Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-06
the general public. but all who are specially
interested are granted admission.

the general public. but all who are specially
interested are granted admission.
~
Mr.. Moser has painted recently two Pc
euliarly charming and mastery water CO..
ors. both landscapes and evening pictures,
rather somber in tome One shows. beneath
quiet, luminous sky from which the
opalescent sunset tfnts are fading, river
running between brown. wooded shores:
whereas the other pictures in the in-be-
tween-time a broad stretch of hillside and
a wide expanse of sky, knit together by
two solitary trees. On the hill evening
shadows have gathered, and across the sky
a gray cloud has fallen as a curtain Only
on the horizon is there a streak OF light,
pale, tremulous, but clear and well Defined
1t is almost dramatically simple. and in
effect it is altogether sincere The sense
of medium is lost in the result-the silence,
the inscrutableness of nature truly inter-
preted.
The second Photographic salon held under
the auspices of the Federation of Photo
graphic Societies, which is to be brought TO
this city in February, was opened short
time ago in Providence. r. T., in the rooms
of the Camera Club. 1t began its circuit IN
New York. and will include on It's route
Pittsburg. Chicago and other prominent
CalleS as Well as washington. IL OHSiSlS
OF 800 pictures. 125 Of which are by foreign
photographers. The general standard is
said to be higher than last year. the ar
tistic quality more uniform Prizes and sew
eral honorable mentions have been given,
contrary to last years practice.
In the Photographic salon held in London
during the past season seventy-five prints
were contributed by American photograph
H. Itch, No
of the most notable features of the show.
A collection of recent paintings by T. w.
Dewing and D. W. Tryon will be exhibited
in the Montross Gallery, 9th avenue, New
York. from the 4th to the Goth of January.
In the meantime the National Academy ex-
hibition will be in progress and the Heber
Bishop sale take place.
~
Three hundred and seventy-three water
colors by ]. James Tissot, illustrating the
Old Testament, were placed on view in the
atrium of the Corcoran Gallery. where they
will be exhibited for three weeks. Begin
ming with the creation of the universe, they
carry the chronicle of the Bible to the close
of the old dispensation. Scarcely an event
Of prominence has been overlooked, and
many of the historical incidents have been
set forth In detail. 1t is a pictorial tran
scription, rendered with studious effort and
close realism. The earliest art was graphic,
and pictures are the universal language of
mankind. Viewed in this light, the Tissot
illustrations are a great achievement. But
art is something more than a recording of
facts, a medium of narration, and beyond
this, save in exceptional instances, these
illustra tons do not go. j. James Tissot
was the son of a thrifty business man and
a clever French milliner. He began his
career as an artist when scarcely more than
a lad, and won success early. In 1861 the
French government purchased for the Lux
embourg gallery his painting of THE
Meeting of Faust and Marguerite" and in
England as an etcher he was held in high
esteem. When more than forty years of
age his associations were broken, and the
current of his life changed by the death of
some one very near to him. A vision, he
believed, was vouchsafed him, and he began
almost Immediately his well-known picture
of Christ Amid the Ruins This led later
to the series of illustrations of the Life of
Christ which brought him worldwide
fame. He was a realist of the most pro-
nounced type. an historian first and then an
artist. For more than ten years he spent
most of his time in Palestine studying, that
he might paint his pictures and reproduce
the people as they really were. Accuracy
which caused the subordination in his work
of the spiritual to the material. His pic
lures are historically correct, but they are
not vital. They are interesting, bu. they
do not make the biblical scenes live again
in the beholder's imagination. Technically,
they are brilliant performances, but they
are without appeal. The majority are well
drawn-surprisngly well drawn when the
rapidity with which they were produced is
taken into consideration several are ex-
quisite in color and a few are admirably
composed. They all show earnest purpose
and conscientious study, but none is really
profound. There is something measured
and stereotyped about the rendering of
many, but occasionally the painter throws
off the conventional and is found to attain
an unusual height. He also, it must be
said. throughout series preserved adni-
rably a type. His many pictures of Joseph
all portray a single personality; the young
Moses in Egypt is Enthusiastically the patri-
arch of the Hebrews; Samson, David and
Saul are as convincingly individual as in
the pages of the sacred chronicle. That
the pictures will awaken interest there is
little doubt, and that while not great works
Of art, they will claim certain sincere ap-
probation none can gainsay
LEILA MECHIIN.