Evening star., 1905-11-06
TOOK A FRONT RANK
Success of American Artists
at Liege Exposition
MAKES A SENSATION
MUCH ACCOMPLISHED WITH A
SMALL APPROPRIATION.
Graceful Compliment Paid by the
Countess Of Flanders-Foreigner
Somewhat Disconnected.
MAKES A SENSATION

SOUSul deIleTdl HOWE Oh Antwerp, DEL
gium. furnishes to the Department of Com
merce and Labor an interesting account Of
the success of American artists at the fine
arts exhibition at the Liege, Belgium, ex-
position 1t Is as follows:
1T Is generally accepted on the continent
that the American section OF the fine art
department at the Liege exhibition this
year has made a sensation in artistic circles.
For years it has been the custom abroad to
shrug the shoulders at American art pro-
ductions. American painters being treated
in very patronizing manner by their Eu-
ropean colleagues, with sort Of Well done,
my boy, and fgurative pat on the head.
This attitude is. OF course. due to prejudice,
the followers of the older schools Of art
being quite unable to realize that products
worthy of their own brushes and chisels
can possibly emanate from the new world.
And yet the exhibition at Liege has shown
that such Is not the case, and French and
Belgian artists are not only surprised but
somewhat disconnected at the result. The
Countess of Flanders, in congratulating the
American commissioner general of fine arts,
said the great proof of success in the Amer
lean exhibit was the fact that the carpet
was more worn before the pictures in this
section than elsewhere-a graceful compli-
ment indeed.
American Art High.
This is the first occasion on which
United States art has been officially repre-
sented in Belgium, the result OF deter
mination on the part of the commission to
show the world that Americans are not
only Industrial, but also deserve high
rank in the artistic world. In order, how
ever, to accomplish this the commission has
had a battle to fight from the beginning
First, the government subsidy or appropria-
q MI q M frNr IF tot, l1xy
inadequate for the commission to realize its
desire to- correct the errors made at the
Paris exhibition Of 19OO when the pictures
sent in were unsatisfactory
The general scheme was to let American
artists in America have their own jury Sc
lect their own pictures and come over to
Liege to hang them themselves. OF the
three rooms In the gallery allotted to the
United States one and q half were to be
given to American artists from America
and one and a half to American artists re-
siding abroad Unfortunately the appro-
Priation was too small to allow this plan to
be carried out and the commission therefore
confined itself to the very best American
pictures Europe could produce-that is from
London. Munich, Vienna and from Paris
and other parts of France Six hundred
paintings were offered and one hundred
accepted.
America Gets Gold Medal.
THE success Of the American section is
oASoly ouc " Tie l1uS1dCRaDle energy OF
its commissioner general for fine arts.
Mr' Lewis st. Ware of Paris. who. in spite
OF the meager support given by the Ameri-
can government. was determined that the
United States should be worthiIy renre-
sented That 1t was so may be seen by the
1act that in proportion to the number of
paintings exhibited America receives the
largest number Of awards. With the ex-
ception of Belgium and Holland, America
IS the only country receiving Cd oil
OF honor with a prize of 5000 francs.
awarded to the portraitist, John s. Sar-
gent Of London. for his Hfe-size. full-length
portrait OF the Countess de Clary wife Of
the Austrian minister in Brussels
The fine arts jury considered the Amer
lean department worthy of the state-au-
thorized lottery OF the exhibition, and pur-
chased three paintings for the purpose, viz:
Evening, at the Pond by Henry s. Bis
bing, who exhibited hors concours: Rich
ard 2. Miller's Mother and Child which
here, and Charles Sprague Pearce's 'Souall.'
a masterpiece.
An Erroneous Impression.
"The fact that American artists were
unable to participate in the exhibition here
is to be deeply regretted. because the press
and the artists of the country are under
the impression that the United States can
not alone produce artists; that American
artists develop their talent in Germany,
government sees fit to provide a sufficient
appropriation for Americans to have
place In foreign exhibits that impression
will remain. The foreign artists are fiat
tering themselves that 1t Is their influence
that brings out the talent OF these Ameri-
can artists who have attained sufficient rep
utation to be received here 1t is generally
believed that the American nation Is In
capable Of creating national school, and
It is this belief that Commissioner General
Ware is trying to dissipate.
MacEwen, Carl Marr. Ridgway Knight.
Bisbing. Bridgman, Harrison, Miller,
fearce, Vail and others. well known in
Paris, is remarkable and worthy of any
Of the reputed foreign artists, fact en-
phasized by the awards given to the Amer
lean section by the international jury. Yet
artistic circles in Europe refuse to consider
these artists really American, claiming
them for their own because they have
chosen to work abroad. 1t is, therefore,
high time that the American artists at
home Joined with their countrymen abroad
to show the world that they have school
OF art worthy the name"