New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-17

drawings done fol-" THE Sleeping Beauty
blue Beard" "The Story of the Three
Calendars" aladdin and the Wonder
full Lamp" Fairy Tales of the Allies"
characters and settings for W. b.
Yeats's play, AT the Hawks Well; or,
Waters of Immortality" and three carl
catures entitled "Mr. John Sargent,
Somewhere in Belgravia." Lord
Kitchener Shows Emotion" and Lord
Curzon at the Zoo, Should Aud Ac-
quaintance Be Forgot"" Caricatures
are not Mr.. Dulac's forte. He may
neither love nor understand nature. In
these drawings OF noted personages he
has given ideas if ideas they can be
called borrowed from the pages Of
comic supplements rather than from
any appreciation Of humor or under
standing Of character. His study OF
Sargent, for example, derives hUmor
through the eXaggeratlon of parts
neither salient nor characteristic; by
The use of the bag of tricks which gem
eratious of conventional humorlsts have
kept by them as guards against pos
siblc lspses Of power in the cOncep-
tional faculty for those frequent mo-
ments when their minds are lethargic
or lazy. The psychologist who makes
the best carlcaturlst is a lover of man
kind. Mr.. Dulac, neither a psychologist
nor a lover OF mankind, is purely and
simply and even wonderfully a painter
Of pretty pictures. And his pictures
the word is used in its primitive sense
as pictures should. SAVIOR of the the
atre. There is, OF course, no more rea-
son why we should resent romantic un-
realities here than We do elsewhere.
Indeed, the criticism of Dulac that we
hear from the oyerserious resembles
somewhat. the weight Of sledgeham-
mer brought to bear upon pin
lie is, though French, of the English
school, o. the group of illustrators
that includes, Is perhaps its greatest
master, Mr.. Arthur Rackhan. As a
craftsman he has the enviablc ability
20 carry out finally and conclusiycly
the designs which occur 20 MIN upon
tho inception Of his pictures, and, in
addition 10 this. a fair inventive or
rather adaptive faculty. Mr.. Birrbaum,
IN the introduction 10 the catalogue,
dwells at length upon Dulac's love Of
the Oriental. We find that this Is
borne out TO some extent IN the pct-
ures, particularly IN those deriving
through the hands OF this master
translator, these exotic motives APP
pear in a form that must content both
the literal aud sentimental side of the
Britiehsr, 10 whom art and story tell
ing are inseparable as Samese twins.
But there is more than this in his
little miniatures delcctable sense OF
color. fnesse Of brushwork. refinement
OF form, a real, II book-fed or fairy
tale-inspired, pcnchant for romance, a
jewel-.ike radiance. To accept him en-
tirely 70 is probable that we must
regain the naivete of childhood, a faith
in Santa Claus or in the sincerity Of
Sindbad and a real hatred OF wicked
magicians. All these things, these be-
liefs, are part OF the wonderfully
brilliant gold that age and experience,
with their ugly whispers, betray to Us
in its true character. And then, when
our eyes have become learned and tin
sci has stepped into their conscious
ness we are merely wiser; wiser when
we might have continued happy. In
deed in the presence OF Dulac we DO
well when we arc able 20 retain our
illusions. Specification is a weapon
that We need only employ against the
army OF malicious deceiyers and our
Anglicized Freedman IS not o. tina,
army.