New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-10-11

sence Of his clothes.
And then Mr.. Cortissoz comes home
again. He delights in the miniature
Prado" in New York, our Hispanic Mu-
scum. too little known. Decidedly. the
starcher after artistic inspiration will
henceforth count the Hispanic Museum
among the shrines Of great painting.
And he goes to what soon came to be
known as the Armory show. Now we
come to things which Mr.. Cortissoz
cannot see" at all. Post-Impressionism,
dealt with in separate paper, is to
him an illusion" "A gospel of stupid
license and self assertion" 1t is farce
which will end" To go deep into the
metaphysics of the subject is to him
like going down into a cellar at mid
night without a candle to look for a
black cat that isn't there, as the meta
physician. according 10 the witty Lord
Bowen. Is so often wont TO do The
cat, he maintains. is not there Post
Impressionism as a movement. as a
ponderable theory, is. like the cat, an
Illusion" In the matter Of the recent
exhibition under the auspices OF the
! Association Of American Painters and
| Sculptors Mr.. Cortissoz pays abundant
! respect to the management and 10 the
larger, fine and stirring unsensational
part Of the historic show. sadly over
looked in the general hubbub. The
| 'whirling dervishes" OF the Cubists and
Futurists, seeking, like the fat boy in
! 'PickWick. TO make our flesh creep of
course get him going. They are all
cheek" SNUG complacency" or down
right incompetence. The reason for
this is not far 10 seek. These pictures
are certainly ugly. whether or not wan
tonly so. Whatever the men who made
them were trying TO do, or thought they
were trying 70 do. or pretended they
were trying 10 do. they were not trying
TO do that which Mr.. Cortissoz CON
ceives TO be the true function Of the
artist. which is to learn his trade and
then produce beautiful pictures" And
that, certainly is a perfectably ponder
able theory. Cubism and Futurism are
affections about which doctors dis
agree. And the whole matter is one
/ vhich will in the course Of due time
all come out in the wash. Mr.. Cor
tissoz expresses the Warmest aprecia-
ton Of the two highly important Writ
~ al ~
independents. the virtues Of energy and
truth. But he presses two points which
have troubled many Of us before. Fear
full Of drawing like Academcians, they
draw like navvies." And New York
! life lis not confined TO the East Side
or to Bohemia"
A valua5 and exceedingly interest
ing paper in this volume Is the essay
, on Some Leaders in American Archi-
/ lecture" which is the first comparative
appreciation of four leaders in this
field. The volume concludes with a
study of j. Pierpont Morgan as a col
lector, in which role Mr.. Morgan was
something of mystery TO the world at
large il deals especially with the
measure Of enjoyment the great COL
lector may have drawn from the uni
versatility Of his artistic interests. The
commentators who have been busy
| since Mr.. Morgan's death, the writer
| thinks, have, in one important point
done him little less than justice. not
| en- much through what they have said
as through what they have, perhaps
urconsciously, implied The paper dis
cusses the methods employed by Mr.
Morgan, as a collector fully representa-
tive os his tins in the accumulation
~ works of art; and 1t touches the
question: are there many works or art
In Mr. Morgans immense collection
which are not quite what they pretend
to be?
To return to the glad gospel Of art
and common sense: There are, indeed,
some impenetrable mysteries about
great work Of art:
The creative impulse behind 1t, the skill
Of eye and hand indlspensatie TO us nldn7
inc It's strange garment or styie-whlch
! &c do,thly strange because II proclalma
both the individuality or the artist anu
| tho indefnahle tie of distinction blndlng
| ali the masterpieces OF all the arts TO-
! s,n,har In a common tie-Who shall deSlS-
nsta the origin OF these things or Dogma
80 ahout the processes whereby genius
makes them do its bidding? Genius itself
cannot solve the riddle
But the same critic says, i would
az unoualifiedly assert that for pur-
noses OF right thinking about great
work OF art there is no mystery what
ever" How shall the layman ever
hone TO be initiated into the meaning
of the solemnities of criticism? He
has only need ito use a little common
sense in order to realize when he is
being nationally instructed and when
be is having his leg pulled He, If he
Is wise, will make himself acquainted
with the artists point of view and that
OF the critic, quantity supposed in
countless studios. and out Of them, too,
! for that matter, TO be antagonistic to
the artists" He will use them both
impartially, to "fertilize his intelli-
gence." Then, with the open minded
ness of a lover of beauty, and. above
all with common sense he will look at
work of art I'm a natural human way.
l..