Evening star., 1900-07-14

excluding that of France. This may seem
a broad statement but it is the truth.
| The first impression of the visitor upon
entering the American galleries Is OF rest
| fulness. The walls are covered with a soft
gray-green material, having the effect Of
brocade, and the pictures are hung with
| liberal spacing-only two rows above The
| hne- in no way crowded. The drap-
| cries, fauteils and SO forth. conform in COL
| oring to the scheme of the walls. and The
| result gives decided feeling of relief after
| the heavy, conventional red-draped galleries
| crowded with pictures from line to cornice
| In most of the galleries Of the other Sec
4 uons.
Six American Galleries.
There are six galleries in the United
| States section, admirably located at the
head Of the great staircase at the SOUTH
west corner of the rotunda of the Art Pal
| ace, and 1t Is safe to say that these gal
! lerfes contain such a representation of con-
| temporary American pictures as never be-
| fore has been assembled together. While a
number of our painters of the first rank are
| not represented, the works shown display
practically the highest achievement of the
| exhibitors, and have a general character Of
seriousness and dignity, and degree of in
d1viduality not characteristic of the general
| exhibit of any other section.
| The most noticeable work shown in this
! section is John s. Sargent's portrait group
| or Mrs Carl Meyer and her children, rep
| resent1ng handsome young woman In a
pink silk dress, half reclining on a ngh;
colored tapestry covered sofa, over the
back of which her two children-a boy and
| a girl-are leaning. Artistically. there is no
| finer work than this in the exposition.
do not believe there is another work In the
| Art Palace containing so many Of the ouali-
| ties which belong to the work Of a great
| painter. Such a picture. like the same
| artists portrait Of Mr.. Wertheimer-which
| hangs in another gallery-may be men,
| toned along with the great works of We
| lasquez and Frans Halls. The portrait of
Mrs. Meyer and her children is carried fur
ther than most of the work of Mr.. Sargent,
| with which the public is familiar and
shows the marvellous ability of the painter
| IN finishing so as to satisfy the most ex-
| acting demand for realistic detail, while yet
preserving the breadth of handling that
| goes with enthusiasm. Mr.. Sargent's por-
| trait of the president of Bryn Mawr Col
| lege is another fine work.
| James MacNeill Whistler shows three i'm
| portant pictures: A portrait of the artist,
| portrait of a lady in black and gray and an
| exquisite portrait of a lady standing by a
| mantelpiece with her head reflected in
| mirror. 1t would require nearly a column
| to mention and comment briefly on the
! noteworthy work of other American artists
shown.
Nearly all the American pictures shown
| here have been exhibited at the academy
i or society exhibitions at Philadelphia Chi
| caSo Pittsburg. Cincinnati and St Louis
| so that any detailed description of them is
unnecessary.
Exhibits of Other Countries.
The British art representation is little
| more than third as large as that at Chi
| cago in 1893, and does not compare with 1t
| in excellence, and many of the strongest
| artists in Great Britain-espec:ally the
| Scotchmen-are entirely unrepresented. The
| large as that made at Chicago. is most
| creditable- The galleries are handsomely
decorated and the arrangement is genera ly
excellent: The Austrian exhibit, also is
particularly fine, far better than that made
| at Chicago. The galleries containing the
| works OF the painters of the Austrian "Se-
Genossenschaft are simply superb in their
| exquisite decoration and general arrange
ment. They are the most beautiful CALLER
les IN the Art Palace.
The Spanish exhibit is about half the size
OF that made at Chicago. and is less inter-
esting. The Italian section Is redeemed by
a most interesting collection of the remark
able work of the late Giovanni Segantint
painters of our time. His method was abso-
lutely his own. He was serious palms.
taking In the extreme and combined i'm
pressionfsm, realism and poetic sentiment
In his work. Perhaps no other pictures in
the exposition will be the subject of more
discussion or more diverse expressions OF
opinion than his. But he was great
painter and his death was a deplorable loss
to art.
The Holland exhibit is much smaller than
that country's exhibit at Chicago and is
not equal to the latter in quality. The Bel
gian exhibit is also smaller than that ma ie
at Chicago, but is rather better The
scandinavian sections, as usual. are ex-
tremely interesting. Here painters of origi-
nality and individuality predomnate Among
these men of the north one finds a sturdy
honest frankness and oftentimes a most
as they see it, and they see 1t through hu-
man eyes and feel 1t with very human
hearts. The artificial plays little part with
them OF the Swedish painters zorn un-
questonably stands at the head, and in the
art section of his country he is represented
by his portrait of King Oscar II. by .'The
Mother,Ian ATTRACTIVE young Swedish wo-
man. with a child in her arms-and by
Midnight at Mora, June "a" festive
scene under bright sunlight While these
are pictures of great vigor and consummate
art, Zorn is not so well represented as he
was at Chicago, nor is Swedish art as a
whole.
National Galleries.
As Zorn is the leader in Sweden. SO ts
Kroyer in Denmark. The Danish exbfh,t
though smaller here, Is better on an aver
age, than was that at Chicago. Kroyer is
splendidly represented by a number of
important works. His Meeting Of the
Royal Academy Of Science at Copenhagen.
| is an enormous composition filled with life
size figures. The Norwegian section ~
especially strong in landscape. Exhibits of
the art Of Hungary and Croatia-Slavonia
are in galleries adjacent to those of Aus
tria- By the lamented Munkacsy there are
two characteristic landscapes. The art ex-
hibit Of Russia Is about double the size Of
the exhibit made at Chicago, but is not re-
markable for excellence. Some of the works
in the section Of Finland are among the
best.
The Swiss section contains a considerable
number Of pictures. but few which call for
special attention. There Is little to at
tract one in the art exhibits of Bosnia
Herzegovina. Bulgaria. ECUADOR Greece,
Luxembourg. Mexico. Monaco, Nicaragua,
Peru. Portugal. Roumania, San Marino,
San Salvador. Servia, Turkey or in the small
international section. The exhibit of Japan
consists mainly of paintings on silk by
modern artists. is handsomely installed in
galleries adjoining the United States Sec
ton. and is extremely attractive and in
teresting.
Sculpture.
The sculpture exhibits are placed In the
great court of the Grand Palace and In ap-
propriate positions in the grounds outside.
The French exhibit naturally is the largest
and contains $40 works. Next in order are