New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-02-21
ART EXHIBITIONS.
The architectural League at the
Fine 4rts Building.

exhibits before reaching the strictly architectural
designs. and. indeed. If go, not by
numbers, but By the broad impression received at
the Fine Arts Building. would say that the
show was about equally divided between architect
ure and decoration. This is not altogether to be
regretted. No doubt the presence of sculpture of
works in color and of divers finished examples of
applied art is well calculated TO attract the lay
man. who would shrink from galleries fun of
measured drawings OF buildings with few photo
graphs of completed work to break the monotCny.
NO doubt. these supplementary contributions III
themselves worth attention and have signifl-
canoe as showing what is being done to adorn the
public and private buildings of the day. Yet We
sign sometimes for . return the part of the
league 10 policy solely architectural. Interesting
as the present display may be, not sure but
1hat II might have been bettered by the exclusion
OF all its decorative adjuncts. The casual visitor
might in such circumstances he bored. The lover
OF architecture on the other hand, might the more
pleasantly pursue studies in the development
our architectural taste. Some day perhaps. the
league Will hold such exhibition for the delecta
ton OF its members and OF that considerable public
which has a special concern in its more strictly
professional work In the mean time the decorative
exhibit commands attention on its account.
That portion Of it which fills the first large
gallery is chiefly interesting for the designs it
contains for works in stained glass. Maitland
Armstrong and Helen Maitland Armstrong show
ing the sketch for imposing window to be
erected in Pennsylvania church. and Edward 7.
Sperry contributing a picturesque historical con-
tribution in the medium which is to be
carried out in a private house. Some of the
numerous window designs here are in black and
white, others are in color. All of them disclose
facility in design and a feeling for sumptuous eff
fects. The mural painters. of course. bear their
part in the show. MI Blashield sends the studies
he made for his charming decoration in the music
room of Mr.. Adolf LewiscEn's house uptown, with
a photograph of the completed work, and another
of his big decorations in the courthouse at Bati-
more. described some weeks ago in The Tribune
Mr.. Robert Reid is represented by several can
vases, among them the first sketch in eoloTs for
his fine historical decoration in the State House
at Boston. and fascinating panel, wild Flow
ers,' which suggests that the absence of figures
does not necessarily weaken the decorative value
Of a good piece Of painting. A floral study of
very different but i'm its way delicate and
charming, is Mr.. Gleeson's 'Leopards and Locust
Plants Mr.. Crowninshieid. Mr.. c. Y. Turner,
Mr.. sewell and Mr.. Taber Sears also send con-
tributions- There are many sketches of mis-
celaneous character; in the central gallery some
clever bits of sculpture shown with models
of mantels and other decorative things; the small
West Gallery is filled to overfowing with book
plates, designs. decorative panels and
photographs; and in the East Gallery number
of objects in metal, wood, leather and other
terals brought together. Here and there in
the of odds and ends exhibit asserts
itself. In the East Gallery there large green
mante which wakes a shudder of apprehension
as to what may expect when ''L'Art Nouveau"
is really acclimated in this country and there is
another mantel in the same room. executed in
marble which is perfect example of what Il
mantel ought not to be. This latter design is
based the fire motive in Die Walkire' and,
while the relefs fa liking the fireplace are harm
less enough. the scroll Of music carved across the
front of the scheme is merely deplorabe. The
truth is that there is a great deal Of mediocre
work included in this section of the exhibition,
but there is much that shows decorative aptitude
and refined taste, and the broad effect is one of
a certain gayety and warmth which We can COM
mend.
Appreciation of individual exhibits among the
purely architectural designs is accompanied by
curiosity as the general drift of ideas which
this display. like its predecessors, may fairly be
expected to disclose. Designs for houses in the
city and in the country here; there is no lack
of hotels and huge apartment houses and Office
buildings; more than solution of the problem
involved in the housing of some public institution
is offered and there are some important bridge
designs. Roughly speaking, the American school,
to use a convenient designation. is less homo
geneous than 1t has always been eclectic,
but often in the exhibitions Of the league some
salient motive the Colonial. the French Academic,
the Romanesque that of the Italian Renaissance,
has seemed to dominate. This year we get Illus
trations of many styles with much that is monde
script. and nothing that shows a clearly defined
movement. unless the testimony Of certain draw
ings is to be taken as implying that for great
public buildings the classical ideal is the one most
preferred The antique motive is AT least a safe
one and Mr. CasS Gilbert. Ia his exploitation of it
in the Fine Arts Building for the exposition at st.
.ouis achieves eminently respectable effect
We wish we could say more for his stately ediice,
but the truth is that il has the dignity and moEu-
mental that come from sheer bulk. rather
than from felicity of design This is the fault OF
a great deal of the more ambitious work in the
present exhibition. There are other architects
who like Mr. Gilbert, are unimpeachable in their
scholarship when they attempt large schemes.
among them Messrs. Brite and Bacon in their
''Danforth Library Building" for Paterson; Messrs.
and Magonigle. liz their Alumni Han
for Cornell University; Mr.. Robert Stead. in his
Municipal Building" for Washington and MI J.
H Freedlander, in his Home Tor DlSaoleu
Soldiers" for Johnson City, Tenn. But architecture
cannot live by scholarship alone. ard at the hands
NJ 700 MANY Americans il seems to have been put
on a starving diet. far originality is cor
cerned We do not expect. or desire violent de-
partures from precedent in the handling 81 large
facade bur TO ask for some distinction in the dis
trbution of openings. in the settling OF proportion
and i'm the mana cement OF line, is surely not TO
ask too much. The public building here which
lifts itself above the ordinary plane and charms us
hv its airy grace and simple beauty is the Seward
PARK Pavilion designed for this city by Mr.. A
W. Brunner.
The designers of vast office buildings and hotels
are as always. at disadvantage, and we approach
their works once more with due sense OF that
fact They are most satisfactory Wheh they recos-
nize IL themselves. Mr.. Hardenberg has done so in
The whitehall" a building of some twenty
stories to be put up in Battery Place Save for the
three arches the centre. at the base OF the de-
sion VIE have in this edhce succession Of win
doys piled atop of one another in the familiar
ma cting box style. But by slightly recessing the
central tier of some of his upper stories the arehi
tect has gained a limited play of light and a
shade and he has further enhanced his effect IN
tho roaninulation of his courses, which are much
more clearly defined in some parts of the FACADE
49,, IN o,bars Unable to throw off completely the