New-York tribune., 1911-02-04
ART EXHIBITIONS
Pictures by Chi'de HaSSam and
NJ. Jean MClane.

hihition which Mr.. Chide Hassam has
opcned at the Montross Gallery. He is very
much the Jealous craftsman intensely In
tcrested in paint and eagerly looking every
where I'm and out of doors. for effects OF
form. color and light on which TO try his
brush. That Is n curious brush Of his. 1t
gives US this vivid sense OF a swift and
restless talent yet it often seems urged on
by main strength rather than by pure in
sriration. With all its merit. with all its
clear proclamation Of genuine ability this
is nevertheless a distinctly uneven collec-
ticn Of pictures Works Of art in the truest
meaning Of the phrase are accompanied by
pictures which you would call pot-boilers
II ii were not that Mr. Hassam's sincerity
IS stamped upon everything be does. IL Is,
rather. as though he sturdily went on
painting regardless of whether or not he
found himself i'm the mood or had tackled
q thankess subject. NJ JoUrdain talked
prose all his life long without knowing IT.
Now and then Mr.. Hassam Is as completely
and as contentedly deceived.
The instances of this pedestrian habit into
which he sometimes lapses are impossible
10 ignore. for they are given great con-
spicuity. The street scene. "Grez,' the
picture called The Ancient Window of
Nemours" and the study of an Ophelia
Ike girl in a boat against a charming
background. Castles in Spain" are all
painted on n fairly large scale. and are TO
be reckoned. we suppose. as among his
most ambitious pictures But save that
the background aforesaid IS well painted
they are all quite unintcresting, and this
for the precise reason that il is on good
painting that Mr. Hassam Customarily re-
lies; when he does not succeed with his
surfaces he is lost. Looking at the Cree.
for example, one readily understands how
the painter was attracted by the tones
in the facades he has portrayed. but he
does not do with them what we remember
his doing with some Chinese shop fronts
somewhere in the West out Of which he
made picture year or 50 ago. The point
is easily enforced in the present exhibition.
Turn to the beautiful painting of the dress
worn by the girl in THE Piano" or OBJ
serve the clever handling Of difficult SUBJ
stances in The Terre-cuite Tea Set" If
Manet or Renoir had painted the latter
picture It would be hailed with loud ad-
miration 1t is a pleasure TO acclaim
work like this. q work of really valid inn
prcssionism. Of insensate paint endued with
life and character. There is plenty Of
painting of this sort in thc show. You
find it in the bewitching outdoor portrait.
"The Grape Vine" you find II in some ex-
quisite passages belonging 10 THE Black
Hat"-which, in the oldest fashion. by the
way. recalled not only i'm its motive but
i'm its handling the artists colleague, ].
Alden Wcir-and again NJ. Hassam alures
YOU through the quality Of his pigment, as
well as through his play Of light and color,
in "The open Window" a really fascinat-
ing picture
He has been in Spain Of late. and shows
half dozen very careful studies of scenes
there. What we can only describe as their
simple honesty is their best trait It is a
comfort to encounter an artist satisfied to
see and To paint Spain as il Il. not turning
its picturesqueness into romantic theatri-
cality. and. above all things. avoiding the
staccato effect. the sharp flicker of light
and shade. which one phase Of Fortuny's
art beguil-d a generation Of merely clever
men into using with foolish persistence.
Mr.. Hassam is much more than a clever
PAINTER. and his Spanish subjects have a Sc
rious value. They are. in measure at least.
portraits Of places. If appreciation Of them
is qualified. If only one of tn-m the Plaza
de la Merced. Ronda," is wholly persuasive,
il is partly because he seems to have paint
ed i'm Spain with that doggedness al which
we have glanced. and partly because of
the indisposition to see things pictorially
that not infrequently marks his work. Re
10, fp nil
ures and consider the relation Of the figure
to its surroundings in the Lilies" In all
that relates to the garden this painting is
sheer JOY For one thing. it contains
some very fine color and in light. in at
mosphere. the artist himself would find it
hard TO beat But then he drags I'm the
figure and almost Spoils his work. If IL
does not exactly dislocate the composition
il certainly shows an Indifference to the
balance Of the latter That is where the
Spanish pictures disappoInt. The very
virtue of fidelity to truth OF which wo have
spoken suffers through Mr.. IIassam's fail
ure TO get a felicitous arrangement,
charming design. one misses the selective
gift which turns into a beautiful pattern
what truth, without the inventive instinct,
leaves only prosaic.
Spontaneity viii sometimes save the
day where the faculty of choice is miss
ing, fact which Mr. lIassam illustrates
I'm his threescore water colors, pastels
and drawings. Among these his Spanish.
French, Dutch and American subjects
often reveal the precious quality in which
the oils are occasionally deficient We
would give all six Of his Spanish paintings
d..
nctual Snow Line" or for the "Old
Houses of Lannion." I'm the one case You
have very c~editable but not quite sue
ccssfuI effort. In the other you have a
kind Of happy mastery. individuality easily
and authoritativoly expressing itself. The
UPS ani downs so TO say. of Mr.. Has
sans art are obvious, and criticism incyi-
taIly distinguishes them. Yet one does
not think Of him as dOubtfully oscilating
between success and failure, making one
kim Of picture at his best and n different
kind at his worst His Singlencss Of aim
IS manifest In his work the good and the
bad frequently overlap He is one OF those
painters Of whom il is said that they have
the defects of their qualities Energy
like his (and DC hrims over with IT'D IS
pcrhops unnecessarily wayward it has its
lucky and lts unlucky moments. II IS al
ways provocative Of certain sympathy,
for IL IS never commonplace, and. first and
last. IT affords the lover Of good painting
an abundance # pleasure
At the Folsom Gallery there IS an cxhi-
bition Of paintings by NJ Jean McLane
Alrs. Johanscn) Vaguely We recall
other work ry this artist work that con-
taiucd promise Here IS something like
fulhlment. She has developed in taste
and in skill. now painting with a matured