The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-12-15

l IluRllAtlCu 10 Ilnho oiV WI tbat th
fragment Of seclusion is part OF an immen-
sity Of ~solitariness.. The man.. kneeling
as he plies the paddle. looks up in no wise
startled, but with a grand composure that
seems a part Of the elemental suggestion
Of tho scene.
1t Is a work OF powerful imagination,
projecting itself upon the solemn spacious
ness and mystery OF the past. Recall, too.
another small canvas of big sisniicance zee.
dead in the snow. high up on a mountain
ledge, the woman utters her dirge 10 a
leader sky. What emptiness and desolation
of world without and spirit within! A breath
Of the ceaseless mystery Of sorrow throbbing
out Of the void of timel Then a tenderer
feeling pervades The Sculptor and the
King Stroke by stroke the sculptor has
compelled the marble to respond to his
thought, or wooed 1t, for he has a gentle.
dreamy face; a youth only dimly conscious
Of his desires. and he waits for the Kings
verdict, TREMENDOUSLY eager and withal so
glad in his heart at what his hands have
found tho skill TO do; a poetic embodiment
after expression. but Of the springtime OF
every artists soul. Then note the King.
standing with folded arms, wrapping his
doubt of the desirability of such things.
and yet his wonder and admiration OF them
in the convenient impenetrability OF silence.
There Is a touch OF humor in this figure, as
of the critic non-plussed and unwilling to
commit himself, but much more Of serious
/ TtItTtnCt 10 lut GULL udWililbS VI q YIN
prehension of the beautiful, as "a thing to
be desired to make one wise
Those Indian subjects are OF a high order
of imaginative work, They have a great
power Of suggestion. stirring directly
and forcibly ones own imagination. and
they are informed with an elevation OF
thought, a deeply penetrating earnestness
and a l%argeness Of conception that has been
able to grasp the big significances and to
feel them in, their relation to perennial
truth For fhav not only glUQpst the
life and environment Of the early red man,
picturing both with a fulness OF compre-
hension that brings them wildly to our
consciousness, but they involve illusions
of sorrow when the world seems very empty
and desolate to-day; there still are yearnings
after higher things, the futterings OF doubt
and hope that precede tho beginning OF
growth OF something better; and still a
grandeur in the solitude OF nature and
maybe in that of q mans W communings
with himself. We may or may not have
experienced those things. but, at least
We have an intuition OF their possibility,
and IL a picture can recall the past and show
IL as part Of the eternal relation OF spirit
and matter. we are justified In honoring its
author. 80 these pictures OF Brush
seem TO me great, Notwithstanding a certain
smallness, ! will not call II pettiness.. in
their execution. As / recall the Mourning
her Brave" it has considerable breadth
Of method and. no doubt. others of the
Indian series show increase of manual
accomplishment. But the painting in
Silence Broken is still influenced by
Gsrome's, hard and shiny; and the drawing
In THE Sculptor and the King has a quail
ity Of timorous and labored exactness. IL
il not In consequence of style but despite
1t that they are impressive.
With the artists personal development
has come maturity Of craftsmanship. His
latest series of Mother and Child are
marked by fuency Of composition both
in the lines and masses and In the color
schemes. But with the rfpening OF his
powers has scarcely followed increase of
individuality. He has freed himself from
the hard. evenly lighted, rather tight char
acter Of Gdrome's manner only TO yield
himself to the fascination of the old Italian
style. IL is a little surprising that one
whose imagination is so individual should
have failed to discover a really personal
~anguage of expression. IL would seem az
II the lack Of facility was beyond his power
TO remedy, and tha- feeling the need OF
broadening his mcl..od, and conscious
that breadth with him would mean chiefly
a larger kind OF precision, he had found In
the example of some of the Italian masters
just that union of qualities. Then, too, II
he were searching for precedents II Is 10
the dignity and quietude of the tlorentines
that such a temperament as his would turn.
And In these later pictures one is conscious
of these qualities. They have an air OF noble
sweetness, serenity and high and earnest
purpose, creating, Wherever they appear,
an az atmosphere Of their own, pure and
elevating as that Of the upper air. Yet,
as creative work. | think many will rank
them lower than the promise Of his early
days. Their motive Ii a borrowed one
borrowed with their technique. True, IL Is
one of beautiful human significance. but its
representation. especially 10 one who IL a
husband and a father makes n comparatively
small demand upon tho imaginative FAC
ulties. 80 that. II We feel the evidence Of
these faculties In painting 10 DO tho rare and
superlatiye thing, the artists persistence
upon a somewhat lower plane OF endcavor
must seem regretful. IL IL rather a merging
Of the artistic prepossession IN the human.
And ! wonder whether this may not be
the explanation. In early manhood, while
the impulse was from within, he sought The
objective for IL Ia the world outside, char
aCteristically choosing those scenes which
would least iuterfere with the seclusion 81
his own mind In later years he has found
the seclusion In his own home. Yielding 20
the natural tendency, a. the years grow
upon one. TO feel the world TO bo less and
less aud those closest To one more and more.
And II must be remembered, the conditions
Of the world wer" never quite To his liking,
while his home IL what ho haz made u and
would have ~ Yet this. after all. rapna-
s-nts the evolution of a man rather than 81
the artist. a Welding 20 circumstances, IN
chuatiou-. cony-nisnces, rather than a fol
owing II once star
write tha-s words With hesitation. a.
II may b. my Own fault that ! do not detect
ia thare later works a. much evidence ~
elevated Imagination as iu tie Indian
studies II -. ! would plead In ert.nu-
alton my enthusiasm for thu-o earlier pot
un-s IA e
ARRIsT arm BiNhH PJ'i.