The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-02-08

the one armory show. This year the
Montross the Mcdowell and the Ma
t!onal Arts are free. comprenez vous?
We are also great believers In having
some slight refreshment with pictures
Don't you recall how delightful the
Nerestchagin battle pictures were. served
with Russian tea? II our manager for
the bus line-by the by. IT would have
TO stop at Alfred Stieglit2's also, for
the Hartley Berlin experiences are still
there-should prove TO be good one
with half the sense Of even the most
senseless of our new cublsts he could
include the refreshments within the dol
lar. But the refreshments, we insist
ont, must he good ones.
" HE first sensation OF the week
naturally was the capture Of
Montross' by the cubists. Since
the Fall OF the Bastille nothing has been
so astonishing. But the sun rises and
sets just the same. Managers of rival
galleries gnash their teeth as they see
the crowds turn Montrossward but the
sun really rises and sets just the same.
Nature apparently accepts cubism az
she accepted all the other things. with
complacence. so why shouldn't We?
There is nothing In II to be frightened
at or to be bew!ldered by. Don't worry
II you find you don't like II. Why
should you? Perhaps youll have other
consultations. One OF the most deplora-
BILE attributes OF the modern mentality
is its breadth. Breadth Is essentially In
artistic. II you And you don't like cub
Ism, cheer up. You'll be rather dist!n-
guished, upon the whole We know, for
instance. a highly cultivated and charm
ing individual who has been everywhere
and done everything except that he has
not heard Caruso. II adds imme nsely
to his popularity. People make him tell
about II at dinner parties.
The whole thing with cub.sni. as Il Is
with every other art form. Is simply
whether you like II or you don't like II.
II you don't like II. don't try TO persuade
your neighbor who does OF the error of
his ways. for you will simply get dis
liked for your pains and convince him
that you are the old fogy that you are.
The person who doesn't like the big gem
eral art movement OF the day Is an
old fogy.
IT Is nonsense 20 pretend II isn't the
movement Of the day--and still moving.
II occupies the centre OF every art stage
In civilization and affects all the arts.
Characterist.cally the barricades are
most stoutly defended In the art that Is
most completely common property,
literature. Miss Gertrude Stein OF Paris
| Is not only the patron saint to the new
artists. but r. herself an artist in the
new use Of words. Her poems, plays
| and essays enjoy an extraordinary dis
tlnction that ~ somewhat akin TO the
immense private fame that Rossetti be-
gan with. She IL one of the most talked
about creatures In the intellectual world
| and tho slightest scrap from her pen IS
| read with delight even by those who
| DO not Get IT," as the phrase Is Yet no
| single magazine or publisher sees the
| immense advantage TO be gained from a
satisfaction OF the public curiosity in re-
! gard to this work II Is curious and
strange impract!cability upon their part
| When eventually a Mr.. Montross thea
tire manager, does produce Gertrude
Stein play, involving as It will a COM
plete departure from the technique a,
present In vogue. with different lights
! different costumes, action and a very
| different tempo in speech, what fun
II will be!
Music Is already there. To Sacre
Printemps" set all Paris by tho ears
but even the most drastic OF the critics
admitted II to be sincere
When an art striving or impulse keeps
the world talking for six or eight years
and affects all the sister arts, when en-
porlums spring up for the sale n works
the new system and magazines are
created for its discussion the affair
| may safely be called a movement -
That authoritative books upon the style
have not yet been written merely mean,
that tho movement ia still In progress
One never writes with authority upon a
style until the style has passed. Tn,
funeral rer1non Is preached in tn,
presence Of tho corpse. Without mean.
ng to be unnecessarily unkind. and sim
ply In an effort to end this paragraph
we may mention that authoritative
works upon tho subject OF impression.
ism have long since been at hand.
A MERICA has a fine dashing wa,
~ of naming things to suit itself ant
over here when we say "cubism'
wc mean everything and anything tha
is unacademic. As matter of fac
very little In any Of the three show.
corresponds to what tho French cal
"cubism," involving the four dimensions
Tho followers of Picasso are few. 4
lady exhibitor in the Mcdowell Clut
show deliberately apes Maltese an,
several here and there are doing the
Odilon Redon business. Most OF them
though, here as elsewhere, go in heavily
on CeZanne.
Hastily summarized here are a few o
} the features of the three exhibitions
At Montrosss the popular puzzle will b
the Shamberg "Wrestlers" and tn,