New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-07-07

come back to the question Of the pre-
vailinG level of accomplishment.
1t is with special reference to the
etchers that this question brings itself
up. They are all represented, all the
leaders in that movement which has
been carried on in recent years to re-
vive one of the most delicate and fas-
cinating of the arts. Ernest Roth, Don
aid Shaw McLaughin, Lester Hornby,
Anne GOldthWaite, Cadwallader Wash
burn. Hermann Webster, Earl Horter
end J. Andre Smith are notable among
the heroes of it. They have lately been
doing what was done some years ago by
Platt, Pennell, Smillie, Blum, Parrish,
Anna Lea Merritt, Blanche Dillaye and
others giving the needle a new life, a
new status. They confess to divers in
fuences. Whistler, Legros, Cameron,
Lepere and others have contributed
something to the contemporary idiom
in etching. But it is just American
ability, [ should say, that has slowly
forced the whole group up TO healthy
plane Of thoroughgoing craftsmanship.
That is the definite achievement to be
recorded with respect to the prints. 1t
shows the work of any number of etch-
crs-far more OF them than | have men
toned and practically all Of them
know their trade. To the connoisseur
that is immensely important The anna
teur in etching is bore. A plate, to
have any interest at all, must be at
least executed with certainty-"all
shipshape and Bristol fashion" The
American school is amazingly sound on
that point. IL is stronger in its hand
ling of architectural motives than in
the handling of landscape, and stronger
there than with the figure. But every
where it is instructed and confident,
moving with unmistakable rapidity tow
ard almost any possibilities.
In wood engraving we are not so
auspiciously situated. Some Of our
skilfullest masters are still with US
and still working. 1t is good TO find at
the fair a full representation OF such
men as Timothy Cole and Henry Wolf.
All the old guard are assembled
Kruell, French, Closson, Davis and
Johnson. But where death has not in
teryened. the mutations Of fashion, the
rise of the halftone and kindred de-
velopments have seriously diminished
the production of the wood block K
surely a precious asset in the treasury
of book illustration. There are signs
that the wood engraver is not utterly
series of reproductions in "Harper's
Magazine" is a testimony to that. The
place given to the subject in this ex-
hibition is another, and a valuable one
viii il produce an appreciable effect
upon the future of the art in this
country? | wonder, and / hope.
Meanwhile, a younger medium for
the artist has been made the object Of
a cult. Lithography, when it had it's
modern revival, created devotees in and
out of the studios. Artists patterned
upon it-Whistler among them-and
collectors received il with the same en-
thusiasm. 1t figures creditably, but not
as largely as one might wish, in the
present display. Mr.. Joseph Pennell is
the principal exhibitor, sending a be-
wildering collection of travel sketches,
made here and in Europe. He sends too
many, including a quantity of work
that ia merely typographical, and there
fore dull. But his best drawings are
extraordinarily good, swift and sure in
line and delightfully."- picturesque. He
proves once more the wonderful poten-
tialities Of TYPOGRAPHY in the delinea-
ton Of architectural forms. But | wish
that some of Albert Sterner's drawings
had been included, to illustrate also
what can be made of it in the treat
ment of the figure. Here, as in other
departments of the American section,
there are some odd omissions. Was
there ever an exhibition in the United
States or in Europe Of which that has
not been said? | keep that cheerfully
in mind as | take leave of our COM
patriots in the Fine Arts Palace.