The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-11-03
snIEF APPROPRIATIONS or SOME
AMERICAN PAINTERS.
. nm. james A. McNem Whistler.

nerspectivc Of II. In matters OF belief and
ceiling IL was a period of little faith and
less initiative. Men moved forward with
their faces turned backward; in the religious
xorld seeking ideals In mediRvalism, in
art. also, borrowing their motives from
,ba mast. II was a time Of rediscovery, of
,sviyals; less of new birth or growth than
~ new asslmilations. V~elasquez, for ex-
.-nle, was found to exist: so also Rem
h,andt and Caucasian civilization became
CONSCIOUS Of an Oriental art from farther
,ound the globe than the Ievant or ever
India. Japan was discovered. To-day
these three names represent potent infiu-
ences In art. A few years ago their signifi-
. cance was not appreciated beyond the stu
dos. still q few years further back. and
scarcoly even there. II was Whistler's dis
comment that early recognized their worth;
bs genius that utilized the significance so
unloucly. How he did it Ia characteristic
Of himself, but equally OF the modernity
NJ which he ia so inmate q repre-
sentative.
And what OF this modernity2 Intrinsically
Il l. not a new thing. though taking OF
some special color from its particular time
If temperance: being indeed. a culture
nj manners rather than Of convictions. II
is analytical, for II IL part Of or compelled
nv the contemporary scientific movement;
Il is intolernnt of restraint. except such as
II chooses for itself; is callous when not
personally interested and fnds It's interest
In subtleties; its faith ia self-found and felt
10 be honored by the discovery; In scope
not so much broad and embracing as diff
fused and discriminating; for depth, IL
substitutes a carefulness about many
things. and for sincerity q nice tactfulness.
II is polished, dainty In taste and manners,
seeking the essence of life in it's most vari-
fed appeal TO the senses. even sometimes
in abnormal depravity. II Is, In fact, the
very antithesis Of Drawn and muscle. of
hard and wholesome thinking, Of the bour-
ccoisie and Philistinism, thro ugh which a
comfortable world IL provided for modernity
10 bask in, either as a rarely delicate
exotic or "A upas tree.
While Whistler, as a man. in his attitude
toward the world, has boon the Beau Brum-
mel OF this nineteenth century modern ity,
he has kept his art in a beautiful isolation;
selecting for it only the choicest contri-
buttons of the spirit Of the age and inn
pressing upon them the fine distinction of
his unique personality. Thus, while some
OF his contemporaries in the search for new
sensations pushed their analysis into
the gutter. his work has been invariably
fragrant and pure. He has been a con-
sistent apostle of beauty-the sane and nor
nal type of it. lido not mean beauty as il
Is commonly understood, for he has ha d his
own very personal ideas and modes Of
reaching them, but that the source in which
he has alw avs looked for them has boen a n
and normal; so that, mid the craving for
new sensations and for new forms of ex-
precision, by which, like others he has been
affected, and with a taste also for notoriety
and for Sinking the vulgar, he has never IN
his art deviated from the sweet a nd whole
some. Nor has he lived without a strong
faith. He has believed In himself without
reservation and just as absolutely In his
art, ms he has formulated il. There Is one
god. and Whistler Is its prophet; a creed
narrow and in tolerant. but abundantly
justified, If YOU accept his god. which.
aga in, is Whistler. the spiritual ego within
him to which all his life he has tried to
give an adequate expression.
For his faith at root il a very simple one;
the love of beauty and the expression OF il:
only beauty with him is one OF essence and
significance, quite removed from any
literary a~llusiveness and as far as possible
expressed by means which are solely the
products of brush or etching needle; SEN
sation and method approXimatinC a. much
a. may he to the exclusively abstract ones
az music. He cannot escape the concrete
altogether and must oft en- use as vehicles
Of expression things 20 which the dict ionary
assigns terms and TO which the association
Of memory and ideas has given a verbal sig
niticancs. But even IN using these he feels
such significance e~Ntraneous, subor-
dinates IL a. far a. possible 10 the special
aesthetic Significance Of the pictorial art.
II l. the meaning that these thin s. have
for the artists peculiar vision that he tales
o. keep free from other alluslOn-abstract.
II 10 not the object before him Tor the time
being that is worth his consideration. but
the ct Joytnent O! the purely Hsthetic inn
Ires-iOn Of u aroused in his own mind, Of
which he seeks To express the essence In his
picture. II II a theory Of ant all but too
tubls Tor human natures daily food m a
world IN which we are continually con-
fl,ing cause and effect. the object with
o." subject. Tie sourCe Of our enjoyment
with the suiOymctt itself; n theory quite
iHtolerablr when exploited by a mediocre
painter, or Wy d facilo painter II mediocre
mind. uuiy. PERHAPS, 30 acceptable In
Nil~tler's cas@. becalss % u essentially a
IrYdlct Of lis ovH unique originality
II Wa hl- craving Tor abstract express
tUn 40 vel ~ TT abrtrart seiinailoh that
kd to lie symphonic and the storm 81
Anl-H and ud.cIl., which they aroused,
Iiy" hlW. go doubt, a keenef Relish Tor
tl,' -iuiie II would hs too much ="
.as Ibsi any - them we're dons deliberately
~ myFtiN Tee pubic, but that ts found a
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