The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-09-09
DUTCH PAINTER TALKS
OF HIS C0UNTRY'S ART.

-
Willy Martens. visiting painter from
Holland. f. q raw-boned six -foOter. who
looks qualified 20 best the world in a more
strenuous vocation than that Of an artist
willy" As applied 10 him. speaking pro-
vincialiy. seems so very funny: an Ameri-
can would render it as "BiII' in short
order Think Of Dutch painter signing
''B!ll SIrt~ns''. why his things would go
Ike hot cakss-but. perhaps. not IN Hoi-
land.
He is Of Holland. artisticalIy and IN
ever way. and n. in,presse= that fact
upon yoa very positively. Speaking OF
Holland painters. ne says We" not 81.
nor by reference 20 this. that or the other
fellow. Within certain limits. they all are
working together: outside those limits
they are as individual as possible As Cor
vide departures. two or three Of which
appear in the Holians! section. he con-
isUns them. There's no future for that
nan in Holland he declared pointing az
n imprs ssionistic and highly colored can
vas It's IN a borrowed manner and -
not expressive Of our country"
Clearly. this artist IL as positive in lis
views as his square jaw indicates
Don't think. though. that We initiate
QUIZ masters wholly We merely lay it
dow - a hard and fast rule that IT,
Holland painting. having developed graz
ualiy through 30 years. has found vein
which renders the character Of our coun-
try t-Ithfu!iy We want realism. We
want things painted direct from nature
We object to the fanciful picture u hich
TIL French often rave over. call chic
and all that. We want. too. the realism
~ u0ffavd al a.
as you and most people know. and this
explains the low key of so many OF the
pictures. canvas. to in any way depict
Holland. must have this gray tone
through 1t. holding ii together In our
own art. our schools demand this much.
and few exceptions TO the rule are ad-
mitted."
1T is sometimes said that when one
knows prss%nt-day Dutch art Il this
t-ue2-
Not a: all We have our individuaEsm
and there is gradually new trend appear
iEg II. our work as a whole. Let me Illus
traie"
We walked 10 a picture. No lr. by
Louis ". van SOesr. The First SNOW"
which has been described in this column
tt~r" j. a man VII. ILlufS- 70
continued. You will see broad treat
msnt IN this. broader even than that %
Maris He sees his themes in a bigger
way and renders them In q bigger way
Look. how simply and directly he has de-
picrsd this low line OF brush. getting what
painters call the value exactly but
eliminating unnecessary detail That Is
what I mean by the change which IS TAX
irg place.
over here IL another picture even more
radical. BIZ Schrsgel. quite young man
II is quite unlike many OF the other Dutch
pictures you see here. unlike In arrange
MeHt. and. 10 a degree In the manner Of
painting. But it preserves the ESSENTIAL.
that which IL OF Holland 1t remains a
Holland picture obviously
There IS one point more than another
THAI bothers one about pictures They are
FOR our pleasure. bur many OF us can TAX.
pleasure in few Of them How shall ws
take pleasure in them? The question is as
old Is can De. but artists answer II differ
emily. Mr. Martens has q story to tell
In this connection.
An ART dealer in Pittsbtrg whom I
net recently. spoke Of a good customer OF
MIS- and tho Change observed In the mans
'~sle- he used often to go TO the dealers
gallery. and finally one day bought a p;c-
tuEe. IL was by an Italian. small. and a
Detail sirdy wholly. He had this In nj.
nome probably year. when he bough; =
second canvas. a Holland landscape. paint
ed much more broadly. So on until he had
I'VE or SIX. and his each successive sel-c-
ton hit upon better thing artis,ically.
Finally. he returned TO the art dealer
one morning and said. L don't like tina;
italian picture 1 bought first Why not
said the dealer Well he replied cauti-
ousiy. I DON'T think 1t goes nigh, with the
others
The dealer admitted then tina, IL VA.
not q very good art work Why did you
sell &c TO ME. Them retorted the CHS
toner. angrily- Because you could no,
stand now
80. 10 take pleasure in pictures. I should
think the way is TO have them around. 10
look Al and study the kind you ike until
your likes incline toward another kind