The sun., 1907-08-22
ar THE LENox LIBRARY.

English fiction. Swiss poetry and German
painting. Munich In particular was for him
q city full Of pictorial horrors: and II may
be confessed that a series OF visits TO secee-
sionistio exhibitions does get upon thu nerves
the young fellows who set ont to paint
as snartly az their Partisan colleagues Of
the advance guard usually evolve zebra
like, glering style that makes your teeth
creak. 20 raw and harsh is it. But Young
Germany-how many Young Germanies
have there not been since Tieck and the
brothers Schlegel!-has something 10 say
and is saying IL in very agreeable manner.
especially with etching needle. scraper and
BURN. You may judge for yourself by
visiting Lenox Library in the print DEPART
ment during the next month.there to view
the etched and Autographed work OF sane
German artists selected with his unfailing
tact by Curator Frank Wetenkamp. The
names of Max Klinger. r. Overlook. Elm
schlag. Hans Thoma, Heinrich Vogeler.
Geyger. Cornelia Paczka. Hopping, Ahner,
Oskar Graf. Hahn. Schmutzer, Georgi. Orlik.
Zuhrig, Hans Won Volkmann. Kallmorgan.
Jenny Fikentscher. Helm. Biese. Strich-
Chapel. Ortlieb and Weiss-the last eight
names forming a group In Karlsruhe
known as the Kdnstlerbund Karlsruhe, who
have elevated chromo-lithography into a
fine art"-are represented.
Notwithstanding the patient. hard minute
realism Of Adolph Menzel--a species OF
German Meissonler with q more varied
human touch-or the large, sympathetic
and eminently painters paint OF Wilhelm
Liebl-at one time much infiuenced by
Courbet-modsrn German art remains des-
~x.I. y L. La -,
lessly Romantic. Even the irruption OF
Impressionistic ideas about 1888 whom that
thrice clever and accomplished artist Max
Liebermann carried into the smudgy aoa-
demic world q smell OF heaven. q breath OF
fresh air. q sparkle OF sunshine. even then
the old crowd that had been brought up
on the duly classic traditions OF Cornelius.
Overlook elder-and tho historic can
vases Of Carl Piloty. refused to acknow ledge
merit iN the new painting" Mcneil fell
betwee Two stools, and not all the pious
solicitude of the Emperor can place him
in the van OF the present movement. He
is a realist, but his realism is of an out
moded kind, not Manet's. rather Courbets.
though he did not paint in the least like
the Frenchman. Possibly the academic
Munich school felt that too much had been
granted to the Neo-Romantics headed by
that poet-painter Of genius Arnold Boecklin
the Swiss. And to-day Boechdin's infiu-
ence is still rampant. Klinger. Franz
Stuck, Hans Thoma, Prell--to mention a
few-have been strongly moved by this
remarkable man, whose fantasy often out
shines his brush work. whose invention is
superior to that Of any OF his oontempora-
ries. Menzel. Boeoklin and klinger form a
strong trio--and the last two are Romantics.
IL is a critical formula that Boecklin is
not a literary painter; that with him paint
came first. then his subject. We may pre-
sumo to doubt this very German statement.
Boecklin was a big temperament. n big
painting talent. but like Watts and Gustave
Moreau. mind obsessed by the idea. He
came under the influence Of Schirmer and
the pretty Ropsntic school at first, but
after seven years in Italy and close study
Of the Italian masters he formed that char
scteristio and somewhat opefatic style Of
his-operatically decorative. And every
canvas is a story, not the homely anecdotes
Of the mid-oentury German genre school,
nor yet the heroic frigid.ties Of the Kaulbach.
Overlook, Cornelius group; withal roman
tic, blending OF Italian background and
satyrs, fauns. tritons, naiads. mermaids,
devils. oen.aurs, all the fauna of antique
myth set in vigorous motion by a virile
imagination and facile hand. His color has
been overpraised, though his early work
in Couet Sohaack's gallery at Munich is
cold In tone. That .Felsenschlucht" with
its primitive dragon-some relic of the
Jurassio period-is not pleasing in tone,
nor arc his landscapes. so hammered and
such limitations Of the Primitives and Of
Claude. And then he is so inordinately
fond Of these pots Of blue paint, a. Walter
Pater christened the azure Alpine lakes
But what fancy IL in "Im Spiel der Wellen"
at Munich. with its fantastic crow Of mer-
maids. river horse and frog king in that
transparent trough Of greenish water. Or
the island OF Death" Changing in tho Leip-
sic Museum), with it's touch OF pathetic
grandeur. Yet. Boecklin was q worthy
contemporary Of Richard Wagner. whose
genius and his were akin. They both in
terpreted the underworld OF Oermanic
poesy, and their art told the secrets Of the
pixies and the gnomes, OF faunish sport and
superhuman energies. 0erhardt Haupt-
mann felt the impact Of Boecklin's imagina-
ton; witness the mise en- scene and early
acts Of The Sunken Bell
In Klinger there is much OF Boecklin. He
has etched with reverence seHne OF the Swiss
painter works, and like Stuck he has moved
with ease through the enchanted land
scapes in No Mans Land created by his
predecessor. But Klinger is not the painter
that was Boecklin. His color sense is
faulty. his pictures are spotty and huddled
crowded with the teeming ideas OF man
who is also q sculptor and musician. We
frankly do not admire his statue Of Beetho-
vent barely escapes being the caricature
OF a naked man; as an etcher he compels
ones admiration, for he uses his needle with
freedom and precision that are remark
able. A pupil Of G1sskow. he made SEN
sation in 1878 at the Berlin Academy exhibi-
ton with two series Of pen sketches Fan
tastes upon the Finding OF a Glove" was
one, and IL gave Klinger his name His
method In etching is q mixture Of aquatint
and needle, and In this domain he is master
Of an astonishing technique and capacity
for expression.
Franz Stuck is also bold experimental
list. painter Of exuberance and q man
many sided. Some esteem him higher as
.Iv~Az A.