The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-02-14
AROUND THE GALLERIES.
Paintings by Claude Monet at Duranc.
Rucl's.

ton Of paintings by Claude Monet will
remain on view until the 25th Of this month.
Both TO those who have made . study
Of Monet's art and to those who wish TO
gain an understanding Of 1t. this exhibition
will prove OF moro than usual interest;
because there are as many as thirty-eight
examples shown, and they have been
selected TO cover In some detail the period
between 1883 and 1899. Then they give
an epitomized synopsis Of the develop
mont Of his art and enable one TO trace
the gradual evolution OF the qualities with
which his name Is most distinctively ASSOC
ciated. This. however, is not to say that
they include all the phases Of his art, afford
ing examples Of all the different kinds OF
subject that have interested him; for there
Is no representation Of his figure subjects,
or of the Cathedral series. or that OF the
haystacks at Giverney. But they do rep
resent very fairly the gradual unfolding
Of his way Of looking at nature; from the
period of the bud, tempered by outside
influences as well as nourished from within,
to that Of the flower which has opened out
to the sun and reached its full, individual
development.
From the day that Boudin turned Monet's
eyes in the direction Of nature, their regard
for nature has never faltered. The change
has been only in the manner Of the regard;
in the degree and character OF its analysis
and in the motives which attract 1t. II is
a truism of landscape painting that nature
is the inal teacher; but the quality Of the
lessons Is In strict relation TO the bias OF
the students mind, and that Of Monet's
was primarily toward independence. Even
in the early days when he needed the criti-
cism and encouragement OF men like Boudin
and Jongkind, and paced the galleries OF
the Louvre like other students, he was con-
scious that for him criticism and example
were not to be taken in the gross. but TO be
distilled, so that from them might be ex-
tracted the essence, the principle itself,
perhaps after all to be rejected by him.
at any rate, IL acceptable, only TO be received
by gradual assimilation.
He was unaffectedly conscious Of an ego,
that was forceful enough to justify in
time it's egoism. Accordingly, his early
work was largely an effort 10 free himself
from the influences with which he felt him
self enyeloped. But without at first COM
plete success; for it is impossible TO escape
a recollection of Boudin and OF Jongklnd
in such early pictures as 'Moulins en- Hol-
iande" ls8sl, and Promenade a TrouVille'
Qs7l), or Of Pissarro in the"LIle aux fleurs'
of 1877. just In what way they remind us
Of the other man Is more difficult TO aitlrm.
Perhaps of Boudin in a sort OF prevalence
Of grayness and of wetness In the skies;
of JonRkind in the freshness OF the con-
trasted tints of the landscape and OF Pts
sarro in a certain delicate stir OF atmos-
Sisley's work. Quite possibly there are
no such absolute points Of contact with
anv of these men, and yet we know, Tor
we have it in Monet's own words, hat
I'm some way or other they were the men
who were helping him 70 become himself:
II il these early pictures that those who
cannot follow the later development OF
Monet's independence will point 10 as
representing him at his best. They are SO
much in line with the more usual klnd OF
landscape as to he more easily appreciated;
but, if his art had remained where these
nictrres bring il, Monet would never have
become that loadstar toward which al the
needles Of modern landscape painting
In some measure Viorate' no mater no"
different a course the individual painter
may he steering Nor would he have
reached that place In the regard OF so many
admirers that 10 one else fills with just
The same measure and quality OF grail
fcation. II is characteristic OF these carrier
pict ures, reaching on even to those of 1852
that as yet they have not come out into inc
sunlight. There is clearness oil Hght, Dut II Is
gray light or at any rate subdued lght how
ever, In two Of the examples here there Is
"A IlAI la W. lEl'AA NV -, -
One OF them is Fruits" 0ss0l; a magnificent
study of grapes and apples, IN which the
voluptuous freshness OF the grapes ana the
spnsIous bloom On their SKINS are nneiy
contrasted with the hard. shining, brilliant
textures of the apples; q picture in which
the fecundity of nature Is expressed, but
not its expansive out-of-dOor ardor. mo
fruit does not exhale the sunshine that has
ripened II; such ardor as II has Is rather
that of the odalisque upon a sllken divan;
its freshness, that of the indoor beauty ,rath"r
than of sun-kissed beauty under the open
sky. Sunshine, however, Is introduced
pathwavl leading through a wheat field, but
into. Sentier dams Tile ST. Martin" Ossll, a
il is still a sort of perfunctory sunshine,
an expansive generality Of light, such as
YOU NAV find in many pictures and will
not recognize as representing distinguish
ably Monet's searching way oil notlng us
phenomenon.
Again, in two of the pictures up to this
period. sFalaises" OssD and 'Falaises de
pourville" Oss2l, there Is evidence OF the
growing sensitiveness to the varying
aspects of atmosphere. In all the pictures
there is atmo sphere, but in these two a
generality Of expression is replaced by n
more particular analysis of a certain quality
of atmosphere. One may See in them the
first symptoms, 20 far as the examples
In the exhibition are concerned, OF the
kecner analysis and Of closer truth to the
transitory phase of nature. that have since
become the GROWING distinction Of Moret's
art. For as the primary bias Of Monets
mind was toward Independence, SO In its
subsequent development II has always
tended to a more rigorous disciIlinlng Of
self to more complete eNactitude of analysis,
To q search for the more subtle manifesto
lions of nature and TO more complete con-
cisencss as well as fulness in the expression
Of them. Ills has been a vigorous and
robust mind, continually refining aud
subtiizing its observation, 80 as 20 be
able to render the most trausitory
cNpressions on tie face Of nature.
For a naturalist pure and simple, Monet
is; not a poet-painter, seeking 10 find in
nature the Counterpart Of human passions
and sentiment, but viewing nature with
as absolute an objectivity as Turgenief-
The last Of thy brothers might vanish
off the face Of the earth and not a needle
Of the pine trees would tremhle.' Simply
IAN eye" he has been called 10y those who
need in a picture some ready evidence Of
soul in a painters work, or rather Of some
| particular phase or mood Of his soul 80
obviously introduced as TO be easily com
municable. For that Is the real point Of
issue. Monet. of course has some, but he
dooa not sub6iyidp its impulses and Npar