The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-06
How to Judge Pictures.

Art is undoubtedly simple in the minds
OF those who have the knack OF II. you
just do this" and You just do So they
say. Some of them, that Is. In the feeling
OF ultimate helplessness. such as might
become the entertainer OF children, they
are in the matter Of explanation on par
! with the writer who uses one word instead
Of another. Who can'point out to another.
in any art. the unconsidered touch that is
required to do the necessary thing? Rulesf
They are built up as a consequence of the
intutions. Not but that there are some
! rules which help the Unborn understanding
Albrecht Durer improved his anatomical
outlines after he had gone to Italy. We
should not undertake to say Of what part
Of intuition and what part Of observation
genius is made up. Some gimmer OF 1t
appears in the foreordained in the absence
Of any education and the pains Of extreme
education fail to secure 1t for another.
When we come upon such a book as
Pictorial Composition and the Critical
Judgment Of Pictures, by Henry R. Poore
(the Baker d Taylor Coz, we feel 1t an
easy way out to say that it means some
thing to some and not SO much TO others.
It lays down rules to qualify US to appreciate
pictures. Perhaps all of them are easy
enough. There Ia balance" which calls for
so much in one corner OF the framed area
and SO much in another. The idea is not to
be laughed at, because it Is fundamentally
| and in great part OF such mechanical matters
that art is built up. So with color and
tone and the values" Of color, and de-
tachment" and the development Of at
mos phere and all the rest. These are the
technicalities Of the painters trade. They
are mysterious and impressive enough to
the lay mind. Perhaps the painter should
be judged upon them; he is Judged upon
them in point Of fact
Much more is in the painters, or may
be read into them. There is the soul OF
the painter. Like religion. art is not a
matter Of surfaces says Mr.. Poore. "Its
essence is to be spiritually discerned. 1t
| Is the spirit OF the artist you must seek. '
There is the soul Of the observer, which
| interprets according to its bent. We dare
say there are artists who have been suffi-
GENTLY surprised by the readings that have
been made of them. Their lack of COM
prehension of their own work does not
neces sarily mean anything. They buldsi
better than they knew. Whoever has read
! Mr. Ruskin, or has read Mr. Walter Pater's
Interpretation Of Norma Lisa a smile, knows
what subtle enthusiasm may be expended
upon the work of painters.
We are bound TO remember important
comment upon painting Goethe particu-
| larly approved tire grouping Of three heads
on ono side OF Leonardo 3 picture OF "The
Last Supper" and three on the other. The
symmetry OF this disposition appealed to
him He noted, too, the appropriate ness
| of the picture OF a supper on the wall of a
| relectory. The exact creases of Leonardo's
| tablecloth remind us, as does Mr.. Poore's
| book, of questions that have been asked
regarding the value and propriety OF painted
detail AS to whether it was proper for
, Meissonier so far TO cultivate detail as to
put in sornc that ia to be sought with a
magnifying glass, or whether it was proper
for the painter Of -The Angelus' 30 far to
despise detail as not to paint any creases in
a peasants trousers. we should not care to
venture an opinion. We believe. as We
have said, that the laws" Of art are rea-
sonable and should ordinarily be observed.
At the same time, as we are reminded here.