The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-03-20

sought. and then having soazeo the salient
trait. he placed the portrait in penumbra
at once mystic aud svOcStive. 10 vas IN
II lie wished tn hide their secret. We
know ~ 40 never knew before the Vir
ttloSo OF Pampaluna. Pablo de SArAaatS.
~ he fingers hi~ fiddle strings and win
has tranN ere bow a1akea an nforgettabls
decorative hulcnIm for tho composition.
Accepting Whistler word literally. We
are looking at the Sraniard a. he comes
down stage. his eyes. his white shirt. HIS
sWarthy face bat 80 many notes an the
color scheme: nevertheless. more sptr-
itual overtOnes are sounded. and in the
silver silences the soul vi the vlolinist -
ainginR. There IL such muted music in
many Of the cnnvase~l Not without req
son did Whistler search for analOGies 20
music. lie was q profound harmonist.
one who at the last cared little for ths
pattern. When younger the pattern curl
ounly intrigued him. The Music Room
which looks old fashioned and mid
Victorian in its sharp defnitions-the
Golden Screen "Langs Leizen.' these
are excursions into the rare country Of
porcelain and linear falsiflcations and
fantasies. Virtuosity rules. humanity h
all but excluded The rather Opaque
PAINT OF -f-hs White Girl IL not very
seductive white against white il no longer
a miracle; besides. his admirers had
never seen yelasquesl. To call the pic-
ture a symphony was pretty. whistler
did not borrow the word from the critic
MantS but from a poem by his friend
Th4ophile Gautier Symphonic en- Bianc-
Major which appeared In 'Emaux se
Camscs' uss2). The three giris In white
are too suggestive OF Albert Moore.
and are thin and unreal. The sentiment
in the Little White Girl ID not only Ros-
ssttian. but the pose. hair and forms Of
the heaJ are also bis. A picture Of ex-
ceeding charm.
There IL more character divinatiou in
the Rosa Corder. az Aristocratic AZ the
art Of the AristOcratic Whistler. She IL
not the dear Lady Disdain who looks
over her shoulder in the portrait OF
Lady Archibald Campbell. bat what a
proud profile. what a superb placement
Of the fiRurei How Whistler sets echo
ing the browns and blacks, A MASTER
piece. which ought 90 he rechristened
-Noli me TAngere Obviously the Little
Lady % soho was the result OF visit
N the Norma Lisa. The sweetly folded
hands. the pose 81 one who listens 70
an invisible presence. and with the
nuance u a smile exquisitely expressed
all this and a namele~s aura Of memories
tell us that Whistler. consciously or I'M
consciously. was affected by the great
Italian at the Louvre We cannot admire
much the male portraits Whistler's was
not a masculine genius The salt Of sex
j. missing HIS Blacksmith il a p0sesr.
Their. is nothing but papier machs' in those
muscles and the cOuntenance ~ OPERATE
cally fierce We never hear the fundamen-
tai hasAes 81 Nela~quez. Holbein, Rem
brandt Nor need We miss them. There are
crepusctilar CompeDsattons. And for his
lack Of substance mot overlooked by his
early critics. have We not the subtle@t
play % harrnonie@ since Nelasquez? His
lyric. vaporous creatures are " the same
stiff ~ the Lenore. Ls.sia and Annhbel
% Poe Wraithliks. they belong to n
No Mans Land But Whistler does not
sound the morbid note 81 Poe lie 10
sane. and his strnngeness IL never bizarre.
He IL primarily CONCERNED with essences.
In the true sense he 10 the delineatOr OF
the moral nature With a veiled inten-
stty that H. absolutely magnetic IN its power
he adumbrates the moral temperament
Of his model. Doubt this and you doubt
the truth that irradiaAsp from the pOr-
trait 81 Comte Robert Montesquiou de
Fezeux1c.
Those Tanagralike female figures in the |
pastels ar" for many the chief attraction. |
Color notes. they proclaim the master OF
values Herr ~ tho TRANSPORTATION Of
the rcsl. the transportation OF earth and
sSy and the eternal feminine into the most
evane-cent terms 81 art. What simplih-
cations, What nuidity' No hint Of the
effort 10 conceal the effort of nu efortless
art occasionally felt in the larger com
positions. despite Whistler's famous
boast Here he - tho impTe@sionist. not.
like Monet. iuxtapo-ing tones. but play
nag dia phanoIs variations on n single tone
IN artful loops Neia-gu~l ~ not zubtlcr
in his mOdulations George Moorc's
theory that II the American artist had
been physically a bigger man he might
have painted masterpieces like the Span
ard. gives ~ n shock. Then We should
have lost the mystic chord. and that
absent the lees Whistler he And AZ the
risk Of being di-lOyal To his paintings,
le' W. confess our belief that she real
Whistler ~ the magician Of the etchings
and Autographs. With Rembrandt and
M@ryon he makes ono Of a glorious trinity
u vi-ionnrie-.