New-York tribune., 1910-01-12
ART EXHIBITIONS
old POrceldins and Prints and
Modern Pictures.


leries of the Fine Arts building have been
in the hands OF the Architectural League
and that organization is now arranging It's
twenty-fifth annual show. The opening is
set for Saturday, January cs Meanwhile.
there are several small collections to be
seen, in which the observer who has had
his fill Of pictures may find reposeful pleas
ure among divers very different things.
In his exploration Of the numerous gall
leries in Fifth avenue he may begin as far
north as the entrance to Central Park
There, in the Plaza Hotel. there Is a largo
collection of Chinese porcelains. exhibited
by Mr.. Edgar Gorer, of London. He shows
both single color and decorated pieces,
among the latter a notable group of four
black hawthorn vases Further down the
avenue, at the Folsom Gallery, there are
some rare examples of ancient iridescent
pottery. with a number of very beautiful
old platters. The Rakka jars are espe-
cially to be signalzed- The Cottier Gal
lery also displays some superb Oriental
porcelains Decorated examples are here
in the ascendant. but there are one or
two fine monochromes. 1t is decidedly
pleasant to visit these exhibitions. and tho
one of old pewter which is now open
at the Fifth Avenue Art Galleries With
no discourtesy to the painters. one may
still remark that there is a certain relief.
certain fresh stimulus. in turning Tor
change, TO all these other fine achieve
ments in form and color.
An agreeable departure from the prevail
ing motive OF the moment is made. too,
at the Colony Club, where there is an ex-
hibition of the threescore and ten English
mezzotints. beautiful illustrations of eigh-
teenth century craftsmanship. For no very
obvious reason portraits of men almost
entirely excluded, DoUghty's Samuel
Johnson after Sir Joshua. and one or two
ether plates. being all that is offered in this
category. 1t is a pity, for some of the
best mezzotints of the period are from
male portraits. and. moreover. the latter
are often of great dignity and interest.
But if this is. in the main, exhibition
of fair women, that does not by any means
make it the less charming. Indeed, the
very genius of eighteenth century English
art, essentially a social art, is expressed
in these courtly memorials Of the great
ladies of Georgian times. Very lovely and
graceful they were, carrying their rich
and yet simple draperies with incompatible
| distinction; and the painters who delineated
them were not more sympathetic to the
charm of their carriage and demeanor than
were the engravers who did so much TO
spread their fame. We are glad to see
| that in the catalogue the claims of these
men are put in the foreground. This ex-
hibition of stately portraits is first and last
| an exhibition of mezzotints. framed to
| bring out the special qualities of special
| mode of expression.
| To contemplate such works as Valentine
| Green's "Georgiana, Duchess of Devon
/ shire or John Raphael Smiths Mrs.
| Carnac," or William Wards Daughters of
| Sir Thomas Frankland, is willingly to
| forget for a little while the painters who
| gave them their originals. Green and the
! rest were themselves masters, scraping
| their plates with the power of good drafts
| men, and somehow extorting from black
! and white extraordinarily rich effects of
| color. as we'll as limpidities and subtleties
/ in respect to the play of light such as
/ would seem almost unattainable save
/ through the manipulation of the brush
| The brilliance of the school. If not its full
range, is well represented on this occasion
| Mr. John L. Cadwalader, Mr. Frederic r.
| Halsey. Mr.. Harry B. Hollins. General
! Brayton Ives and Mrs. William Douglas
! have lent magnificent impressions of many
famous plates. Altogether, the show is one
| of the best ever seen in New York
| The painters Of scenes out of doors are
| chiefly in evidence Just now. At the Knoed-
| Ter Gallery Mr. George Elmer Browne has
! a couple of dozen pictures made in France
| and elsewhere on the Continent. He dis
| closes considerable talent, framing his COM
| positions with good judgment and painting
| them with breadth. He has a romantic
| sense of color, and. what is best of all, he
gets a certain invigorating vitality into his
| work. Witness. for example. the brisk
| movement in more than one of his skies
| His sense of picturesqueness is also to be
! commended If his capital little exhibition
nevertheless suggests rich promise rather
than conclusive achievement, it is because
there is still a certain artifciality of sentt-
ment in his work, a suggestion of color
| cultivated for its own sake rather than
with close reference TO nature. Mr. Paul
| Dougherty, who shows at the Macbeth
Gallery sixteen canyaseS painted on the
! Cornish coast is Enthusiastically pinning his
| faith on the thing seen. His color is kept
! we'll in hand and, in fact, his work is so
| sincere, so robust, that one is eager to ac-
! claim it, Yet we seem to recall pictures
| by this artist more impressive than any of
! those which he puts before us. There
| is a simple force about THE Golden Mir
| ror'' or Rock Bastions'' which commands
| respect He expresses his massive ground
! forms in bald terms, and he is equally sue
( cessful in painting the turbulence Of the
sea At the same time something is lack
/ ing-the touch that spells individuality and
/ the quality of pure beauty. These, by a
very apt transition, we may state are the
things that are missing from the twelve
portraits by Mr.. Wilhelm Funk which are
| on view at the Scott and Fowles Gallery
| He is prodigiously facile. and strikes his
gay decorative note with exemplary fidel-
ity to the truth. The likeness we dare saw
| is always there. One Graves, also, some
! thing of personality, of style. At the
Powell Gallery there are number Of new
paintings by Miss Anna Fisher. In the
mint and cummin of technique her art
needs 10 be strengthened and clarified, but
il already has measure of persus siveness.
rejecting delightful feeling for color and
light.
At the rooms of the MacDoweu Club
there is an exhibition of work by women
artists-sculpture, painting. decorated fans.
designs in jewelry. book illustrations, and
so on. Under the auspices of the Art Stu
dents League Mr.. F. Luis Mora is showing
number of his paintings drawings
sketches and monOtypes. \ miscellaneous
collection of paintings by American artists
fills the katz Gallery. At the Madison Art
Gallery exhibition begins next Friday OF