New-York tribune., 1912-02-06
ART EXHIBITIONS
,,o,,aI Show of the Pennsylvania
'' Academy Of the Fine Arts.
-, q etan correspondent. ]

- combined, ana Fe- "i'ueI present '''lu'
uy GOOD number Of them reserve the
tons Tbat they produce for first exhibit
Oss' =, philadelphia. This has happened
ton ~ &, tho 10Th annual show Of the
agan ,ronia Academy Of the Fine Arts,
Pen' hos inst been opened, after recep-
WIN a, took its accustomed plaCc-a
ton -, ouc-in Philadclpha's social cal
endar, cor tho ,pncrioritv Of these
.ybibitions I'm the Quaker City have
(so'" hocn rcCitcd. and a mere mention
@' ,uficc now Here there is moro and
nv gallery space. a series Of ten or
,s.,,yc u small rooms, instead Of tho thrc" or
W. wv. largo ones found in tho New York
,n.-iss in 5Ith street. They now contain,
taoveuplo without Crowding, except in
~. instances 56S paintings and 1S2 pieces
:, scnnturc. by 40 artists.
,.,,u New York obtains its long desired
,..i..d Arts Building tho advantage As to
l.n.,ics must remain indefinitely with Phil
es.,,b;a But there is another condition,
less important. which puts tho PcnnsyL
.,o Academy ahead Of the National
,..donov of Design in New York-namcly,
-, svstem Of having skilled adminstra-
.,., officer to keep track Of what artists
-, doing with power to invite pictures or
l.a,rtrre for the exhibition. which will
F, ,..,,bv escape inspection by the jury. The
w,r York institution could do this with a
...,,v equal effectiveness. if its members
oar. willing and could provide the means
o, keeping such man I'm the field The
academy Of Design would probably find this
=, sood a way s any to improve the quail
Vv ~ its shows and thus TO present bet
car argument than now exists for the Eift
~ site for the coveted United Arts Build
Ing. ...
7, 90 happens that the present exhibition
IN philadelphia cnforCes rather striNngly
,bs advantage of this invitation system.
The central interest of the show is a group
Of no fewer than twenty-five pictures by
Henry Golden Dcarth, of New York. This
artist would never have sent such shcaf
n his work to any Jury for single oXhi-
hilton. As a matter Of fact, these pictures
we're invited some time ago, even before
ali were finished at Mir. Dearth's Carnegie
Hall studio. half a block from the Academy
~ Desicn's exhibitions. The Philadelphia
organization has been watching the prog
ress Of this painter for nearly three years
mast and he has found here the natural
outlet. so 10 say. fo~ his important group
Of pictures.
For there is no doubt that they are I'm
nortsrt they mark tho emancipation Of
an artis; from a manner of seeing and
rendering things that had become a more
or less rigid formula. and that had, in
9.
nature. This might have taken place. and
yet might have been Of moment Only %
Mr.. Desrth and his friends. But 1t is OF
interest to every lover Of art who can ap-
preciate the vitality of a real expression
By mind and hand cnersized ny conVic-
ton. by a fresh look OF the world and a
willugncss to speak frankly in the idiou
that most naturally presented itself as a
means Of communicating what the artist
saw and felt. What though Mr.. Dear.n,
i1 some f the pictures here shown. has
lc,tatcC or faltcred. or even failed Of
coherent Uttarance? When one IS learning
10 speak new language he may not al
ways make clear his intentions And, I'm q
p,r.oU Of ACKNOWLEDGED experiment, he
may lo, invariably attain to a full crystal
z2.pn OF his thought, ne may readily
m,ggh find himself driven by his mpetu-
osiy into r cui-de-saC. out of which there
is 80 way pf exit but a retreat.
Il is not customary for artists TO exhibit
wcrk OF this sort. especially I'm a large
general show Ike tde present one, but
Mr. pearJh's group is Lone the less inter
csting becaus" two or three such cauvases
arr included. Perhaps he would not be
49,, ..s- l..
the pre ent writer his Black Opal" and
his Graz Pool indicate a dwelling upon
Individual Details 20 such a degree that
Tie general design T. not conveyed; they
recall th" Frnch poem set 10 music by
Charles Martin Boeffier which dealt with
the depths Of n frog pond-decadent, one
may cali such glorifcatiou Of the little
such perverse obsessiou with what f. par
tisl and insignificant.
But II is time 10 say what Mr. Dearth
has done in constructive way and how
he has set about it. Fifteen years ago his
conventional landscapes were Of a mo-
hotonOus smOOthness and smugness. Half
dozen years back, perhaps more, Mr.
Dearth presented evidences, in an exhibit
ton al the old Oehme gallery, that he had
begun 10 think more independently. HIS
outdoor subjects and his portraits. while
still far from being important In a large
sense had taken on a more personal style
Nearly three years ago, It appears, the
artist saw a new light in the colorful head
lands and breaking waves OF the coast Of
Brittany. TO render what he saw he used
freely the pure color spots and splashes. OF
whose systematic employment Claude
Monet will probably go down In art history
as the first exemplar. In the two or three
pictures shown here that mark the begin
ming Of Mr. Dearth's new vision, Brittany
Coast and The Docks. Concarneau,"
among them, he has blended happily the
Old and the new In his style. These are
ingratiating pictures and will need no
championing
But Mr. Dearth has gone further. lie
mas developed a method of presenting nat
wal objects to the observer with larger
Z share Of their original impact upon his own
Andling Imagination than has been the
case with most artists represented here.
Inc junction OF an artist is 10 receive and
10 transmit impressions Too often the
man sensitive enough 10 respond whole
nesr'edly TO the beauty or the character Of
"hat ne sees is not able 10 swing the
pehoulum out again in the direction Of the
observer his blow upon the perceptions Of
..ose VINO see his work has but fraction
VI tne force that was behind the initial
suohe upon his own consciousness. Not so,
seems with Nj Dearth. For the way in
"n'eh ne has balanced the raw colors Of
"IS palette each against its neigh6or and
V"o eIoup against the others, utilizing, too,
."e heip Of sklful composition and a
V.oao' hrm brush stroke, may be called
1SSu'ely eloquent lie runs a wide gamut
ooIor and he has done 1t with bold in
eenuity and convincing sincerity One gets