The Washington times., 1914-01-09
Artists At Home
RICHARD NORRIS BROOKE

We needed cubism. 1t has helped
e world of art more than most people
n understand. The NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
ave heightened up coloF in remark
nlc manner. The most representative
.. our canvascs ~lre Ron painted in a
ght key. ! have taken black, burnt
.enna, and almost all of the darker
oiors gradually off my palette
Richard Norris Brooke, painter, born
,acher. and instructor of art at the
yrcoran School in this city, was speak
~. lie is a slender man, of infinitely
atiucd manner and bearing, with a
.Ict voice. ard - unmistakable con-
crtcn Of truth IN every spoken word.
No sat in his darkened studio, it was
...c in the afternoon, and ] could not
early dist nguish his features, but the
immaculate room, the almost fastidious
,gincss OF the man himself, the SEN
sftive. large white hands that cleaned
n the half light, told almost as much
Of the inner man as any careful study
Of the features could have revealed.
Without any coaXing on my part, ana
after a few remarks on cublsm and arr
in general, he launched at once into
,humbnail sketch Of his own life. He
did not tell me that he was born in lS47.
siNty-seven years ago, and would
never have guessed 1t had l not already
known it, for his laugh was as spon-
taneous and infectious as young boy S.
LanScape painters never grow old, they
seem to be able TO grasp something OF
d perennial youth from the nature they
transfer to canvas.
Born In Virginia.
u was born in Warrenton, Va. and
have always made my home there as
much as 1 could ever since. When 1
as nineteen / studied at the
IeIrsylvania Academy of Fine Arts,
md had 1877 pupils. Afterward 1 was
It the Virginia Military Institute where
hey had created a chair of fine arts.
~hortly afterward 1 went as consul to
a Rochelle, France, for four years,
Ut did not do anything but charcoal
work. Bonnat was ny real teacher,
and l studied with him in, Paris, re-
turning home with a canvas which now
pangs in the Corcoran Art Gallery"
The picture of which he spoke has
attracted widespread attention for many
Years. being one Of the few paintings
Of negro subjects. 1t is called THE
j'astoral Visit" and shows an old
negro preacher making a call upon
ONE of his colored parishioners. Long
associated with that race in his War
Tenton home, and seeing in the dilinea-
tiOn of their homely lives and quaint
customs, chance for the presentation
OF an unexpected phase of American
l.fe, young Brooke caught the spirit.
The essence of Southern life in his
Painting. He laughed a little rucfully
as he told me of It.
See American Beauties.
You see 1 saw the opportunity with
the eyes of one from the Continent.
What would be thought here in Ameri-
ca did not strike me at the time, for
did not realize the changes that had
cen going on in my own country. My
painting was true picture, a sincere
reproduction Of a phase Of pastoral
lie familiar to every American. But
the war changed everything. The TO
nance, the essential pastoral QuaIi-
ties of negro life. were undermined. 1
hSC caught the last flashes of a fast
changing social order
Much as l wanted TO hear the rest
q iIis story / had gotten INTO a fever
% inDauence TO see the pictures dimly
outlined on the walls, and the play
told me how he had gradually dTifted
Hto portraiture. had gone for Holland
for two seasons. painting Dutch in
teriors. and then had drifted naturally
into landscape, / squtnted into the
COON and Ecaved a ssgh of relief
"Sleh he suggested a light. One whole
end Of tha room was banked with
scenes from the coast of Gloucester,
for It is there that he has painted in
the sumner for the last few years. The
saiortty OF his work is in a high key,
tut obtained without any sacrifice OF
sincerity. No lack Of strength or viz
ii.tv shows itself in the foaIn-splashed
ocks. no association with the soft
b'auties Of Virginia springs and falls
hLs prevented the truthful delineations