New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-11-15
John Ii FARCE.

The death of John La Fargo snaps
y nat was in some sort q link between
tho art of America and the art ot
Eurone in its Golden Age. He was our
sole "Old Master" our sole type of the
kind of genius that went 3out with the
Italian Renaissance. To say TINS IS II"
diSparagement of those other creatlNe
artists whose names are Respondent III
orr annals-Hunt. Illness. hlStler,
Saint-Gaudens and Mckim. 1t Is slmpi!
to suggest his kinship with a Speclhc
tradition. the tradition of men such as
I leonardo and Raphael Like them he
was essentially type Of lntellecf gov
erninc and colorinG Imagination anu
emotion. and expressing Itself WIN
certain instructive tendency toward the
Grand style. Overlaid upon this centrai
strength of his were all the riches OF
wonderful personality. ALI the traits OF a
man whose feeling fer the past never
fer a moment detached him from the
current Of modern life. His was prob
ably the most complex nature IN
cur artistic history. and, indeed, ne hau
In this respect no parallel among the
masters of his time abroad. And every
in,nllIse of this myriad minded nan
was an impulse toward beauty. ihat
# was which gave value to his VOTE
and endued him with an Incompatible
charm.
His fame is largely that of q great
ccIorist. who made his mark in mcn'l-
mental mural decorations and in win
dows of stained glass. In both these
fields he was wont to illustrate noble
subjects. and the holiness of his Ideas
was also made known through his eaSei
pictures and through his essays ana al
Oh eSses on painting. He had repute rs
traveller gained through his en-
chanting souvenirs Of Japan ana the
South Seas. His outstanding character as
Il painter and as Il worker III glass has
been enriched and made the more be
quilting in the public mini by the sense
OF his versatility. the grace and the
originality with which he touched many
interests. Yet the La Fargo TO whom
we would above all pay tribute In these
few lines is the La Fargo who was. in Il
sense. greater than all OF his WORKS, the
La Fargo who was. to those who knew
him well. kind of 1amhent flame of
Inspiration. There was indeed some
thing Leonardesquc about him, some
thing of the universal genius.
There was probably Do subject of in
tCreSt TO man which WIS not Of interest
to him He drank of civilization as one
drinks from Il bubbing spring. He
knew it in those aspects which belong
TO antiquity and he knew it through all
the long story which stretches down
from Greece and Rome and the i'm
memorial East to our own day of indus
trialism and politics. SIDE by side with
tie mundane transactions of humanity
bis mind sought to keep pace with the
PHILOSOPHERS and religions of the world.
Ii was not in any pedantic sense that
h. assimilated his knowledge of these
thingS-0r used il. 1t WaS. rather with
the ardOr Of a thinker with an inCurable
constantly read and thought. and read
and thought again, uniil his intellect
was a closely packed cosmos of sensa
tons Out of it poured his paintings
and his other works. for he was ever
the artist. the maker. the man who
must put his ideas into tangible form.
and out of it there came also what we
can only describe as a fertilZing force.
q spirit Saturating everything that he
did vivifying his unforgetta bic talk,
and making him a singular instance IF
constructive power In losing him we
rave lost Il great character.