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

Aset Of VOLTS or Of wiIs's took both mems
work away with him. He decided the
question by keeping hOth-WOlf. master
Of the silvery luminous line; Willie. tho
brilliant. hard and faithful r~eprOducer Of
surfaOes-witness his extraordinary lady
with tho silver gown called -Pstsrnal In
gtructiOn.' after Terburg.
IL would be interesting II space permitted
to quote what artists have said Of VOLTS
work to Wolf: Sargent. Cazin. Benjamin
Constant. Cecilia BeAux. Irving Wiles.
John w. Alexander-tho list 10 long. And
IL would DO pleasant also 10 make mention
Of the honOrs In the shape OF medals that
have been fairly won by him in France AZ
wel AZ in America. His plates may be
seen in Budapest and Warrington. in Paris
and Boston. the LenOx Library. and in
Strasburg and Philadelphia. To enumerato
the names of the painters whose works
he has translated into his terms Of art would
all columns. In several cases he has i'm
proved on the originals. notably in the two
0er6mes. He has attacked all schools.
all styles. from Franz Halls to Homer
Martin, from interiors by Vermeer to
the subtle tOnal gradatiOns Of Nhistler's
Mother We know hat there 10 a Wolf
room at the LOtOs Club, and at the Keppel
galleries may be seen representative KAN
piles Of his art. Only recently he has en-
graved the Marquand Vermeer hanging
in the Metropolitan Museum. q miracle
Of subdued luminosity and spacing when
the medium into which it is transposed be
considered. The line. as is always the case
with Wolf, 10 clean and significant. He has
the sense of tactile values. Vitality there
10 in his siIhouettes, weight and resistance
in his figures. Above all virility in COM
pany with poetic distinctions. It does
approach the miraculous to study his back
grounds Of minute parallel lines: to realize
that they are the work Of a human hand.
The passages of light in the Vermeer en-
craving are a testimony to VOLTS feeling
for he rendering Of atmosphere. Air
encircles the figures OF this plate. which is
as suave and velvety as any he eve handled.
The Whistler Mother" in addition to its
technical qualities has the Whistlerian
spirit-something far more difficult and in
tangible to connote than Vermeer's admit
rable though purely materialistic picture.
Wolf. too. is particularly successful in land
scape. In this form there 10 no bulk clearly
outlined. no specific human interest as in
a portrait. nor textures. which spring TO
the average eye and ill il with satisfied
recognition. Instead mass must be mod
elled into suggestions Of hue, a feat. when
one considers the poverty Of black and
white to evoke the cOlOred appearances Of
nature. But our engraVer does not fear
the task. Some of his best wOodscapes
and water views are Of mis- own selection,
not from the canvas OF another. Central
Park, the A~dirOndacks and bits from else
where he has engraved, and the results pro-
claim him a true landscape artist. Con-
slider his Misty Morning" IL evokes a
memory Of Corot, not because Of the mood
but because COrOt loved the mist IL 10 all
VOLTS, with its sweet, -evanescent touch, its
mysterious cloudy envelope. its wet trees.
ghOstly in the smoky morning; It's remote
dells. II a man sees sue pictures and then
Ivy his spiritual and veraoiOus art makes
us see them, may he not be called not only
a great engraver but also an accomplished
artist?