The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1907-01-11
FRED CHURCH'S FATHER
SCOURGES OLD MASTERS

New York Herald: When Mr.. Fred
erick s. Church, an American painter
whose personality has made him popu-
lar with many of his brother artists
and who is widely known here for his
paintings of imaginative subjects, re-
Gently, at the age of sixty-four, re-
turned from his first trip to Europe and
gave to the Herald his impressions of
what he had seen there, he created an
| international episode. Neither Mr..
Church nor his critics, both here and
abroad, have minced matters; but while
his views have generally beer condemn
ed as extreme, he has found some de-
Tenders in part, as both the European
edition of the Herald and the special
cable dispatches to the Herald have re-
ported.
Here are some of the things said
by Mr.. Church: 81 subscribe to Fred
Remington's gospel, 'To hell with
Europe!' l thought the Louvre
a terror. You have to wade through,
an immense gallery of stuff to see a
few fine things. What impressed
me most about the old masters was
that they did too much work. In the
National Gallery | saw lot of people
standing with rapt expression before
big Raphael, which is dark and hard
and which l wouldn't have for gift
" In all of Europe J. didn't see
landscape painting, whether by Turner
or any one else, that touched Homer
Martin s Sand Durcs of Lake On.
taria, which hangs in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art.' The artist added,
however, that pictures played see
ondary part on his toul, or, as he
phrased it, figuratively speaking,
went through the picture galleries on
roller skates.''
Putting it mildly, Mr.. Church s re.
marks created amazemen', in some in
stances, however, rs it is only fan to
him to state, mingled with admiration |
for a man who has shown the courage |
of his convictions. Mr.. Roland Knoed- |
Ter, of MessIs. Knoedler & Co., who |
commented more sarcastically on the
interview than any one else, asked if
"Mr. Church might not by mistake
have gone to the Magazin de Louvre
instead of to the Museum Mr.. Louis
h. Ehrict, of the Enrich Galleries,
agreed with the artist in his estimate
of American landscape painting. "On
the other hand,' added Mr.. Enrich,
the great galleries OF Europe contain
examples of the old masters which far
surpass anything that is created today
or likely to be produced in many long
day to come" Mr.. Blakeslee, of the
Blakeslee Galleries, characterized the
attack as "silly."
CATER the consensus or many minds,
lay and professional, expressed in hun.
dreds of years." said Mr.. Elliott Dain-
gerfield, ''nobody will suffer except Mr..
Church. I take it that neither the
Louvre nor the galleries of Holland
will close their doors.''
"It must be remembered" said Mr..
Irving r. Wiles, "that this was Mr..
Church's first visit to Europe. The sort
of thing you see over there does not
dawn on you at once" Mr.. William NJ
Chase frequently goes abroad and has
studied the great galleries of Europe
thoroughly. "Had Mr., Church been a
young man," was this artist s comment,
"and with art schooling, which he
never had, he would have different
story to tell. He is a typical Amer
lean, loved by every one who knows
him, yet his intense Amerieanism has
prejudiced him against that which he
found on the other side.