New-York tribune., 1912-03-20
ART EXHIBITIONS
Some Pictures by the Ten Amer
iCan Painters.


| When the Ten American Painters made
their debut as a group fifteen years n8o
they made for themselves a conspicuous
| place OF their own. II their occupancy CT
| that place has won them much honor IL
! has also imposed upon them dennlte re-
sponsibilty. The Ten have only themselves
! to blame II their annual shows are hp-
| preached with special expectancy. n the
public counts upon them for solidarity
! and a standard apart. But in the eKhipl-
| ton year ago there were signs that' as
! an organization. the Ten had been dritt-
| Ing into a perfunctory mood. and the sho"
| lust opened at the Montross Gallery sug-
! gests that this mood has become fixed. Or
| is Il that the organization has. as such
served its purpose. reaching the point
where It might legitimately merge itselt
| in some other body, just as the Society or
| American Artists went back, naturally
| enough into the Academic fold? The "one
| man show" has had something TO do with
| the deveIopments that invite this reflection.
| When a member Of the Ten has had. In
| the season. an exhibition Of his own. II Is
| perhaps not surprising that he should do a
little less in his corporate capacity, so to
y,
sons for which the Ten used to provide the
one outstanding artistic event. This is a
good show, but It lacks. as a whole, the
| distinction of other days; It is good only
as almost any other show is good, because
! II contains I'm the mass, a few fine pictures
These are the pictures in which technique
| is raised to a higher power through the
force of individuality. Mr.. Dewinss Lady
| in Gray" for example, would make an cx-
| hibiton by itself. II owes something or IFS
! fresh charm to the artists choice OF new
! boundaries for his work. and hence of
new pattern This narrow, upright panel
| has involved the working out OF very
| close-knit composition. All these things
! however. weigh hut as the vehicles for the
expression Of q delicate and interesting
! point Of view. The way I'm which the
| picture is painted is so beautiful and so
| sensitive that Il not only satisfies the eye.
! but touches the imagination. SO Il is with
Mr. Weir's best pictures. The five that he
| exhibits all have their merits. hut while
some Of them. like the Summer Pastime'
| and the "Nocturne.' have excellent quail
| ties which are shared by other artists. Mr.
| Weir's art takes on a rare significance in
AN American Girl" and the Figure in
| Profile" The title Of a picture is not
ordinarily an affair of much moment. but
| in this instance IL arrests attention. One
pauses with the more appreciation before
Mr. Weirs American Girl because the
| type he gives us is such a relief after the
thousands Of images Of "smartness, frou-
frou and vaCuous prettiness that have been
put forth as portraits OK our countrywomen.
| q if1
Profle"-uhich has curious way of MAX
Ing YOU think OF certain old Florentine pan
els while It nevertheless preserves intact
its racy. American qualty-Mr. Weir he
witches us alike through his color and his
style. Never has he more trumphan'ly
justified himself. never has he more con-
Cluslvely demonstrated that the charm Of
fine painting lies i'm the things that go into
it's grain. the instructive touch, the IN
alienabe character. the feeling for beauty
that is as obvious as light and yet beyond
the reach of analysis
Mr Benson comes near TO the seizure OF
this subtle magic in his Young Girl by a
Window" a painting in which neither the
artificial pose OF his sitter nor the unsolved
difficulties Of drawing which ho has got into
over her uplifted hand can diminish the at
tractiveness Of his yellow tones. There IS
here. too. a lovely play OF light and shade.
His vivid study OF Fish Hawks and his
sun and Shadow" are spirited. clever
pictures. such as he has painted before.
The Young Girl by a window marks
stride forward. The other members of
the Boston contingent. each sending a sin
gle picture, are In good enough, but not
g,,pr1 The host
thing about Mr. Tarbclrs Lady In Blue
il it's suggestion that. for the nonce, he
has stopped painting "Tarbells," abandon
ing the set interior composition long
enough to make a swift. bold note Of
head That set composition aforesaid he
has made over and over again very beau
tiful since he painted the Girl Crochet
ing" and Justly took the town by storm,
but Il is good sometimes to leave ones
beaten track-it arrests a tendency toward
formula This Lady In Blue is In no
wise startling, but IT is free and workman
like, done in a large manner, souvenir
not Of a picture maker. but Of painter
kind Of evaporation lies I'm walt for
the observer OF Mr.. De Camps "Violnist.
II is exhisratinG 10 note the vitality In
his artistic character. Not year comes
around but the painting that IT brings
from him is a better painting than the
one OF the year before. To go over this
large and handsome portrait inch by inch
is TO come upon one passage after another
Of painting lovingly thought out and exc
cuted with knowledge and skill. But to
examine the portrait In its unity Is 10 hnd
that that unity has been too laboriously
built up; TO turn TO the painting for tho
mere Measure that Il might afford is to
he disappointed II is not and hard where
Il ought TO he suave and flexible And the
heat OF the color, like the hardness Of the
artists style. is the more distressing be-
cause OF a sort Of nerveless immobilty
marking the whole canvas. There are
times when craftsmanship as hard as
nails wins forgiveness because there is an
unmistakable energy behind 1t, when
shrleking dscord seems almost inoffensive
because the colorist indulging In 1t has
clearly done nothing worse than TO allow
his gusto to get the better OF his discretion.
II is only because Mr.. De Camp is so dog
gedly discreet that, as we have said. he
exasperates while he edines. It seems alb
surd that a picture so good AS the 'Nio-
linist" should not have been made Infinitely
better.
II is address that one misses, the conf
dent subsection Of technique TO a more than
merely dexterous purpose. For an interest
| ing illustration let the visitor turn to Mr.
Simmonss old picture, Boston Common
and see how easily he was doing back In
1893 what so many artists are still trying
10 do The absence Of effort is one Of the
virtues of this charming impression OF win
ter: sound workmanship is there, but upon
| L. rnats llghilY and spOntaneomslY tne