New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-01-16
ART EXHIBITIONS.
american Landscapes at the Union
League Club.

The exhibition at the Union League Club this
month consists OF landscapes by eight American
artists. Fifty-hve canvases hung. filing the
two galleries without overcrowdng them and
they leave the whole. admirable impression.
The exhibition Is the better for illustrating eight
very clearly marked tenperaraents. is of course
harmonious IN tone. but the art committee has not
hessted to place side by side works representative
Of widely different schools. They have secured
paintings by Mr.. Charles Melville Dewey. for whom
the poetic motive Is everything. and they have
cured others by Mr. Chil6e Hassam. whose ambi-
ton is simply TO state facts as he sees them But
this show emphasizes a point which Is OF major
importance all along the line In the history of
American landscape painting. Most OF
working in this field go Enthusiastically
they can the root of the matter. trying their
best to give faithful report OF nature. 1t is
curious 10 see, for example how Mr.. Hassam is
torn perhaps unconsciously, between his keen
vision OF nature and his prediction for peculiar
technical method. Taken a whole. his group Of
paintings here suggests far too close devotion
10 the mere manipulation Of pigment; II reflects a
search after effect rather than a search after
truth But the artists love of pure light and air.
his instinct for color, saves him from falling
s,ways into srtifce One Of his pictures. especial
Nv the Rocks and Sea-lsles OF Shoals" causes
US TO forget for moment his impreesionstic bias;
~e conscious only Of the strength and beauty
the work possesses. simply transcript from
nature. IN this work. at all events. Mr.. Hassam
arrives"
whether he strikes the right note not. the
sincerity Of his art Is induhitable. That quality
prevails almost throughout the exhibition II there
IS one OF the eight painters who gives US pause in
the matter II is Mr.. F. v DuMond. who sends nine
etudses IN q vein which he has not hitherto Illus
trsted to our knowledge. in any local exhibition
his object seems 10 be 10 throw certain delicate
glamour half atmospheric. half imaginative over
the scene he depicts. and to deepen this glamour
by introducing graceful and only family visible
into his q
excellence OF his aim, but, unfortunately. Mr.. Du
Mond has not yet acquired the power to realize the
thing AT which he is driving. About all these new
pictures Of his there hovers the meretricious
uareality which have often noted in his fig
pieces His landscapes have little OF the quality
that speaks OF really close observation Of nature
The color In them is dainty. but there is nothing
racy here. nothing with the OF the soil it.
These canvases. for all that they ceverly
executed. smack altogether OF the studio. and not
A. the least Of actual forests and meadows The
most favorable remark to be made about them is
that they denote a promising ambition, from which
IN time to come. some valuable work may flow.
Mr.. Allen 3. Taicott is another exhibitor at the
club whose work is chiefly notable for the sugges-
ton It gives OF future achievement He has feel
Ing for landscape sentiment and he has breadth In
execution When experience has taught him more
Ct the secrets OF form and has ehastened his color
be ought to win honorable rank
Mr.. George II. Bogert is conspicuous in the show
q who has developed a style. and is alto
Eether matured, SO that his paintings have weight
and kind OF grave beauty. Six pictures by him
are hung. and they all have soundly constructed
composition they all give full and rich inter-
pretaton OF nature. We note particularly the
Surf and Clouds ane the "Evenng-Rysoord
Holland. disclosing in their best estate Mr.
Bogerts elegiac strain OF emotion and his vigorous
get subtle style. Mr.. Charles Melville Dewey is
perhaps less of himself than Mr.. Bogert is
his style still resting in experimental stage
and there is certainly much slovenly drawing In
his paintings The obscurities In some OF them may
be Intentional but they wake suspicious Of igno-
rance. On the other hand. Mr.. Dewey has be-
guiding streak Of poetry in bis art and peases by
tenderness and delicacy, even in pictures that,
when sii Is said lack substance and authority Mr..
Walter Clark and Mr.. Fred W. Kost practise
wholesome simple OF naturalisrn. and while
we would welcome in both little Of the
imaginative impulse We are grateful for what they
offer us. the sharp tang of American landscape,
transferred TO canvas in a straightforward and
competent manner They may not rise to heights,
but modest plane thew do first rate work.
The sole remaining artist TO whom we must pay
attention Is Mr. Carlton T Chapman. who sends
number Of sea pieces commemorating episodes in
the history OF our navy. They spirited in the
treatment of ships in action. and purely as marine
studies show that Mr.. Chapman has made a con-
siderable stride forward both in form and in color