The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-12-01

for he in by birth an Alsatian. an American
citizen. n his most distinguished Oon-
temporary. Timothy Cole. still lives, still
works. though In Europe. Nevertheless.
Mr.. Wolf Ii a great master OF a fast dying
art. And II TO do perfectly what you set
Ost to do in a self-selected medium. 10 ox-
press your personality. may be accounted
success in life. then Henry Wolf In q suo-
Oessful man. Furthermore. he il a reoOG-
nized master in his art. and his recognition
IN steadily growing. One no longer asks
who 10 Wolff" Wolf il tho Rreat-and
we hOr' not the last--AmeriCan wood
sngraver. To write Of him in the key Of
pathOS we're mere bathos. He ought to be
a very happy man. for. to quote Henry
amss's telling phrase. ~he has mastered
his intellectual instrument"
While the magazines have given him his
FIRST vogue N enabled him 70 practise a
decidedly non-lncrative proIession-wood
engraving has been beaten out Of the field
by dozen reproductive prOcesses-it is not
in the magazines We must look for the
greater Wolf. After all. printing in at least
One-third a. a Ractorin the art OF engraving.
and no printing on the paper of
can do full Justice to the d~eicaCy OF VOLTS
~ ~ w AAe SNh BRBoA PNBcA PAOtag
we u 20 IL we care to enjoy the tender
ness OF his tonal effects. the exquisite due
tilty OF his interpretations. These prints
are not numerous; the nature OF h me-
dunn is against their multiplication. Box
wood swells under inkings. The almost
microscopic lines and spirals broaden.
Firmness and freshness vanish from the
plates. Some idea may be gained Of the
.~tfaNsr "a all .. N-As.n An~,s.Doa n
volved by such comprehensive devotion to
his art as Wolf displays. Not alone is he
quite distanced by the omnipresent half
tone. but he has not even the consolation
Of the etcher or old time copper eDgraver
the larger number Of pulled proofs. Yet
who would not be Henry Wolf? Unique in
the land Of his adoption. admired by those
whose admiration is worth the winning, an
artist. literally. TO his finger tips. artist as
well as supreme craftsman, why should this
man be condOled as il he were a martyr on
a bundle OF faggOts? To see under his
patient BURN The wood slowly take on
forms Of beauty and to know hat he alone
is he's solitary master Of his art, at least in
America. are these not enough compensa-
tons for the labor involved? We are
tempted to say, happy Henry Wolf!
Comparisons between his method OF work
and that of Timothy Cole resolve themselves
into a question OF temperamental difference.
MIR. Cole was and is a passionate lover Of
music; at one period Of his life he had
thought Of embracing violin playing as n
profession. Yet curiously enough there
il less suggestion Of music in his plates
han in VOLTS. The rhythms are sterner.
more masculine. and while you will know
a Cole even II il be so far away as TO be a
mere splotch on a wall. his art ia in the
main more impersonal thar VOLTS. We
may conceive OF Cole going sturdily through
every gallery On the globe and with his
BURN translating the pictures therein into
his gracious language Of God and ink and
paper. Not thus can we fancy Wolf. The
temperament is just as receptive as Coles
"a glance at the variety of his subjects
tells US that-but a certain feminine play
Of selection. caprice. IL you will. enters into
his art. He is less objective, but more
subtle than Cole. Perhaps more musical.
certainly more poetic. We do not seek
to infer that his transcription of other
mems work is tinged by his personality
to the degree OF changing il. be it never
80 imperOeptible. No. Henry Wolf is an
honest interpreter. He puts down on wood
with his inlnitesimally fine art what he
sees. But he sees differently from limo
thy Cole. Oh, blessed word different. in
rented by Stendhal to register RudRcss not
dreamed of by clumsy critics. and far
sweeter in critical ears to-day han was
that blessed word ~Mesopotamia" for a GER
tain old ladyl Mr.. Wolf. then. il different.
His ~engravings eXhale a charm that places
among the Little Masters in the history
Of art. And pray do not vince at this
a~scription Of littleness. Whistler. in a
broad sense, will be rated as a Little Master
by future guardians OF critical taste. More
over. in this restless age when leisure Is a
lost art, nov seldom do We encount the
magic OF charm! Corot had it. Manet
had IL not. Nor Oerome. nor Meissonier.
Fortuny was full of il. So Chopin, so YER
laine; but not BerIioz. nor that mighty
poet Victor Hugo. We rather despise
the quality in these days Of rapid money
getting. II may be that the world is too
much with us. The ivory tower has be-
come BUT of fashion. The steam executed
fresco will be the next modern annexation
Of that vanishing art. Personality is a
perfume and our socialistic bear leaders
rather prefer the odors of powerful unedu-
Gated persons. Old Walt called for rude
men and women; a cross between a Millet
peasant and a democratic East Side are-
peater." But they came not in answer to
his barbaric yawp. Instead we got the
Whitmaniacs, mild, hairy persons with
watery. coniding eyes and the burning
cheek of the neophyte.
Now, Henry Wolf does not belong TO the
army Of them hat have no artistic profile,
His long. obdurate patience u in the
high finish Of his plates, but back of the
keen perceiving eye. back OF the steady
controlling wrist there is the brain of an
artist. bred as well as born. n the artist
who possesses that inexplicabIe quality OF
charm. In 1852 at EOkwersheim. Alsace.
he saw the light. At the age Of Is he went
to S~trasburg. where. under the advice
and guidance OF Jacques Levy. wood en-
grayer, and Prof. Emile Sohweitzer, in the
art of design. he mapped out his future
career. He came 70 America in 1870. and
1871 found him in Albany n later in New
York. The first critic TO recognize his
peculiar gifts and to proclaim the fact was