New-York tribune., 1909-09-29
ART EXHIBITIONS
Dutch Landscape and american
Portraits at the Museum.

Nle hanging Of the pictures. The arrangement Of
then is indeed. so good that one would not have
A. changed Especially 10 be appreciated is the
manner IN which the landscapes and genre sub
.ects have been scattered through the galleries
This has completely broken up the monotony
which might easily have marked collection
composed largely OF portraits Yet If the stu
dent Of painting could but eat his cake and have
a. too. he would be glad to see the show reorgan-
szed for little while just for the purpose OF
rnsssing the landscapes in one room. Thus dis
piayed and with the works Of each master
grouped by themselves the effect of the paintings
An question would he greatly enhanced-at least
for those who wished 20 observe the open-air
Dutch school for its own sake. Il would be de-
rightful If the authorities could see their way
toward the adoption OF this expedient for. say.
supplementary week or fortnight IN November
IN the time the student is urged to visit the
Museum now and then with eyes deliberately
closed Rembrandt. Hsls or Ver Meer concen-
frating himself on RuisdaeI and the rest He will
find the experience full Of interest and pleasure.
Anusion has just been made to the 'open-air''
Dutch school II is an accurately descriptive
phrase. hut oonnotes something very different from
that which II means when applied 10 modern art.
The distinction is sharply drawn to-day between
the painter who works Of doors giving air and
Hight their fun value, and the painter whose key
IS invariably determined by the illumination he
gets through north window in his studio The
Dutch landscape men appear 20 have steered a
middle course. We know from internal evidence.
snd from contemporary pictures showing them at
work, that they gained the truth for which their
art remarkable by coming 20 close quarters
with nature But their vision was far from en-
hrscing all those atmospheric phenomena ell
those subtletles OF tone which have been indis-
penss bic TO the modern painter. ana II would
seem. though the seventeenth century
DuJchman had been governed. half unoonsciously,
st the back Of his mind by something like = rigid
convention At all events. he never exceeded
certain of sobriety In his color and tone:
his conception Of landscape design recognized
IL
main though not always. he vas a type Of the
pedestrian temperament mastery realist. but
not an adventurous. creative spirit u is inlpcr-
rant however. 10 avoid the bIunder OF asking the
old Dutch school for qualities it never pretended
20 possess A generation nourished on the lyrical
inspiration Of modern landscape. and edited by
such discoveries those Of the Impressionists.
might naturally enough conclude that the art OF
Holland somehow Incomplete. That would
be 70 complain that Bottioslh did not paint ike
Besnard, or that Titan knew nothing about his
craft because he was born TOO early 70 sit az the
feet OF Msnet Though Dutch landscape is his
torioslly linked 10 our own. through having pro-
3ected it's influence into English art. IL Is best
considered as a development 10 be tested strictly
by laws Of its own.
These laws are much the same those which
we're touched upon in this place with reference 10
the figure painters in the exhibition at the Mu-
scum. They eloquent Of 2 simple, matter-of-
fact frame Of mind, Of society oontented with its
rnromsntic surroundings and peculiarly imbued
with domestic sentiment. There is more signf-
cant illustration OF the fundamental mood OF the
school 20 be found in this collection than the
Street in Delft" by Jan van der Heyden. lent by
Mr. Davis. In the dry. minutely accurate delinea-
tion Of the buildings you have the school repre-
sented in OF .ts leading aspects They were
scrupulous topographers, these sedate painters
They went for the fact and most loyalty recorded
il Yet they would not have been artists IL they
had not been sympathetic they were lsborious.
and the interesting thing about them is their ardent
sincerity. They looked upon their native land with
loving eyes and made beguiling pictures OF what
they saw. The dogged realism OF the Van der Hey
den just mentioned is % be sure an extreme case.
K is Of great value for it takes ia fragrant
srlessness, 70 the root Of the matter: but in the
more broadly representative Dutch landscape this
solid foundation ponders ole truth serves but 20
give sta 5lity more engaging fabric. Look. for
example. at Jan Goyeu'e @'Eiew Of Dordrecht,"
the one lent by Senator Clark. and how the
uEpretenuous view is invested with beauty; how
this entirely objective painter. nevertheless. con-
fr.ves 70 eXtort positive charm from his motive.
He does this partly through his skill IN design. and
the same may be said OF divers of his fellow
trymen Without apparently. having any academic
notions OF composition Van GOyen. Van de Cap
peie and Van der Neer will generally manage to
make q plausible picture. a truthful impression
which is also justly balanced. But they owed their
success even more 10 their treatment OF light Van
Gcyen's pearly illumination makes a very delicate
and penetrating appeal He reminds you OF a sin
n landscape
eFs lar more frequently than those Of their fell
lows who dealt with the figure put a certain hne-
ness OF grain into 'heir work
do II make them sensitive 10 the things
which are eVanescent In nature reacting upon their
imagination? Hardly as regards the rank and file
and indeed. there is only member of the school
whose genius AT all ronanticaIly expanded AeIbert
cuyp like Van Goyen. was a master Of light and
ms richer, more diffused acknowledgements
Illustrated In this eXhbiton-lend a charm 20 his
ROrgr ,a1,,
OF distinction IN him, TOO, IL heightened by hint
oi elagance IN his craftsmanship There IS a
singular graciousness about cuyp's cattle pieces.
Iiis realism n not by any means heavy handed.
10 TOO. in the Landscapes Of SalOnon Ruisdael yoI
0eoect measure OF emotion, q certain feeling for
~sut, Witness, for example his Winter Scene
which belongs 70 the Museum The crowd OF fig
pres. afoot and on horseback Peopling the land
sape, could scarcely be taken testimony 10
poetic mood but IN his painting Of the sky tn.
master discloses his higher abilities He was, in
his way, an interpreter of nature as well as her
oopVist But II left 20 his nephew. Jacob Ruis-
osel. 20 lift Dutch landscape painting 20 q nobler
plane. Ee q realist with the best OF them.
close analyst OF detail. an honest student OF local
color as is made plain by any OF the
Twelve pictures by him here shown On the other
hand In Mr. Frick's Water FAM he Is also the
ronanticist: IN MF. Ross's stormy Sea" he uses
the power OF poet and in such picture as sens-
tor Clarks Woods" or the Museums Forest
Stream he makes you think OF Rousseaus dra-
matte way of handling Landscape masses One
would say that the school eliminated I'm Jacob
Huisdael II IL were not that he occupies a mat
tsT Of fact place apart; II ft we're not that with
respect 20 his essential qualities OF imaginative
picturssqueness. ne had neither predecessors
disciples Re is At with his colleagues in all
mat relates observation and the accurate nota-
Hon OF things seen-ony doing with the hand OF
genius what they did with the hand OF ordinary
gifts As a designer and a painter Of emotion he
is isolated