
obscuritv of the furthest planes OF 'he
ground The composition, though pecuN a,
enforced. In this picture. as In the poru-,
Miss Dunham-well known in New "S 49,,
in the portrait OF young Homer 81 usN ~.
listening idly while his mother reads 70 h''-
effect is as Of a moment of animation a''',
in space The mother and children have pas ~