The Washington times., 1902-02-02

departed with stronger faith in man
kind. We were discussing the vicissitudes
of an average artists life and the great
temptation for him to become dishonest
no: in the general acceptance of the term.
but dishonest with himself and his art.
THE man who painted that said the
artist pointing tor delicate and charm
Ing water color that hung upon the wall,
has degenerated into a painter of pot
boilers. | suppose, he continued, :. it is
no disgrace for Il man to have been on
his uppers, so | have no hesitation in
saying that when first came TO Washing
ton was pretty hard up; an opportunity
to become a keeper at the Zoo came my
way and accepted it rather than to pros
titute art as he has done"
Disgrace in being on ones uppers, No.
rather an honor under such circum-
stances. We could wish that the pro-
found respect for art that is manifest in
this young painters statement was more
unversal-not only among the younger
men and students. but reaching and per-
meating those men who have met with
popular approval and who are generally
considered to have arrived"
Why should not the same standard of
integrity be applied to art as to other
pursuits? The doctor who is unskilled
and unframed. but who nails up his sign
and solicits your patronage, is regarded
as an impoStor and "quack, the
lawyer whose advice is not based upon
sound training and study of the law is
soon known to be fraud, but the artist
God save the mark-may achieve success
n to and i'm
than the social graces and tithe OF skill;
may masquerade all through his life and
die with the respect of his friends.
This is wrong, and most unjust TO those
great spirits who have not been strangers
to hunger-who have suffered thousand
tornents in order that they might hold
their ideal unsullied and their art honest.
The charlatan is at home among the
american people, and America will be his
natural abode until the scope Of our edu-
cation is broadened beyond the sordid
knowledge OF money-making; until il Is
= common in America as it is in Europe
to see the laborer taking his recreation
among works of art and discussing them
with intelligence and pleasure
a landscape painted by George Innes
IN 1913, and now shown at Mr.. Fischer's
galleries, counts an interesting factor
of that painters art. He had the good
fortune to outlive his period which would
naturally be considered, that Of the Hud-
son River school He was the contem-
porary OF Church and Kensett, of Clifford,
Coleman, the two Harts, and other paint
ers whose names were familiar to the
art public of that time These painters
were serious. intelligent, and in many
cases gifted men. Their work was high
ly appreciated by the art patrons OF their
day and the graybeards who wag their
heads wisely before Up-to-date canvases
can recall genuine emotions OF grati-
tude for works that are now relegated o
that limbo to which most current art
may confidently be consigned some tins
in the future.
The period here indicated came to an
abrupt end at the time the young Ameri-
cans came home from foreign schools, an
ardent. dogrnati and, We are forced to
admit, sophisticated body Of painters,
bent upon the regeneration of American
art. These young men rapidly gained the
attention of the public, and have held 1t
with the help of constant influx of their
fellows from the foreign schools up to
the present time. The outwork5 may be
said to have been captured in. the be-
ginning by the men from Munich, but
Munich, for some time the fashion as a
training school for Americans, was soon
Abandoned for Paris, which has trained
most of the exponents of the new school !
The names of the men who held the !
honors of the preceding period are in the |
main left cut Of the art discussion of to-
day.
II is the usual fate of schools of art to |
be displaced in time and forgotten, save |
by art historians Individual painters,
however. will sometimes Outlast their /.
epoch, and George Innes is one Of the few /
painters whose work possessed sufficient |
virility and permanency OF character to /
be received with favor by the iconOclastic !
eXponent5 of the new art. The super |
fatalities OF art are swayed by fashion: |
it's fundamental qualities belong to all /
times. II was by his grasp upon these !
fundamental qualities OF art that George |
Innes maintained the respect of his EEL |
low painters up to the day of his death. |
The picture referred to above was paint |
ed, and well painted. before the birth of |
many of our painters whose names have !
gained an international Importance.
One is reminded at once OF certain old !
English landscapes now much exploited /
by the amateurs and picture dealers. |
Probably it's inspiration came from a more |
distant period. The Enslishmen found .
theirs in the work of the old Dutch and /
Italian painters, and Innes very likely |
gained his at first hand. There is in this .
canvas, however, a certain modernlty OF /
feeling that must have been personal to .
this painter. Inc ndndllnS IS dSSuIeC /
and adequate. the atmospheric qualities I
unusually good and the color attractive, .
but it is a far cry from the frank. de-
tailed, and somewhat conventional treat
ment of this canvas to the broad syn ,
thctic and mysterious treatment OF late
InnCs.
1t is by devious ways that some painters /
reach their goal. This is especially true, /
perhaps of the modern painter The in /
huences that he must resist or yield to. .
as the case may be, are multifarious, and .
for this reason, as one influence or an
other is dominant the painter becomes +
the hasty exponent of varying impulses, .
changing his point of view with bewilder
ing frequency and dying, it may be, with
out having fairly made up his mind In .
the case of the painter who may be said /
to have arrived" We are naturally in
terested in the ways he has traversed.
difference in the point of view at the /
outset and a the end. The painter who
is distinguished by his breadth of treat
ment, by his synthetic grasp of his sub
iect, by his bold elimination Of undesired [
particulars. and By retiCence in his means
of expression, has been at some period OF
his career excessively cOEsideraJe of par
ticulars, often. a slave TO his model.
Corot. the least realistic OF the painters
of the real scene, urged the young artist
to paint in submission" and his own
early landscapes are geographically
exact The same mysteries of the dis