The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-05

From the depths of a big splint rocker
| on well-shaded back piazza here at home
one may read of the pictures at the Paris
fair with more enjoyment than is likely
to be found face to face with them on these
blistering hot summer days. Particularly
! is this true if one knows Paris, has seen
! great eX hibitions there. and remembers
| that famous and more wonderful exposition
| il '93 at Chicago with its tewildering col
| lection of art treasures, which required
days to glance at and weeks to hunt out
| the masterpieces and study properly. Fur
thermcre, a surprising number OF the
prominent pictures in the American section
in Paris this year are paintings of national
reputation, which those progressive artists
who keep in touch with what is going on
here at home will at once recall. 1t should
be remembered also that it is not SO impor-
tant to see great, wearisome aggregations
of pictures as it is to see a little really
good, up-to-date art work. see it fire.
quently, and digest it well. The master
| pieces at the Corcoran and the private col
lections here in Washington, with what one
can see during an occasional trip to New
York, offer educational advantages suite
/ sufficient, II wisely studied and remem-
| bered The average complaining student
would not be helped. by globe trotting and
is too often man who neglects profitable
| opportunities close at hand.
Authoritative writer's like C. NJ. Kurtz
1 I'D
infinitely in the daily press all that one
would care to see. None in America are
more trustworthy than they and there is
such obvious conscience and absence Of
| spread eagle views in these accounts that
their work, all of 1t, is a delight. 1t might
| be said in passing that Mr. Kurtz is the
| assistant art director of the American sec
| ton. one of the best known writer's on
paintings, and a leading promoter of good
| art in America. To Mr. Kurtz, also, are
We Indebted for the illustrated catalogue,
an institution which he first introduced at
| this Academy in New York many wears
| ago. Mr.. Coffin, the critic of the .|ew
| York Sum- is a landscape painter of dis
| tinguished ability. Both of these men are
| champions of the most advanced art move
ments and yet thoroughly catholic, never
| filling to appreciate and give credit TO any
|
! The reports of these writer's have been
| most exhaustive and 1t is interesting TO
| observe that four out of five of the con-
| spicuous American paintings which occupy
| pr -,inent places at the Exposition are
| pictures perfectly well known in America
| Mr.. Kurtz. speaking in a general way of
| the exposition. declares that 1t offers moth
| ing to compare in its ensemble with that
magnificent art triumph, the Court Of
ISQrsr or 10 mol rae- he
parison in the most deliberate and convinc-
| ing manner and between the lines one
may trace sense of sincere regret. So
earnestly is Mr.. Kurtz interested in good
art that he rises above any mere consid-
erations of local pride. This is a peculi-
arity of Mr.. Kurtz. When he brought here
the famous collection of pictures by the
Glasgow men his enjoyment was quite as
much in the lesson they might teach and
the pleasure they would give American
| artists and connosseurs as it was in the
honor his enterprise reflected upon him
| SELF.
Those who are acquainted with the
/ American pictures at the Metropolitan Mu-
! scum will recall a wonderful landscape
Rain in Summer" picture by Mr.. Coffin
Which produced sensation when it was
frst shown in New York and won for him
TIE landscape prize at the exhibition that
| year n NIL
| side over which a storm approaches. Not
| defred cloud nothing spectacular. no play
| OF light; Just one of those rain effects
when the curtain of sky gets bluer and
| blacker and flatter and into which one row
| of trees after another melts as the visible
| rain approaches softly as the shadow Of
| cloud. II is painted as clean as Richards
| or Gerome might have done It, but with
| skill and appreciation of painter-charn I'M
1 L. ,1srI
great work, ''The Story OF Bad Boy" 1T
never seemed to have occurred to anyone
before that to simply state the facts o.
boys life would make the greatest Of all
| juvenile Stories" 1t is precisely so with
| this naive, matter-of-fact picture OF rain
This canvas should be in the Paris Expo
| sition, for it would be new and individual
note, perhaps not technically, but in other
| more important respects
do not mean to go Into detail here
| about the Paris pictures. 1t is enough to
| Know that the Americans are winners Of
seven gold medals and hold second place in
point OF artistic value and interest, and
| that pictures familiar to us here at home
| are conspicuous there. A number of mas
| terful things are mentioned which are new
and which one would like to see, but the
maicr part of the best American art shown
| rhcre is not new on this side We know
|
the world at his feet His praises are
| being sounded in every capital In Europe
| MIR. Colin warns up over Sargent in a
| manner which leads him to abandon his
classical English and drop into the slang
| OF the studio, which sometimes is the only
possible way by which a painters idea
| can b. intelligently conveyed. Imagine
| SarseG's masterpiece being called
"cracLEjack," II is enough to make
| Ruskin and Hamerton turn over in their
| graves. 1 hope they will not. as they might
| lie kept busy, for the new generation of
| artists are race of iconoclasts who are
| no respecters of conventions and know no
| law but nature, sound drawing, and indi-
| vidualism
Here is the passage from Mr. Cofin's
| article in the Sun 1.-The ninth centre
| lpiaee OF honor on the walD is held by
Sargents portrait of Mrs. Carl Meyers
| and Children which is the 'crackajack'
| picture of the show and more than de-
serves its position. Indeed, it might have
room to itself and nobody would have
| right to COMPLAINTS merit is so SUI
| perlative." This picture was the leading
one In the Sargent exhibition held In Bos-
ton year ago. Opposite this hangs an
| other masterpiece, Brushs Mother and
| Children an adorable thing, refined and
| tender in sentiment and color as any old
master and modern as Dagnan Bouycret.
This / saw at Philadelphia last winter,
and II is comfort to see how, straight
as an arrow, medals go to such works Of
art as that. for Brush lives away from
town and works entirely beyond the cur
rent OF log-rolling and influence. I met
him at the Century office once long
time ago. but he was only quiet, retir