New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-10-29

his time save as they served his artistic
purposes. If Mr.. Downes has little 10
tell us about his masters thoughts IT Is
because those thoughts revolved within
a rather cirCumscribed circle. Survey
ing his long life, we are conscious OF no
play Of intellect no delight in abstract
ideas. Nature sufficed him. and to Nat
IRE he gave his whole being, not dream
I'M. about her. but looking at her clear
eyed and rejoicing in her with kind or
rrimeval gusto. II is this that gives his
art its special weight and that draws US
10 the man.
He is one Of the glories If the Ameri-
can school Of painting, Yet the interest
Of his biography somehow lies apart
from all that the term school con
notes He draws the mind away from
the familiar questions Of training.
method. influence and the like. Homer
IS allied with no group, revolutionary or
conservative. following him in his career,
YOU catch no echoes Of old or new
watchwords, you hear no arguments
about aims or styles. LIe is his own
teacher. and he beats out his own style.
Mr.. Downes briefly touches upon the
Two wears which Homer spent as an ap-
prentice I'm a photographers shop in Bos-
ton, and lie alludes TO a couple Of
Frenchmen. one an engraver and "he
other a painter. who gave him some lit
lie instruction I'm the J0's But the best
q J. &c ind q
an artist is supplied by the drawing,
dating from his eleventh year, repro
duced in this volume. which shows sim
ply that he was born with the root Of
the matter i'm him. The really sig
nifcant anecdote of his formative period
is the following. which belongs TO the
time Of his photographic training:
One afternoon Homer, with Cole and
Esker went into DObson's picture gallery,
where they were looking at a painting Of a
Kitchen interior with figures by EdOuard
Frere, when Moses Wight came IN. and
Baker introduced him 70 Homer. After a
little Homer said: II am going TO paint -
Wight asked him what particular line Of
work he was intending to take UP. He
pointed 10 Frere's genre painting. and said:
something Ike that only a - sight bet
ter"
He would have scorned to ask Frere
himself how 10 begin to go 10 work. All
that would take care OF itself in good
time. Meanwhile. he was content TO go
on drawing as well as he could. interro-
eating nature rather than any academic
oracle on the great question Of truth,
which was what chiefly stirred him, and
leaving his technical development TO
mature as IL might. He was enthusi-
astic. I'm his way. What ! remember
best" he is quoted as having said Of his
early days in New York. when the
famous Dusseldorf gallery was in full
swing. lis the smell Of paint ! used TO
love it in a picture gallery" But here
again we miss the wilder ardors of the
typical budding painter. Though he
would not work regularly for a pub
Usher. because he wanted absolut1 free
dom. he seems 10 have graviated
willingly enough TO the life Of an Illus
TRAITOR. pegging away at his drawings for
"Harpcr's Weekly in peace and i'm war,
and even when he gave himself more
ambitiously 10 the brush il was i'm a
fairly passiOnless mood. The point is
important, for reasons which bear upon
his whole character as an artist. In
developing il it is worth while 10 cite
another fragment from his biography.
illustrating the point Of view which he
took with him-and brought back-on
tho occasion of his first visit to France.
Says Mr.. DOwnes:
What a. did not 40 while he was in
France is somewhat significant lie did not
enter the atelicr of the most renowned
French master. be did not make copies OF
the famous masterpieces in the Louvre.
lc did not 20 TO COncarncau or 10 Cree
or 10 any Of the favOrite painting grounds
of the young American artists, and he did
not, 50 far az is known, make many
friends among his fellow artists That he
visited the Louvre and the Luxembourg and
the Clunv and the picture galleries Of the
International exposition may be taken for
granted. but what ne thought Of all that
hC saw there he never told anybody II Is
& fact Of the most vital import that the
great works Of the masters in the galleries
Of the Old World made less permanent i'm