The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-12-15
BRIEF APPROPRIATIONS or SOME
AMERICAN PAINTERS.
TX. George dc Forest Br ush.


To many a young student, regretfully
turning his back on the few bright years
Of study in Paris, has come the question,
What must I do to be savedp- Hoping all
things, believing all things Of his single
determination TO succeed, HI feels within
him a capacity. but how shall he apply ii
/ fancy there are two classes Of such as
pirants: those who look around them for
suggestion. and those who look within.
Among the latter seems to nave belonged
George de Forest Brush.
Knowing him in the light Of his later
work, we may feel 1t one of the anomalies
Of art that his master in Paris should have
been Gerome. Yet, looking back over our
own lives, we realize that IL was the ele-
ment Of character. the presence or lack Of
II In those with whom we came in close
contact. that determined their influence
upon US. And this quality Of character
was strong In Gerome; Of all the moro
value to Brush. because IL was Of a kind
In many respects so dissimilar to his own.
He Ia something OF a rebel-I use the word
In Its most respectable sense-intellectually
independent, prone TO dissatisfaction with
things as they are, unconventional, per-
haps a little impractical and visionary. as
rebels are apt to be; qualities. all Of them,
that are facets Of character. Gerome,
however, a conservative, addicted to rote
and rule with his scholarly devotion to
semi-classicalism or. as some more severely
style 1t. pseudo-olassicalism; a cold pre-
~cisionist who would render the death Of a
Cesar as accurately and dispassionately
as a surgeon dissects a corpus-such a
character would be a wholesome make
weight to q young romantic mind.
IL would emphasize especially the need
Of knowledge and mastery of facts, en-
couraeing the formation Of a stable basis
on which romance. IL IL were minded to
push Its head into the clouds, might at
least have sure foundation for its feet.
Certainly, one accomplishment that Brush
brought back from Paris was a feeling for
form and another was a faculty of seizing
upon the reality OF things and of keeping
close to facts. No doubt it IL as a painter
Of IDEAS that he Is significant, but do not
let us overlook the fact that all his work,
especially the ear lier examples, shows an
appreciation Of the actual. How much
OF this he yves to the influence of Gerome
II would be hard to estimate: but. even If
this realization OF the mental and artistic
value of the actual Is an element in his own
character, the contact with this master
must have done much to give II fibre. For
the sense OF actually Is communicable,
while ideas are not only personal TO their
author. but i~nalienable. And VOW dis
t~ressingly elusive. tame and proftless in
pictures are ideas unbiased on actually
the landscape, for example, that makes
for sentiment without support of drawing
and construction. In pictures Of the human
figure an inspired control OF color may fill
us with enthusiasm, but cannot wholly
stiae our regret IL the drawing is made
quate. for the beauty of nature il the beauty
OF it's forms and OF the colored raiment
TINT clothes the forms without Disgusting
them, while in the world OF spiritual ideas
the beauty depends upon their associa-
ton with or analogy 10 the world OF matter.
So lot US recognize the value OF the masters
influence upon Brush. There WAS much
that he had to u~nlearn, as he pursued his
own evolution, notably the sleek. hard and
dispassionate method Of Gerome's painting.
Rut his brushwork every painter of dis
tinguished character must acquire gradu-
ally for himself, just as a writer, If he is an
honest craftsman, will discover his own
fashion OF words, adjusting his method OF
expression TO what he Is trying to express.
The main thing, both for painter and writer,
Is 10 have something 10 say: something
which is a part Of the mans self and con
victions. The method will,grow 10 Il.
Leaving Gerome's studio, Brush, ike
other students, stood at the dividing WAYS.
He might have cast his eve around him,
noted what seemed TO be the tendencies
Of the day In art, the latest style as the
fashion makers call i. and set to work 10
reproduce in New York the Impressions
aroused in Paris. Then. in time. he would
have been among those who excuse their
own lack Of initiative with the lament
that in our city there Is no art atmosphere.
In the sense they seem 10 mean u. the
absence IL not an unmitigated evil, for
what H. this art atmosphere when you
search IL closely? A little, perhaps. like
Scotland, as characterized by a Scotch
man. The most beautiful country in the
world to live out Of" So IL il well TO know
there are places where the art atmosphere
abounds. that n may visit for a time
with pleasure and profit. vet II II remark
able how the great painters, the men OF
force and character, with minds that push
them on and over, live either outside 81
II or within n behind closed doors. The
smallness inseparable from an art atmos-
phere. the mutual admiration and aIniable
reciprocity Of patting ~ backs, or, worse.
tho Bully, nv boy To his face and the
How he's missed it, behind his back
the petty r~ivalries Of little cliques that clut-
ter Of themselves across a cafc table,
setting up little standards and gaining
brief conspicuousnes- by repeating one
another's eforts THE t. not N" sort ~
atmo-pher" that strong painters neet 90
breathe They would D" stih-t M " They
need. like DelacroiH or puvi- 10 S~hAvannef,
the Ampl" privacy - their own inner HE,
~ like The BarbiEon men. ~" hrg" 49,
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"A painter Of BuIzh's calbro would haV"
no u.s.
he returned - thu country, not 20 city
ne. bu' 10 che vide fr,-sdum ~ the Western
Territories and found inspiration tor hlr
Imagination among tho lndians know
nothing - shat lmprllst him Nhrth"r ~
s-Fo a survival - a hny's enthusiasm iHf
tlsn story ~ hh county. 90 . suggestion
ps,.isui from ~. Archaeological ah-nrla-
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