New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-03-05
ART EXHIBITIONS
Pictures by John La FWge at
AUCTION.

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next Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at
the Carnegie Lyceum. Special Importance
attaches TO the second section. FOR this en-
braces no fewer than forty productions of
1Mr. John La Fargo. The dispersal of this
group of paintings constitutes by itself
remarkable event. Among the other things
shown there are. to be sure several inter-
esting pieces. There is early Wyant. a
Landscape painted in Ireland there is
similarly suggestive souvenir OF George
lnness there are a couple of good studies
by Mr.. ID. W. Tryon, and there are ex-
! anS1les of such painters as Schreyer. Pasini.
Pelouse and Ter Meulen, which leave very
favorable impression But the honOrs of
the occasion Enthusiastically belong 10 Mr..
La Fargo
The little collection of his works that is
here offered for sale possesses, indeed,
character which would amply Justify its
purchase en- bloc for the Metropolitan Mu-
scum of Art 1t illustrates more than one
significant passage in his career, and that
is to say that it includes some tlqerse ex-
pressions of his rare genius. Several stud
les represent him as a master Of stained
glass design. there are paintings exhibiting
his traits as painter of landscape of the
figure and of flowers and special light is
thrown his dealings with the themes he
found in the course of his travels in Japan
ana among the South Sea Islands. On a
superficial survey of these things one might
be moved to characterize Mr.. La Fargo IS
great colortst and, Furthermore, an artist
OF singular versatility. But these afford
the most obvious lines of approach to his
temperament. That is above all the tenn
permanent of a creative artist whose concern
for external appearances is heightened and
enriched by a veritable passion COR life in
/ its larger and deeper aspects We have
never had a painter who cared Iess for the
mere anecdotic subject, but neither have we
ever had one who cared more for the inner
soul OF thlngs or more thoroughly saturated
his work in the element of imagination
| This distinguished veteran, one Of the great
/ outstanding figures in the history of Amer
lean art, has never been sterile technician
exercising the gift of the coIorist for the
sake of color alone With him nature is
always creeping in The things ne sees
touch his mind and stir his spirit no less
than they stimulate his powers of execution.
There is something very human about
those inquire studIes of his which have not
purely decorative purpose, and when as in
MS Scheme for stained glass he deiber-
dtely excludes the note of familiar life hes
Is QUICK 10 substitute for it spiritual or
poetic quality that is, in its way equally
vitalizing. Take, for example. the "Au-
/ trmn, Scattered Leaves" a study for a
window. There is, of course no emnba sic
/ laid upon character or emotion in this
| beautiful water color. The semi-nude fig
! ure' with its butterfly wings. is Just one
more of those innumerable de-personalized
apparitions in which one master after an
other has embodied some idea of the sea
] rf,
/ La Fargo gives not portrait but
! symbol Nevertheless. he endues that SYM
/ Dol with a vivid reality. so that its rose
flushed tints, appearing amid futterfng
! leaves of red and russell somehow bring
home to us with a curious poignancy all
/ the energy and gusto and charm of nature
/ itself. 1t is very like the painter He
cannot rest content with even the most
graceful and fervid pattern of form and
color. He must fill it with an idea, he
must make il express life and his own
individuality.
You see the same process going on in his
memorable South Sea studies In recent
years the number of books about travel in
! that part of the world has rapidly in
creased. and countless photographs nave
made us familiar with the native types
and the background of Landscape against
which the still primitive conditions of their
I life take on an extraordinary fascina ton
! Every one knows what Samoan dance is
like every one is familiar with the at
tributes of the dancers. their gestures and
demeanor. But only Mr. La Fargo has
brought back from beneath the wide Pa
/ cihc sky the very soul and fragrance of
people. We have known several painters,
especially in France, who have sought their
motives in tropical lands. They have
/ PLAYED clevery with the sheer picturesque
ness of their material and with blazing
effects of light. our American artist has
/ done more He has painted his exotic
/ themes not simply for their strangeness,
but with a penetrating sympathy. trans
forming what is bizarre and incompre-
henSible into terms o. Subtly appealing
truth His bronzed chiefs and dancing
girls are profoundly human. and they bring,
as it were, their point of view. their way
of thinking and feeling. quite well as
their bodies to our very door. Witness the
..Taupo with Arms Outstretched Practising
a Dance" or the Chiefs in War Dress and
Paint" or the Samoan Courtship," or the
..Night Darce at Sapapali." these figures
brirn over with character, they Jingle with
movement and even when they are in
nose they are not immobie models, but
live and breathe and have their being on
the painted canvas or paper There hangs
about them the glamour of romance, the
romance Of Il far country where life is so
different from that of our modern ciViliza-
tion that Ii touches the imagination almost
with a sense of Enthusiastically. But ii is MI
La Far2e's fine achievement, while pre-
serving this magic, TO keep solid reality
ALWAYS in the foreground. II would be
hard to beat the fusion of everyday truth
with romantic beauty that Is to be OBJ
served III the representation of Gifts OF
Food at Iva" Most of the natives i'll this
coDlpositi,:l present their backs to the be
holder but they make, taken all toSelnei'
a group wonderfully eloquent
We lay stress upon the clements OF
tboucht of sympathy, in MI La Fargo
impressions of travel because these things,
as we have said always play command
ine, mart in his work. Yet ii would be easy
il, +raversiug this exhibition to lose ones
self IN enjoyment of its strictly sensuous
v.itchcrv The largest of the Samoan
et,Idies is; a portrait IN oils of ''Maua," one
IF the paint rs boatmen, a work unfn-
ished but carried 50 near 10 completion
that it might well be left forever in its
present state. In thus. again. you are ar
rested NV the artists fe ling for character,
iut chiefly You SAVIOR the glorious color he
uses the. rich tones in the SittcrS skin, the
deep. transpar at greens of the foliage
accented by brilliant red bloSsoms-and the
aclica,c luminosity which envelops figure
and background alike. Just i'll its form and