New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-01-10
ART EXHIBITIONS.
PICTURES BY MR.. F. HoPKINsoN SMITH
MR. H. W. RANGER AND OTHERS
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF
MINIATURE PAINTERS.


contented himself with Venetian subjects Such
studies he has shown of Oriental scenes or
os the Italian lakes have possessed serious in
terest; but it has been made very plain that in
Venice his truest inspiration has been found.
The latest of these shows confirms the judg-
1nent We appreciate the Dutch pictures and
IN one OF them especially, "A Breezy Day. Dor
<irecht." Mr.. Smith has designed of his best
compositions: but, the whole, find his
water colors Of Holland and England only mild
~ attractive. The latter, indeed almost
commonplace. The Venetian subjects, happily in
the majority. are altogether delightful. Although
their merit owes something, doubt to the
affectionate assiduty with which the artist has
returned year after year to his Adriatic mo-
tives studying them until he knows them
through and through, feel in his work now
what we felt at the beginning, beauty spring
ing from instructive sympathy, not merely from
study. The scenes. the compositions, are the
same he has painted scores of times before, but
enthusiasm underlies his art, he is as sponta-
neous and as full OF life as though he had just
discovered the quiet canals and broader reaches
of water in which the great city is mirrored.
It is artless. effortless work, showing always,
however. the workings of an artistic conscience.
There is nothing scamped, nothing hastily
brushed in with careless reliance on memory.
Every one OF Mr.. Smiths Venetian studies is
picture done Loyalty from nature. His color, we
may add is purer and finer than ever. This
must be at least the tenth show he has made Of
similar productions We anticipate with pleas
sire the arrival OF ten more
Mr. H. w Ranger also is adopting the admi-
sable practice of presenting new group of land
scapes every year Twelve canvases by him are
visible at the Tooth Gallery. They show that
zhe tentative style he once employed has almost
entirely disappeared. Only in painting, NO
Vember Pasture" are there signs of the old in
ability put a clear idea in unnnistakable terms.
Here the modelling of tree forms and of the
structure in the rocky land the right is still
obscure. But in all the other pictures Mr..
Ranger proves that he has arrived" and, in
fact, Is forging ahead to a high position as color
sst and interpreter of landscape sentiment. The
tfop Of the HilF contains a problem akin to that
attacked in the work just mentioned, and in this
case there is fumbling, no hesitancy, but
powerful and lucid handling of all the elements
III a noble composition If Mr.. Ranger needs
any warning II is where the prevailing tone of
his art is concerned. He might very easily fall
snto convention, as many artists fall, relying
always the same rich. rather gloomy key
which it must be confessed, he is peculiarly
qualified to exploit. But we hope he will pay
more attention 10 schemes of color like the
treated in his Early Summer in Connecticut"
picture which in tenderness and delicate love
illness he has never surpassed. Luminosity is
now readily within his grasp. We find it in his
SLOW Bridge by Moonlight" where it could not
well have been escaped and in the darker
studies. where its achievement involved obvious
1y a severer effort more knowledge and more
skill. But the lighting OF the Early Summer in
Connecticut presented perhaps the most diff
cult test of ALL and since Mr.. Ranger has met it
so CALAMITY We beg him to return to the charge.
To the subtIety and vitality of his art is now
added authority. A broadening of its aim would
only increase the Importance and charm of his
hxork.
Three other zone man" shows are at present
Rn view uptown. In the Macbeth Gallery are
hung some twenty or thirty drawings made by
Mr.. Childe Hassam in New-York, London and
Paris They are fugitive triies. with no very
Striking qualities, but in the Forain-hke sketch
t'Coryphee," and in several Of the street scenes
shere is certain engaging sprightliness. MT
Ozias Dodge, who shows seventeen paintings at
The wunderlich Gallery, discloses in his winter
Landscapes some feeling for atmosphere. His
Technique is weak, however, and his color is gen
orally lacking in quality NJ. Chartran brings
scrward at the Knoeder Gallery number Of
new portraits, including one canvas in which
President Mckinley, Secretary Day. M. Cambon
and several others figure, the occasion repre-
scented being that On which the Peace ProtocoI
between Spain and America was signed. This
Is a striking work, digniied and natural in de-
sign, and faithful in the likenesses. NJ Char
trans method is rapid and precise. To the
rather brittle quality Of his color we have more
than once had occasion to refer. 1t is less ap-
parent in the large historical canvas he shows
than in most Of the portraits of single figures
The Fifth Avenue Art Galleries are occupied
by a number Of oil paintings and water colors'
which will be sold on Thursday and Friday even
ings for the various estates TO which they be-
long The collection is of a miscellaneous char
acter, with some dubious old masters quantity
OF conventional examples Of various modern
schools and a few good things, these last
usually small in scale. One little school in
terror by Norbert Goneutte is particularly capti-
waiting.
A place has been waiting for the American
Society Of Miniature Painters. an organization
very recently founded. which makes its first
annual display at the Knoedler gallery. It's
work will be watched with interest There are
many ways Of painting a miniature. most Of
them bad. A society formed Of serious artists,
bent upon demonstrating the potentiality of the
few good ways of working in this field.
only do good. OF course, there be many
kinds Of masterpieces in miniature as there are
painters OF individuality to make them. But
the mnatuTist, like the medallist, is necessarily
restricted In his scope. He may emulate the
Ciouets. or Isaac Oliver, Cosway or any Of
the classical French or English painters Of por-
traits in little, and he will be the right track.
But when he attempts TO follow in the footsteps
OF the painters who have flung elaborate com
positions on large canvases, he is lost We
dwell on this point because If this new society