New-York tribune., 1910-02-02
ART EXHIBITIONS
The 4nnuaI Shoe Of the
architectural League.


works which appeal to the student of the
art of building in the strictest sense and
those which, in a more miscellaneous and
decorative way, may please the general
public. If this Is partly a matter of nu-
merfcal division. it Is also one with which
the hanging committee has much to do,
fact sharply emphasized in the present
instance. The show now open. the twenty
fourth in the history of the league, con-
tains an abundance of purely architectural
material, but photographs of completed
work have been freely substituted for
drawings, and thanks to this expedient, as
well as to the large scope given to the
painters and sculptors, the ensemble is pc
cularly untechnical. If the iayman does
not frequent these galleries it is his own
fault. The League has done all that 1t
could do with the stuff at its disposal to
beguile him into making acquaintance with
architectural ideas. The exhibits are charm
ingly arranged
Those which illustrate buildings lay
stress upon the more or less monumental
problems which have OF recent years been
put before the profession in such rapidly
increasing numbers to fill the observsr
with a kind of breathless wonder HIS
wonder is not for the civic and business
enterprise which promotes these transac-
tions, but for the courage and poise, above
all for the self-restraint, with which our
architects have gradually come to deal
with an opportunity dangerous as II is
rich Does the American who travels little,
and, in any case, pays no particular at
tention to what the architects of this coun-
try are doing, realize the comparative in
frequency Of the really bad building in the
large cities where structures that cost
millions are constantly rising? Let him go
through this exhibition not IN pedantic
mood, but with the very simplest of
aesthetic touchstOnes. merely asking him.
self if his sense Of dignity and good taste
is not pretty we'll satisfied. AS a matter of
fact, the League has this year little to fear
from even those who bring a professional
point of view to the galleries. 1t shows
work which both in the mass and in detail
reflects an admirable standard Look, for
example, at the postoffice for New York
and the bank building in Montreal designed
by Mckim, Mead & White. the Denver
courthouse and postoffice by Tracy, Swart-
out & Litchfeld, the St. Louis Public
Library by Cass Gilbert, or the New York
State Education Building by Palmer &
Hornbostel. 1t would be interesting to
analyze these designs, but 1t is more to the
point to emphasize the general principle for
which they stand This is a very scholarly
handling of classical and Renaissance ideas,
tempered by what we must regard as a
feeling for beauty but must also recognize
as a kind of nervous force especially char
acteristic Of the American.
Looking back over the developments of
American architecture during the last
thirty years one Is bound to trace a good
deal of the progress made to learning and
to temperamental instinct for beauty. but
national rejection of dulness and heavi-
ness We may be never so attentive to
the rule of thumb while we are feeling our
way toward right expression, but when
once we have attained some sort of COM
mand over an artistic language we use it
with lightness and cleverness correspond
ing to our buoyant habit in most of the re-
lations of life. 1t is instructive to note the
c1ean-cut, Worknla mike treatment of con-
ventional motives in such edifces as those
just cited. We may not be startlingly orig
inal but, on the other hand, neither are
we stodgily pedantic. Indeed, the stimu-
lating thing about this exhibition is the
impression 1t leaves of men working very
freely and with a note of what can only
be described as human sympathy in an
element which is forever inviting the prac-
titioner to remain on the safe side of stere-
otyped forms, By human sympathy We
mean quick response to local conditions.
faculty for investing the physiognomy of
a building with a certain friendly appro-
priateness. A good illustration is sup
piled in the Portland City Hall, designed
by Carrere & Hastings. with the assistance
of John c. and John H. Stevens. It could
be described fairly enough in the cant
phrase, AN imposing pile" but it is some
Portland about IT. an intimate quality, the
character of a building meant to be warm
and appealing, not too obtrusively off
cial' Turn from this to the Delaware
State House as Edward l.. Tilton has re-
stored and extended it. How lightly he has
employed the Colonial style in this build
ing, how lightly, and yet with what grave
simplicity.
Glance, too, at the Taft School at Water
town, designed by Cram. Goodhue & Fer
guson, observing the wholesome pictur-
esqueness with which these architects have
exploited their English inspiration, and
from this pass to the beautiful little Rus
sell Sage Music Hall by Deano & Aldrich
or the office building at San Francisco in
which Howells & Stokes have given to a
piece of commercial architecture all of the
utilitarian weight it needs and, by sound
proportions and graceful decorative
touches, have endowed it with positive
charm. The great virtue of such work. too
is that it is Enthusiastically personal, pro-
duced with a zest as we'll as with knowl-
edge. A design like that of Delano & AL
drich is, of course, developed only through
patient study. but it smacks of no painful
effort. of no straning after effect Every
where in this exhibition, among the public
bIIiI1 he
dwellings in city and country, you are con-
scious of the fact that architecture is be-
coming with us more and more of an art
and is every year more richly coIored bv
individuality.
Among those who represent the arts
allied to architecture in this exhibition
Miss Evelyn 3. Longman takes high rank
Her bronze doors for the Naval Academy
at Annapolis have been admirably designed
the realistic motives in them being we'll
adjusted to the exigencies of necessarjIv
formal scheme, and the figures throughout
are capitally modelled. The sculptors in
deed, make A most creditable COMPANY
Mr.. Keck's gracefully composed fountain
and his statue of Mohammedism for the
Brooklyn Institute are both excellent pieces
and there is charm in the figure, if not
in the rather heavy face, of Mr. A. Picci-
rli's Pax for the Apgar Memorial the
architectural part of which, by the way.
has been finely designed by Mr. Henry
Another architect fn ha