New-York tribune., 1912-02-15
ART EXHIBITIONS
Bryson Burroughs ReneWs Con-
tact with an Appreciative Public.

'dGl WIFI dIl AppreClatIVe PuDllC.
Art that is in real sense personal in
conception and individual in expression Is
rare enough to make doubIy welcome the
group OF recent paintings ard drawings by
Bryson Burroughs, placed on view this
week at the Folsom Galleries. there to re-
main through March .. Coming after the
several years during which Mr.. Burroughs
mas sent nothing to current art displays
this work speaks In the tones of a once
familiar voice too long silent. II is
voice curiously distinct, one that has no
near counterpart in the chorus of contem-
porary art and 1t is as unmistakable as
the flute in an orchestra. which is heard
no matter how numerous are the other in
struments. And, like the flute, these paint
ings have no large body of tone they speak
clearly, but In gamut limited as TO color
and restricted in dynamics.
The classic myths have mainly furnished
the inspiration for these pictures partly be-
cause they have for Mr. Burroughs genu-
inc vitality, and perhaps also because they
make the use Of nudes a natural course
expressive aspect Is not diminished or slack
ened by the mask OF garments The treat
ment is essentially that of mural painter
rather than Of the artist who deals In sur
faces of small area and jewelled textures
At first glance the pigments with which
| the canvases are lightly covered may seem
| lacking In depth and resonance. Even after
the eye is attuned to the delicate and ex-
! quisite gradations of hue and TO the sub
dued tints of white and pink and pearly
gray that denote flesh the observer may
wish that Mr.. Burroughs had been
thought less sparing Of his color, that he
had infused just a little more red blood
into the sembanCes he has created. But
in spite of this deficiency in warm, sensuous
appeal, deficiency that Is felt less and
less as one stays with these pictures, there
is compelling charm in the atmosphere Of
imagination with which these compositions
are informed
a world Of romance and Of delicious un-
reality is opened by the artist. Here are
Calypso and the unwilling victim Of her
lures. here are Venus and Adonis in a series
Of four lovely glimpses Of their love TRACE
dy. here a lonely Andromeda, lying by the
finds Psyche standing shy and abashed in
the house of Venus. whose voluptuous form.
as she sits bathing her limbs In pool. may
also starte less simple minded visitors.
Diana, in another Of these renewals of the
classic myths. passes upon her way. Fur
ther. the artist has borrowed from later
times. for here is a Temptation Of Saint
Anthony" and not far off is enacted the
drama of the princess and the swineherd'
their love exciting the wonder of group or
peasant folk, and not affecting in any wise
the urgent feeding Of the lusty pigs That
grovel in the trough. Besides these, there
are compositions depicting figures In idyllic
landscapes, seen for their own SUFFICIENT
beauty.
The decorators spirit OF design dominates
the arrangement OF the compositions oil MT.
Burroughs, and the treatment In It's oDVi-
ously intentional natness Of modelling, cor
responds TO the same ideal. The figures are
drawn and painted with a feeling for gem
eraliza ton, for their effect as parts of
pattern. They are placed In the landscapes
with a sure instinct for decorative potency.
Indeed this is one Of the functions of d
mural designer that Mr.. Burroughs has eX-
erclsed with the most positive and hearten-
ing skill. Owing something TO the lofty eX-
ample Of Puyis de Chavannes, but deVislnG
his own means of expression. and peoplinS
his compositions with figures of his own
IMAGINING. in their essential bodily aspects
this artist has produced pictures OF dehnite
originality and of haunting beauty.
Passing over. for the moment, the lilue-
trative element, which Is clear and proper
~ influential I'm all the classic themes anu
includes at least one happy example ol
bumor. the observer will find an altogether
unusual charm and ingenuity OF arrange
ment I'm such a picture as the hrst or inc
four devoted to Venus and Adonis. The
,ree,in1 of the mortal and the goddess as
tho latter sits by the cuge Of a pool shows
deftly balanced design, the blue robe
thrown over the knees of the goddess help-
ing 10 establish the equipoise of the pat
tern The final canvas OF this series Is
oven more distinctive, with its admiraolN
BACKGROUND of hill and trees, as nopiS
erouped as the columns of a Gothic clois-
ter and the grleving women I'm the fore
ground.
Arotber evidence OF kinship with the
nlacid and far-seeing landscape method OF
masters as old as Albrecht Durer IS iouhi
I'm the sIngularly expressive setting OF nil
and strait. and of tiny ships under full sail.
provided as a background for the reclining
figure Of Venus, in a canvas In Which she
claims undivided attention. Nothing here
is abler than this. and yet 1t is not mere
cleverness that the observer feels, out the
realization Of a mood, the embodiment ot
nersuasive idea. In the same way there -
o,iot feryor in the grouping OF the hV'
ethereally presented nudes, called 'Ihe
valley ~ the Ladies'" Not many OF Mr.
Rurroughs's colleagues here or elsewhere
could have more fortunately arranged these
agures of youthful grace, so as to secure 10
the observer the charm OF their rhy'h'i''0
lovelness.
Rut the temptation to take up the sep
arate canvases one by one must be reslsteu'
And q word must be said for the TWO
nortraits especially that of Mrs. Spicer-
SIp,rson with It's blond effectiveness ana
dIqniAed simplicity. The drawings, which
arc numerous and disclose the forcetul way
in which Impressions are seized ana reSo'u-
ed by this artist, form little sno" IN
themselves. Perhaps reference may aiS0
nronerIv be made TO Mr.. Burroughss re-
markable feat in producing such creative
work as this exhibition denotes. while al
the same time holding, since several years
400 tho srduous post of curator of paint
ines at the Metropolitan Museum u Art'
and playing there an active ana an ihlue"-
tal role.