The St. Louis Republic., 1904-09-05
EMIGRANT AND IMMIGRANT
ARTISTS CHAT OF ART.


To avoid being accused OF aspiring 70
originality. the interviewing '-popSun."
when an American artist Is the target.
always should be loaded with the sans
first charge. II is. Should American arc
possess definite American Character
Jsed upon Joseph Penneil and Henry
Noh. this beginning. perhaps. wss sorc
OF Underhand use OF a double-edged blade.
For Mr. Psnneil IL among our expatriated
artist celebrities. while Mr Wolf. 80 20
speak Is imported. being a product nf
France. Mr.. PenneI. with whom in line
work only Abbey can be mentioned. reg
ist"Ts London. England" wae-e he leads
the life and hObnobs with the other emil
sranis-Sarsent. Shannon and. un;n rhs
!it" lamented event. with Whistler. NJ
Wolf. with whom nobody or in.s side and
f-H on the other side Of tne water can bs
compared as d wood engraver. il a natur-
aliz-d citizen and lives in New York Ns=.
naturally one inquiries whieh ! Tie b-sr
AmeT.cl u,
4 would return home Tomorrow de-
! cidr.i Mr.. PenneI positively. accepting
the personal implication of the question,
II / could afford %. Sou see TIE Areri- ,
can magazines keep me over tb=ce now
7 nave enough work on hand To ob!ise ms
| - remain abroad indefinitely. but would
; 3aT rather De here. Ald am quite sure
i that IniS i true OF most o: the other
I Americans Ia Europe WbiStlsr-and no
I man did ] know bett-r-Uzs proud f-or,
I hTSt 70 last OF his American cltizenship,
though It would be ridiculous 10 say that
/ II could have found surroundings in III,
/ United states so congeaial a. thos. Of
| London. in an artistic sense"
| Mr- Wolf FASTENED to add that though a
| frenehman BY birth. he is now American
/ In everything else. Twice in rvenrv-fi-,
years" he declared. / have been bacs.
10 Paris. Each time was glad vhe7
set foot in the United States again Nc.
no. no-the American artists arr genr.us-
ly American"
Then Why don't they pain, American
sGbjects?'
The landscape men do replied Yr.
Wolf. and M-. Pennell nodded approval.
No nation excsls them. either. II rnu
STUDY the American section. you will and
the standard In landscape very high. and
'nat the work POSSESSES d very positive
American character"
Is there then conspicuous deficiency
among the figure painters in this re-
spect?''
=
sWered NJ. Pennen somewhat Irrelevant
-. but don't see how you are going 70
pant her in an American fashion The
manner Of painting cannot Be Ane-ics-.
though the subject may be Sill IL slious1
be left TO the artists selection. Unqle--
tionably there is good stuff here: YES n
81 Louis. II the eye were here 10 see II
and the hand 10 paint t. I never knew a
railroad ride to suggest broader possisdl.-
Ties than that on the Pennsylvania alo,R
The scsGuehanns- American subjects ara
10 be had in plenty. but fail TO Sc. that
that is sufficient reason why tn. artists
who find better field abroad should say
here"
Talk yeered to illustrating. Then NJ.
Pennel announced IN his opinion rha. a
marked deterioration. or rather. a marked
lack OF progress has characterized tha
last six or eight years.
The cheap magazine has caused tho
unfortunate effect" said he Seriously
competing with the better magazines cut
ting into their advertising and circulation,
rendered necessary retrenchment IN *
pen>es- This required use OF the hais-,oas
"a resort 10 cheaper processes. Ten years
ago the conditions were sach that expert
-nents were constantly being made. ard
the bettsrment of reproduction were en-
courased from the artists Now. the Illus
traitors have gotten into a rut- Moreover,
= vast number OF artists have entered ;hs
field. chespenins the work and preventing
the complete development OF remarkably
talented n.en. = new man comes I'd who
promises splendidiy. but before he has bad
the opportunity 10 grow his place IS taken
oy newer competitors Thus Il goes and
IT Is no; good for the standard
Realty the newspapers are the leaders
'o-c~y- IL Is with them a, with the maya
ziHes a decade since. Experiments are be-
ins tried and improvements made Orig
inality IL permitted. / expect wonderful
results The American newspapers easily
tisiarce the world now IN illustrating, and
the hisn-water mark OF their progress -
not Jet touched
Ar. WOLF looked downcast at the men
ton OF the half-tone process. 1T has
superseded an art" said he. That OF
wood engraving Mr. Wolf IS an en-
sraver whose abili,ie. are such tha: hs
has been able to continue his work. de-
spite the Isyeiins conpeti;ion OF the half
tone process But the economizins inver-
Ieh leaves him practically a lone HC-ker.
solitary in a crowd.
II may be remarked that the initial
proposition. to whether there should
10 an American character In American
irt. whether American subjects shogId ts
reated by American artists remains un-
answered. OF course, artists invariably
lodge the 'should' query of this or tell
iOu that IL has no relation TO 9eoSraphy.
As 10 these two of our visitors in eX-
ernals: well. they look like artists and
hat about sums IL I'D. Mr. Penneu-ar-
not At all like the architec-
ure he draws. but tall. thin. wiliowy;
artoriaIly. 10 tailor's miracle: tonsorial-
y. above par as artists go and in no i'm
Mediate need OF attention Mr. Wolf
ervous. amiabie and, beg the gentle
mans pardon. chubby