New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-03-19
A Group of American
Artists Exhibiting at the
Knoedler Gallery.
THE VALUE OF
APPOINT OF VIEW
Painting Personalized and Thus
Made Independent of
Current CraZeS.
By ROYAL CORTISS0Z.


20 be seen anywhere else. 1t is no,
that they are forever producing mas
terpieces. But they are men of ability
and Of taste, more particularly men
who turn their backs upon routine
What they have to show is apt to be
fresh and interesting. At the knoedler
GALLERY. where they appear this season
,or the first time in their history, they
Give the room an air. And in some in
stances the special function to which
NO have alluded is exercised with a
-;cb measure Of that personal force
u,lich first brought the Ten, as a body
into view. Nothing else is quite so po-
tent in making an exhibition worth
while. and it is interesting to note, by
the way, how independent this quality
d Of the meretricious aids which have
,stterly been made popular in some
opsrters. The Ten have not needed
% call in any new movement 10 justify
their persistence as a progressive
group. Beside Matisse, for example
thew doubtless look terribly old-fash-
,oned. but this is only another way of
saving that they have gone on as they
began, respectful of their medium,
na,nting according TO the precepts of a
sound training, and with an undimin-
shed ardor for beauty. An equipment
like this interferes with the express
SION Of no mans individuality. On the
contrary, Il only helps him the more 70
-eslize the true aim of art.
Nr. Dewlng offers perfect illustra-
tion Of the point which the Ten have
dome so much 10 enforce. The Post
Inpressionists. with all their foggy
talk about rhythm and about some i'm
ronderable virtue which is TO emerge
from under their brushes, end by Civ
inc US meaningless welters Of incom-
petence and uglineSs. Now, Mr.. Dewing
Is no more concerned than they are
with what they call "mere representa-
ton" He is never the realist, the
portrait painter, simply. His three
pjctures with their different titles
Pandora" a Musician" and IAN In
terior"-are but variations on single
theme. a lovely figure seated now In
one position and now in another. The
accessories in the practically bare
room. a vase, a cello, a spray OF flow
ers. are no more symbOlical than the
woman herself. But Mr.. Dewing's va
riations are like those of musician,
ranging up and down a scale which IS
nominally restricted yet seems illimlt-
able. for he does with form and color
what his colleague of the piano, say,
does with tone-he subtly touches the
Imagination. And how does he touch
il? Not by waking romantic dreams,
but by making that intensely personal
appea. which, we repeat, is magic by
itself. Dewing's delicate drawing,
Dewng's delicate color, Dewing's point
Of vicw--this il Is that both gives ms
work a solid existence and makes 1t a
source Of enchantment. His art IS all
grace and frail, tender beauty, flower
Ing in a style that Is unique. That is
why he contributes so largely TO max
ing this the kind of exhibition that
you don't lind anywhere else. With his
paintings he shows a little nude in
pasteI II is no more than a note, a
workshop fragment. But because II is
beautiful, and personalized into the
bargain, il does as much as anything
here TO give the show its standing.
Nr. Weir, like Mr.. Dewing, confirms
our faith in the technical habit that
has streak of genius in il. He can
not touch a canvas without lending II
curious. quietly glowing life. Loo%,
for example, at the least successful OF
his four pictures, the 1.-TWO Sisters:
As a composition il does not quite ful-
81 itself. The task involved IN the
painting Of those two dresses, both
very light in tone, was obviously dim
cult. and, in the long run, too mucn
for the artist. But there are passage
in this work, like the head OF the glri
in the further plane. which are master
U.s.. and from the entire canvas there
brcathes the quality Of an original
fearcher after beauty. In another
painting, a landscape, THE LANDMARKS
on the Farm" there is naught but fe-
LEFTY, the felicity OF theme uneT'
lingly chosen, of foliage consummately
pencralized of a sky observed WIN
an the freshness IN the world, anH
finally of soft, silvery green tones as
titled into sensuous charm. NO one
save Weir could have done TINS thlng
II the spectator wants TO know wha'
"distinction" in landscape painting
iaeans let him study this picture. Mr.
Vassam. too, is more fortunate on TINS
occasion with his open-air studies than
with his interior Though the latter
Morning Light" is a fine thing, with
Us web of color worked out with Q
greater fneness than We have seen IN
some of his similar compositions, II
palcs beside the bosky charm OF the
dawn" That poetic painting, mas,
Of sylvan tone broken by spaces OF
lovely rose, is for breadth and suaVlty
one of the strongest of Mr.. Hassam''
achievements. The nude figure IN u
marks a distinct advance in his paint
ing of motives Of the sort. 1t IS no'
made TO assert itself unduly; it is, IN
deed. perfectly ain the picture.
The members of the Ten thus fal
trayersed are generally disposed &c
moderate the key. Elsewhere in the
show local color is more often stateC
with a good deal of energy. Mr.. Nc
calf. to be sure, gives free scope to
varying moods. In one picture, "A sum
mer Night" he deals with the mystery
Of nature obscured and EFFORTS froN
his solemn subject a beauty no less {
matter of feeling than of carefully OBJ
served tone. His color is restraino c
likewise in the picturesque Tuscar
scene that he sends. But IT j. in ms
two Norwegian landscapes that we are
introduced TO the more characteristic
because more direct and pangent, note
Of the exhibition. Swift, accurate re
cordinp of the thing seen could M
further 90. The crisp, sparkling Nor
wegian Cottagcs" is an eXhilaratlng bl
of re-lism, the widest possible. por
trait of a place. 1t is this VEN o
spirited narrative, rather than inven
ton, that is cultivated by several fig
ures in this accomplished group. /
affords inter sting effects, but IT IS not
perhaps, so sympathetic a vehicle 10,
those more reconcile qualities whici
the connoisseur of distinguished pant