The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-11-08

StanCh members of the Mac
Dowell Club. seeing the second
OF heir series OF group exhibitions not
only wavering in the centre but in grave
danger Of being outhanked by the Water
Color Show, rushed heavy guns to the
resruc and while they did not precisely
gain glorious victory they may at
lcas' hc said to have saved the day
They still hold all their positions. 1t
ls q Mcdowell Club show. so much
snv one will conccde
Mr.. Henri has always dominated every
group exhibition In which no has APP
peared. and upon the present occasion
history repeats herself. The attend
sncc at these exhibitions" said Mr.. IIar-
ris frankly the other day, sis uncertain.
and depends upon the press notices.
II W get coed notices then We have a
crowd. But these four heads by Henri
Will be sure TO fetch in lots of students,
snyway. He has a grea. following
among the students. you know"
This II was "a pleasure 10 hear. al
though Ind ed. We had heard some
tAing Of the sort before. Mr.. Henri
paints simply forcefully and At times
brutality. He is almost alone among
the American rcalists in continuing to
be- in earnest when he paints. The
Yankee school Of impressloniSts and the
native SargenttstS I'VE don't know what
else to call them) have all patnetiCally
ceased struggling Of late and no longer
pretend to do more than to repeat them
selves. so that the students who must
have heroes TO look up TO have elected
Henri among the portraitists and Ar
thur h. Davies among the dreamers'
10 these difficult posts. George Luks,
who Is undoubtedly heroic. has not un-
fortunately the kind OF heroism that
youth can grasp. His is an adult taste,
When one has tired of reality and of
dreaming. there IS stu left to us the
raillery and wicltedness Of Dean Swift
and Noltaire. George IT, we fear. u
mnCker.
So it will be pleasant to visit this
gallery later in the week and minSie
with the young folk. 1t will be instruc-
tive 10 hear what they will say of the
Henri portraits. THESE are Of four Irish
children. in line with those this .rtisi
showed US last year, and hammered more
and more In the Raeburn-Sir Thomas
Lawrence style as To painting. The ar
t!st Is in love tritie with the child he
portrays. but his chief concern IL viii
the technical aspects of the theme suS-
& sted by the sitter. These seem tre-
m-ndous TO this palnter, but they are
never wholly overcome by him. In the
most successful Of his works there are
Always disturbing touches that Juml
OF, u place.
This is partly because il is difficult n
he both impressionistic and classic at
one and the same time, but prlHclpa IlE
because Of the too great effort FOR the
dNnamics of mere paint. Painting as q
mctier is excessively difficult. ThanN
Heaven II is so. 1t becomes easy only
when II Is forgotten in expression. THIS
automatic remark IL levelled at Mr.
Henr!s student followers. They know
Il perfectly we'll already, but such things
have to he repeated from time to time.
Mr.. Henri Is shortly to have one
man show In one of the Fifth avenue
Galleries and no doubt he IL saving NJ
what he has in the way of tours de force
for that. The heads he shows us now
are in line with those he exhibited last
year, less bloody with undluted carmine
hi, not more studied, These are most
likely Studies" II Is as though he had
thrown a net over the Irish village OF
hiq sojourn and had said 10 ell the chill
NTen tntre, NOW We Hot yOu' i<h''
must pose in turn; there's no escape
There is no effort at the essentially
representative. Any atom represented
he whole TO Mr.. Henri apparently.
OF course such a proceeding was O
|'ttle safer In Ireland than it would bt
here, Cast your nets upon lower Fiftf
avenue during the MONDAY recess from
'abor and you might or might not fetct
up n representative and native borr
American. Every atom in Ireland has
rosy ChceKs II seems, ana wide eyed
pal" blue orbs that appear 10 be wells
uf truth, but are not always, Such eye!
md such cheeks are fun TO paint. Mr
Henri centred his interest in them anC
with the eyes succeeded most. His I'VE
boys and two girls all really look a
YOU.
On the other hand our artist Il
strangely Indifferent to the othel
'eXtures involved. Most of the wor
shipping students who Will flock to thu
Mcdowell Club can paint hair bette
han this themselves. And the garments
have color only. not quality, OF tin
Tour heads our favorite Is that Of thu
Young person named sis" isis" Il
llready pensive and dreaming. She will
grow up to be another "Pegeen Mike,
or az least Miss Marie OiNiel, She &
adorable.