New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-11-15
A GREAT COLLECTION.
Natiue and Foreign Pictures at the
Fine Arts Building.


In charge of the enterprise is Indicated by the
title they have adopted for their show They call
1t a Comparative Exhibition of Native and For
eign Art, and In brief introduction 10 the cata-
logue they that they have endeavored TO
afford for the first time a large scale an
opportunity compare American with European
paintings terms" The opportunity car
rtes a certain danger with It, This IS n great
collection There is hardly a dull picture in 1t.
and 1t contains many positive masterpieces. But
1t is confessedly incomplete. Americans like Sar-
gent and Blum missing. there is nothing here
by foreigners like Manet Fortuny, and. indeed,
we might cite other from both sides OF the
Atlantic the absence of which note with equal
regret The omissions however are alone in
giving the observer pause He realize, IL ne
looks thoughtfuy into the matter. that no single
exhibition could provide adequate basis for such
comparison as this one Invites. and that any
comparison. under any circumstances. must nee
essarily be hedged about with the gravest diff
cultes.
Comparison is the Ifes blood OF art criticism
Every fine picture Is a touchstone whereby the
student may find his way to appreciation OF the
good and the bad in other pictures. But II he finds
fault with painting merely because it is not
like another he is lost. The danger in laying
upon the comparative element in the present eXhi-
bitton is the danger OF asking whether an American
picture in it is good the French picture hang
ing near by or better, worse. for other
than that misleading one We have just mentioned.
The question is not too freely be asked. for any
reason, since every painter here must be studied.
If really studied at all, for his own sake. How
you 10 balance. against the other 4 painter like
Homer Martin. say, with a painter like Corot?
Can you place pictures by Nillet and DewIng side
by side and weigh them as in scales? No: the
only thing 10 do is 10 recognize the fact that the
native and the foreigner, while in the pur-
suit of beauty. choose different paths reach the
same goal. Individuality determines the path and
the most that a comparative exhibition like this
one may be made to yield is idea here and there
bearing upon principles of Interpretation not OF ap
praisal. That Americans have painted pictures
good those produced abroad know already
To look for minute confirmation Of this the coll
lection at the Fine Arts Building is time
and to court confusion. The important thing Is 10
note the broad relations Of both schools to the
things that count in modern at large.
What is it that makes all these pictures inter
esting and harmonious? What is it that after
ALL links together even such dissimar men
those we have cited above-Corot and Martin Dew
ing and Millet? II is not simply the common aim
have noted. the pursuit Of beauty. 1t is
permanent Whether from accident or design. the
gentlemen who have assembled these canvases have
paid practically no attention to the Academy.
Couture Is the only represented who recalls
that stronghold OF formulated authority and the
example Of him shown. lie Petit GIL" Is one Of
those rather loosely painted figure studies in which
he demonstrated that he was not by any means a
hidebound devotee of the classical tradition.
Roughly speaking this exhibition does nothing to
show that Ingres, for example ever existed, or
that French art to-day is largely dominated by the
practice of the schools. We may note in passing
how we'll this illustrates the inadequacy Of the
show as a basis for deinitive comparisons. But,
on other hand, the walls eloquent of the
point which il is important for the student to
grasp. that the modern artist who has best ex-
pressed the living spirit his time and is to-day
fructifying influence. is the artist who has given
free play to his temperament. Ingres identi
fed his very soul with the classic idea 1t was in
grained in his nature and he became of the
great masters. Degas sat at his feet and became
consummate draughtsman: but his fascinating
'AIusciens rOrchestre in this exhibition, clearly
shows he allowed his temperament carry him
thousands of miles away from Ingres and To- make
him master himself. This is. in a measure, the
story OF nearly every painter represented on this
occasion.
The Indebtedness of American landscape painters
to the Barbzon school and TO the impressionist
movement in France is not to be denied One may
even say. when standing in the small room con-
tanning Monets La Seine Lavacour superb
picture and Renoirs lie Dejeuner' that the
paintings by the late Theodore Robinson and the
late J. II. Twachtman, which hang nearby would
probably never have been painted II the Frenchmen
had pointed the way to the Americans. But
this is to say that either Twachtman Robin
was Grass imitator. On the contrary. the
"HemlOck Pool" of the former Is every inch
ndiydualized painting as its neighbor by Monet.
In other words. the thing has been going
both in America and the Continent men have
been everywhere prohtmg by the diffusion Of new
ideas IN regard light atmosphere and local
color and while nothing can rob Monet OF his
laurels pioneer. one can ignore the
originality when has been developed all sides,
even among the very who have given most
thought 10 his example. Take the foreign and the
native landscapes here in their order. Take first
Courbet and Corot Rousseau and Daubigny, Monet
and Harpignies. Take. then. Inness and Martin. |
Wyant and Twachtman. Take again the Dutch
men, Mauve and the Marses. We might discourse
at length concerning the Of each OF these
painters and or those bearing divers other dis
tnguished names for the Society OF Art Collectors
has been lucky and has obtained in every in |
stance thoroughly characteristic production. We
prefer dwell upon the manner in which all these
men have Iabored They have looked al nature /
with varying degrees OF poetic inspiration. Some !
OF them Ike Corot Wyant. have been very subty !
lima ginative. Others. like Mauve like Twacht- |
man. though not unima ginative, have been realisJs
first and poets afterward But every man in the /
group no matter what his special trait may be IS /
obviously sensitive and skilful fun OF feeling and !
keen the notation OF those nuances OF atmos- |
phere and tone which sacrificed, IN the days /
OF the Academy. to a formal ideal. Modern
art, this collection reminds US, found itself when
came out into the open. and let itself go in the
Interpretation Of things they in the light
OF a mans sympathies
What the landscape men did the figure painters
did and are doing The dreams OF Monticeui take
form in pageants of color. like A Summers Day
IdylL" Don Quixote and Sancho Panzo Enter
ing the Garden OF the Duchess" magnificent
approximations The dreams Of Mr. A. P. Ryder are
equally romantic. and his "Siegfred" or Flying
Dutchnan" touches you delicately but IN a
totally different key. Delacroix, with his ample |
sweep In the four big canvasses Illustrating the
seasons: George Fuller. In a Romany Girl The
QuadroOn' and his other tender studies OF pict-
uresque types; William Morris Hunt with his mas
terly little nude. The Bathers': Milet. with his
powerful and beautiful Quarters; Mr.. La Fargo
with his stately Visit OF Nicodemus to Christ"
and Mr. Dewing with his exquisite panel studies OF