New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-03
Exhibit of New Organiza-
ton Held at the Fine
Arts Building.
WALL SPACE is
ASSIGNED BY LOT
Contributors Hang Their Works
to Please Themselves, Freed
from Jury Pressure.
BY ROYAL CORTISSOZ.

The proceedings Of the Allied Artists
OF America have from the start been
observed with interest. This organiEa-
ton. formed only year or two ago,
aims to release its members from the
pressure Of the jury system. The an
nual dues are drawn upon for the leas-
ing OF some place of exhibition. Then
the space available is divided into por-
tions FIVE feet wide, these are num-
bered and the numbers are jumbled to-
gether. The member blindly makes his
choice. and on the part of the wall that
thus falls TO him he hangs his pict
ures TO suit himself. There is no COM
mittee to bother him. No heartburn
ings can result from this scheme
Jones, il is true, may have to reckon
with neighbors in Smith and Brown
whose pictures hurt his own, but that
is nobody's fault, and, besides. even
this mischance may be corrected Ar
lists are at liberty TO exchange spaces.
In the long run they may all dwell in
smity together. The scheme. as
scheme, is all right. On the other
hand, there is nothing talismanic about
it. IL will not by itself make good
exhibition. For that it is in the first
place necessary to obtain good pict-
ures.
On the occasion of their inaugural
exhibition the Allied Artists did not
quite justify themselves. This year
they come pretty close to doing SO.
They have taken over the galleries al
the Fine Arts Building and have filled
two Of them with a double row OF pict
ufes, giving the middle room up TO
sketches and drawings. The same de-
feet asserts itself that has asserted it
self before-there are too many second
rate paintings, works which would very
properly have suffered rejection il an
exacting jury had been turned loose in
the place. To that extent the scheme
threatens TO weaken. After all, there
is the public TO be considered. 1t de-
serves a good exhibition. Why should
1t be asked 10 look at dull pictures
Simply because membership in this
society has enabled n mediocrity to
come TO the front? But we will not
labor the point, breaking a butterfly
upon a wheel, especially as the ensem-
BILE here leaves a decidedly cheering i'm
preston. That, in fact, is the thing
10 keep in mind. The Allied Artists
demonstrate, on the whole, that they
have come to stay. Their mode Of
hanging turns out 10 be successful.
IL is pleasant to see lot OF pict-
ures that are in nowise crowded.
And il is pleasanter 10 find. as you go
through the collection, that many Of
these pictures are worth seeing.
II is amongst the figure subjects
that the second rate type is most fire.
quently encountered, yet in this section
there are also some interesting pieces.
There is, for example. the group Of
four or five canvases by Benjamin d..
Kopman. II is pity that he did not
happen 70 draw a better position.
Hung over the staircase well IN the big
Vanderbilt gallery, his pictures get
rather poor light. No others in the
show have quite their attractiveness.
He recalls Rider not only in the at
mosphere Of romantic reverie in which
his themes are enveloped, but in the
tawny tone 70 which he is addicted.
Yet the quality in him that lures the
eye and touches the Imagination is un-
mistakably original. He paints re-
ligious subiects-a curious deposition
from the Cross"-and In his largest
picture a semi-nude maiden is sub
hitting her hand to a fortune teller
in the midst of dim landscape. In all
his work there is a certain immaturity.
One feels that in due time Mr.. Kopman
will clarity his color, draw and model
with greater knowledge and frmness,
and make his scenes more subtly lu-
minous, developing his golden skies by
the light Of nature rather than by that
Of the studio. Meanwhile he has the
glamour Of imagination, the poetic
emotion, which will atone for any tech
meal limitations There is an instinct
for beauty at the bottom of his art.
He provides the one haunting sensa-
ton of the show. The best of the
figure work elsewhere is clever work,
the delicate portraits by Edmund Grea-
! cen, the vivacious ballet studies by
Arthur Crisp. the somewhat "hot" but
agreeably picturesque goatherd pict-
ure by w. r. Leigh, the decorative por-
trait of a child-very charming in
color, toby +. f. Church; the West
ern night scenes by F. 7. Johnson, the
vigorous portraits by II. S. Hubbell,
and the workmanlike canvases Of Miss
| Christina Morton and Miss Helen
| Turner.
The landscape contingent is uncom-
monty inspiriting. II is gratifying TO
note that Ernest Albert, who has done
so much to build up the organization,
| bears himself at the head of it with
! the authority OF good painter. His
sea piece is an effective bit Of painting,
but his picture Of hills in winter IS
more than that-it is fine in design, IT
| contains some beautiful color, and his
sound craftsmanship is pervaded by a
sensitive feeling for nature. Authentic
| interpretations like this are scattered
| all through the exhibition, landscapes
painted with ability, painted with
charm. by Chsuncey Rider, Jules Tur-
| cas-, Ernest PeiXotto, Paul King, +. A.
/ Bicknell. Glenn Newell, r. S. Bredin,
Alison Clark, Clark VOORHEES,, and so
on through an ever frightening list.
! There are some excellent marines also,
notably the picture of a tugboat in a
/ smother Of gray water, by Armin {.
Hansen, whose drawings, by the way,
/ should not be overlooked. The open
air studies range through all manner
| Of keys, from the staccato gayety OF
! Howard Giles TO the pensive suavity OF
] Mr.. Peixotto. painting the stately cy,
presses in an Italian villa. Beyond
| doubt the exhibition has variety. The
men who make il are pursuing no isms,
! Iikc the so-called independents In
consequence, they remain free 70 eX-
nress their individuality as well as
thew may. The result is collection of
niciures which makes no pretence TO
! brilliance. but in its modest, sincere
n.ay is genuinely appealing.