New-York tribune., 1902-05-06

GIOVANNI sEGANTINI. BY /. Villari. The
Reproductions OF His Pictures in Halftone and
Photogravure. Imperial Octave, PIP. 20I. E. T.
The late Giovanni Segantini is an ambiguous
figure in the history Of modern Italian art.
who possessed instincts akin to those OF
genius he remained. nevertheless, all his life
long one OF that company Of artists who never
learned quite how to express their ideas That
he had ideas, however, cannot be gainsaid; it
is the one fact which justifes the preparation
II such handsome memorial Of him as that
which We have in this volume from Signor
Villari.
He lived amid the lower Alps. and painted
them with extraordinary insight into their Gu
rious landscape qualities. We say curious, for,
while snow capped mountains always part
Of that panorama. the grassy valleys which
abound there bring constantly into contrast
with Alpine grandeur and terror the sweetness
and happy quietude Of places in which human
beings pursue life harder in some ways, of
course, than that Of the plains below, yet not
necessarily gloomy. Segantini appreciated to
the utmost the complex elements in his ma
terial and. while he painted the fOrbidding
heights with keen sense of their sublimity,
he nearly always placed in the foreground of
his picture some scene tenderly and even joy
ously pastoral. The human motive was almost
never absent. This explains. quite much
the points of resemblance in his style, why he
has been called the Italian Met. But when
Signor Viari alludes harmony, powerful
technique and poetic Imagination" as the three
great qualities of Segantini. he pays a tribute
10 the painter which, if just far as it goes.
needs 10 be seriously qualified The artists tech
nique had power in It, but it wanted delicacy
and hexibility Strong draughtsmanship and
modelling are to be found in segantini's pictures.
but in his handling of color he was too often
harsh 10 the point of crudty. and he so kneaded
and rekneaded his pigments that his surfaces
were almost invariably gTanulated and Opaque.
Dignity, and beauty, of composition he
generally secured. and there is a poignant emo
ton in many OF his paintings which gives them
high rank as spiritual studies of impressive
themes. Yet ii is impossible to overlook the
deficiencies in atmosphere. in subtlety of tone.
which remained down to the end characteristic
OF him. Oddly enough. he obtained sometimes
in his drawings a refinement that is missing
from his paintings in OIL fact pointing TO the
probability that he would have made great
works Of art out of his interesting and ndvid-
ual conceptions if only he had known how TO
manage his instruments in the right way.
Unfortunately. he not only failed adequately
TO develop his technique but seriously handi-
capped himself by making experiments in ar
tistic symbolism and thus frlttering away his
native resources. he was i'll adapted When he
devoted himself to the disinterested portrayal
of nature, he worked within his limitations.
When. in place of his familiar peasants he in
troduced into his compositions figures merely
fantastic. and having significance not simply
esoterfc but irrelevant 10 the scenes in which
he placed them. he achieved very little which,
we believe. the world would not willingly let
die Yet il must be admitted that these
failures Of his have at least the charm of his
temperament, and such a charm is rare enough
in modern Italian art. He indeed. poet
in his way, painter Of originality and of pro-
found sincerity. The tone of Signor Villari's
criticism is, perhaps, more favorable than the
tone of later writers will be. dealing more dis
passionately with the artists work. Yet even
the severest critic of Segantini will render him
honor for having painted number of land
scapes notable for truth and for elevation of
feeling and of style. Segantini often painted an
unsuccessful canvas, but he never painted one