New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-11-22
LONDON NOTES.
AZ oLDTINIE WING ON SOCIAL CHANGES
N ENGLAND-THE NEW ENGLISH
ART CHEESEMAN'S HALL
on THE STAGE
on THE STAGE.

Afr George W. E. Russelrs little volume Of
,otes on social changes. entitled For Better
.o- Worse" and published by Mr. Fisher
1-nwin, contains many reflections which are
.cually applicable to English and American
.oc,ety. Born fifty years ago in one of the
,nost exclusive Wing circles he has watched
she gradual but nearly universal departure from
she social traditions of his youth, and being a
.olArant critic, with a habit of close observa
zion. he is prepared to estimate values Alright.
and TO strike a balance between gains and
losses He admits that there has been a marked
decline in stateliness. simplicity informal hospi-
,ality and love of country life and also that
there has been an increase of emulous ostenta-
,ion vulgari-y. idolatry OF rank and wealth and
love Of publicity. These things he accounts as
serious losses; but he has some gains with
which to offset them. He asserts that the
beauty Of life has palpably increased since the
days Of his youth. No one then made anv at
tempt 10 surround himself with beautiful OBJ
5ects. 1T was the age Of horsehafr and mahog-
any, and crimson flock papers and green rep
curtains. Whatever ornaments the house hap
rened 10 possess were clustered together on a
round table in the middle Of the drawing room
There is now art in the home. a sage green
wash on the wall and a white dado cover a
multitude Of paperhangers' sins; the commonest
china is pretty in form and color; rugs have re-
placed hideous and costly carpets, and there are
roses on the dinner tables with shaded lights
The despised aesthetics have succeeded in making
uginess culpable and in proving that beauty is
not necessarily expensive"
While houses are more beautiful than in the
old days, Mr.. Russell cannot discern improve
ment in manners. Grace and dignity. he asserts
have persisted side by side. Men when talking
10 women lounge and sprawl and cross their
shake hands with the other. In the old time
well bred people knew how to behave them
selves, and it would have been considered the
height Of vulgarity to run after royalty. to in
trigue for visits from illustrious personages, TO
go out Of ones way to meet princes or
princesses and to parade before the gaping
world the intimacy with which one had been
honored. Now there is growing love of titles;
publicity is worshpped as the chief enjoyment
of human life, and there is an increasing con-
tempt for reticence. In the old days there were
certain subjects which were never mentioned;
among them were health and money. People
had pretty much the complaints as now.
but no one talked about them. People did not
chatter about their neighbors' incomes nor
gale their friends with statistics of profit and
loss. Even more rigid was the avoidance of
risky topics, whereas to-day no scandal is too
gross, no gossip too prurient. The spirit of
entertaining in town or country, once simple and
unaffected. is utterly changed. a dinner now
adays is not so much an opportunity Of pleasing
ones friends as of airing ones own magnih-
cence; and as with the food and the decorations,
so also with the company, for emulous ostenta-
ton carries all before it and will have the
right people perish n the attempt. 1t
makes every one want more money than he has.
and at the same time drugs all scruples Of con-
- 80
the social changes which deeply impresses Mr.
Russell, as an oldtime Whig, is the decay Of in
tellectual cultivation. 'Dilettanteism is uni
versal" he remarks, land a smattering of erudi-
tion infinitely more offensive than honest and
manly ignorance. has usurped the place which
was formerly occupied by genuine and liberal
learning" Indeed the account he makes it
out is terribly one sided the losses exceeding the
gains. until he finds il impracticable to force
working balance between them. His pessimism
respecting social changes would be dispiritng if
he were not racy and entertaining writer, with
q large reserved stock Of anecdotes and illustra-
tons.
The New Gallery has become an annex TO the
Academy, where conventional art sets it's own
style and does not depart from it. 1t is no
longer House Beautiful. with glimpses Of Sir
Edward Burne-Jones's dreamland. nor is it a
whether he can vaguely conjecture from what
he sees here or there what the art Of the future
viii be like. The Dudley Gallery is where the
young men Of the New English Art Club have
been experimenting year after year. until many
OF them are middle aged and some OF them are
TO be accounted veterans. There are creative
impulses to be felt in that dingy back room in
PccadilIy, and. alack! there are also manner
isms TO be observed from year to year in
group Of painters who began by helping an
other TO develop characteristic traits and indi-
vidual methods, and have ended by Initiating
their leaders, notably Mr. Wilson Steer and MI
". Rothensteln. They make point Of close OBJ
servation and paint what they with sin
certify Of purpose, and they are deeply interested
in problems Of light and tone. and are improv-
ing steadily in technique: but they lack iexi-
bility, and are hampered rather than invigo-
rated and inspired by common aims and SYM
pathies. They might as well be academic and
conventional as to have pronounced, over
emphasized New English Art Club style.
The water color drawings for example, are
examples Of blottesque painting. Mr.. wilson
Steer leads off with a moorland of green and
yellow blotches under a sky streaked with grays
enveloping a patch of blue, and follows it with
an impressionist glade, with combinations OF
the same colors. Mr.. Moffat Lindner paints
DVIoFecnt IN the same IIldLi4ei' Win ShS oiI~
water more delicatey toned, but with blobs ana
films to indicate the windmills and roofs; and
by streaks Of yellow and white he indicates
evening glow and the long shadow of a sail on
reach Of still water, while the red roofs OF the
distant port are minute dashes of color. Mr.
H. B. Brabazon has glints of blue, green, yellow
gray and red in MT. PLATE from Lucerne";
splashes OF green and blue in 1.-THE Righr'; and
in "Philse" blends Of pink, blue and yellow
with blotches of green for foliage So generally