The sun., 1906-12-27
THE ACADEMY ExHIBTrIoN. Y
P1r.t Nouce.

The first fruits OF the union OF tho
National Academy and the Society OF Ameri-
can Artists may now be seen at the Fine
Arts Galleries in West Fifty-seventh street.
The marriage took place April z, 1903. Last
week there was what is called a private
view. but one that usually degenerates into
a public stare, 10 great is the throng. Peo-
pie, not pictures, is the order Of ~varnisA-
ing" day.
Back, back 10 the good old days OF the
disruptioni" The speaker was member
OF the absorbed organization who bad four
pictures rejected by the lynching commit
tee. He said, and he shall be nameless, that
hanging was too good word to describe
their ruthless slaughterings. 1t was not the
survival of the fittest that had won the
walls, but the operation Of the theory OF
unnatural selection. To all Of which we must
demur. This present winter exhibition OF
1903 seems TO have solved dangerous
problem. the abolishment of the very bad
and the abolishment Of the very good.
The fury has simply chosen the middlemen;
with a few exceptions. and thus has avoided
a repetition of the rumors and scandals
of those seasons when Whistler, Homer
Martin, John Sargent and a few other Tltans
hung their banners on the inner walls and
knocked sky high the color and design OF
their contemporary associates. We are
happy % record that mediocrity, the
p,ediocrity which the poet called golden;
has been attained. We need more OF this
leveling of art in America. There are indi-
cations that genius, unasked. disenoour-
aged and overforward is manifesting its
presence too strongly. This won't do. The
world is filed with average folk; give us art
suitable to their faculty of attention, for their
sound, homely tastes. A world composed
OF Bernard Shaws. Theodore Rooseyeits.
Nietzsches, William NJ. Chases, would be
intolerable. So let US applaud the academy
for doing the right thing at the tactfui
moment. Art for the masses Is its slogan.
To prove that the COMMITTEES on mould-
ing public judgments was acting according
to its lights, we need but mention that
Winslow Homer's The Gulf Stream has
the spot OF honor in the Vanderbilt gallery,
though il is by no means the best picture
In the room. But IL is the most popular;
and the Met ropolitan Museum has con-
secrated that popularity by purchasing
the canvas. II has q striking subject,
striknRIy executed. A fishing smack.
disrnasted, boom snapped close to the bow,
rudderless and tossing in the trough OF the
sea, bears upon its deck a sprawling black
man. He has encountered shipwreck In the
Gulf Stream Worse than that. Sharks
are tumbIing about him, some on their
backs, their savage maws aching TO crunch
his toothsome African flesh. He Is In the
grasp Of a nightmare horror. From the
tail of his eye he witnesses the approach
Of a new born waterspout, whose advance
guard Of boiling foam is seen in the middle
distance. shadowy ship at the back il
not perceived by the poor wretch. That
would be too merciful on the part OF tho
| painter. The one touch Of joy before us is
in the leaps of some flying fish. But OF
| what avail are their volant tricks to the
castaway? The perilous spout, the nag
ging sharks. tho huge wallow Of wave
that threatens in the foreground-these
| and the hopeless condition of the boat have
deprived the negro OF all volition, deprived
the spectator of all hope. II would be an
entirely peesimistic theme were it not for
the abeence Of submarines. whiripools and
/ thunder skies. That ship will surely be OF
! little use-sensible ekippers always give
| waterspouts a wide berth.
| The treatment is broad, flowing, virie.
| Mr. Homer is a veteran, but he can fence
with any Of the younger men in rugged
| force and graphic fidelity. Yet is his pic
ture not a great one. IL ID only popular.
| It contains more shudders than the Raft
OF the Medusa." 1t is too crowded. with
naturalistic melodrama. In composition
| it is huddled. 1t is less fantastic than
cruel. and the quality Of the paint is neither
| pleasant nor translucent. Mr.. Homer inn
agined that sea. He is happier when hc
sees il pounding upon a savage Down
East coast. Comparisons are malodorous.
| But The Gulf Stream" Is not 30 impress
sive as Paul Dougherty's big marine on
! the opposite wall. That picture is not a
set composition. neither does it deal in
the anecdote, grisly or sentimental, but it
grips you by it's sincerity, its power and
its superior order of workmanship.
Mr.. Dougherty Is a young man who
studied in Paris. He is an A. n. A. At a
Paris autumn salon several seasons ago
he exhibited a canvas full of poetic charm,
while displaying no freakishness. The
fact was mentioned in THE sun. Since
then his progress has been rapid. His
/ picture, numbered 97, is named Land
and Sea- single glance at IL inspires
conviction. A rocky headland iutting pre-
cipitously into the heaving seas is dimly
touched here and there by greens shiny
vegetation that thrives at the edge Of salt
water. A greenish wave whose tremendous
| speed and volume are sensed rather than
fully indicated. fills the front of the pic
ture. No touch of humanity, nothing but
sky and ocean. Here is no meretricious
effect, A steady vision, an evolution Of
grandeur and the simplicity Of grandeur
these are produced by brush never too
fat and with a marked feeling for structure
Mr.. Dougherty's eyes we're early trained
with black and white; his father was
discriminating collector OF engraving
and etchings. So he escap ped the usual
! fault Of the marine and landscape painter
mediocre draughtsmanship.
The gamut Of greens in the Doughcrty
and Homer seascapes is worth considering
Both men command rhythmic movement
Dougherty has more repose; Homer morv
brio. At first, looking at the Homer pic
ture from the entrance, you recall the water
| Of Arnold Boecklins spiel der Wellen" in
| Munich. But the remlniscence does not
! persist on closer inspection. The Swiss
| painters waves are clearer, more joyous
/ nd fhair fNrr,a mara ,,Io atic