The sun., 1910-11-18
JOHN IA FtR6E.
a Great Artist sf strsnx Persenaiis, and
Win the s:rana style.

init ms To take encep;lon to the concii'
sions stated IN your edit orial article OF
John la farge printed IN this morning
SUN. IL appears To The writer that II ~
only through a confession of terms that
the title OF painter. Of a great painter
can be denied la Fargo. Within few
lines OF this hasiy judgmsn, you accord
Ia winslo~ Homer the title you deny his
elder brother in art. when u IL evident
that Homer, tr;Ily our first great nat iona
! painter, never acquired in his self-taught
art the merit of correct drawing. har
monious color or The complete possession
OF technical knowledge ina: = the com ~ on
acquisition Of so many lesser pa mt ers here
and abroad. On the cont rary. Ia Fargo
in his large acquisit ivenesS evinc"d an
early interest in the technical problems
OF the painter. and in their soi,;' ION he was
in many ywsystriumphantly successful II
s'.fiices To recall the series Of pictures
! painted IN Newport and tnereabout before
his interest in decoration opened larger
fields c! endsavor to prove ,nat he was d
painter pure and simple even in the pres
ent modern cont ract ION Of tine term. IL is
| to bs hoped that there will be a collect ION
Of his life work exhibited at the Metro.
| earlier works may be shown. and il this
be done and his full accomplishment bs
made manifest to forgetful generat ion
it demands bu, slightly the gift OF proph
ecy to foreteli complete revision Of the
opinion expressed in your columns. which
may at present be shared by others The
translucencs of colored glass is a deadly y
foe to the earthly pigments Of the painter =
palette. but within the walls of the Church
OF the Ascension we may put their rivalry
to the test. where. surrounded by his own
work in stained glass. Ia Farge's great
pai ing OF the Ascension shines like a 81 ar,
glorious in subtle qualities Of color. limpid
and at mosphsric with an iridescsnt beauty v
OF color which even his own glass cannot
approach
There ~ truly a confusion OF terms in
our modern award Of the title Of painter
The dead cat on our ash barrel with a
hack ground OF tenement houses which
masquerades as vital" painting in one
camp. OF the posed model paint ed like
bit Of still life which is alone accepta ble
as sincere" painting in another. excludes
equally many and various quallii les which
IN the long history of our craft in ifs best
spochs have been held to be- the most
important qualities that a painter NAV
POSSESS. There vet remain. however q
few Of Is who cling TO the belief that We
are still Of our time and yet consider hat
Raphael. veroness and Titan were great
painters of equal rank with velasquez.
IN whose name. parent theti',ily. many Of
the most up to date crimss in art are
committed
1t,t
nance Of lire and mass Of color in a decora-
tive sense of the faculty Of tran-lat ing
a conceptio Of the mind into a pict oriai
pattern. la Fargo had more than "a fun
share
He Is not indeed the first painter who
by progressive enlargement of his en-
dsavor. lured 10y the larger qtIalit les Of
dscorai ion. has been harshly Judged 10y
his fellow craftsmen as desert ar from
the camp Of the painters The circum-
scrib.d field within whose boundaries so
many Of his fellows prefer TO plod mar
rows their horizon and they fail 10 see
that the qualities OF pat ience. the happy
accidents Of the brush. the notation Of
exact and nafuralistic tones. charming
as they may be in the easel picture. are
nugatory in works Of larger import
Paul Baudry met with this same re-
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