New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-02-04

had little chance 10 cover them WIN
Us patlres. In any case, they are !
proof that Mr.. Nadelman looks con-
sJeutly into the future, even II IN
doing so he repeats manifestation
ont of the past. The arch1ologist
crops Up 70 hold back the extremist
The Two are Nip and Tuck. Sometimes
enc wins. sometimes the other There
: rarely compromise between them.
Each one is given his victory complete.
And the victories az opposite extremes
wisely arranged By Mr.. Martin Birn-
baum, the curator Of the show-with
their pull and their push give balance
% the collection.
0nly IN one instance that we are able
20 recall co they meet in one work, and
even here 90 We see that each tendency.
lie modern and ancient, has won its
apparently inevitable victory. This in
stance. entitled Sur IA PLACE may have
hsd Tar more literary idea back OF IL
than is suggested by the innocent title.
Here we see a bronze modern figure be
ing hsndmaIden 90 one excited into ex-
stence BY furCr for the purity and
dignity Of classic Greek marble. This
mingling OF materials used 20 be done
with much gusto and little art. a few
years ago, by artisans working IN Wen
nese sculpture factories. Our love for
them has jumped a fence and become
hate. But this may quite well be be
side the question. The "Jeune Cert"
interests Us more. anyway. This IA OF
the modern coterie and graceful. The
deer owns legs similar 20 those We find
IN that symbol of the twentieth century
youth called "Le promeneur" and In
ha IN Rn1I
are spider legs. except for the differ
ence in their joints. and certainly nc
one type of animal quite as well as an
other Mr.. Nadelman employs them
probably "a symbols Of a fashionable
Characteristic or ideal. The horse
might resemble a hackney did he re-
semble less an insect. Can IL be that
our youth Is social satirist with de-
signs upon the dignity Of the socially
elect? Perhapsi The other side Of his
expression. however, while still retain
ing the chic Of this one. strives TO at
tain beauty, and sometimes, as IN the
heads of women here and especially ia
the Femme drspee," comes mighty near
IL. His show, in any case, deserves at
tentIon, deserves it despite that We feel
1t quite obviously clamoring for it.
The third exhibition OF portrait. a,
Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney's studio il
probably the most consistent of them
all. Twenty-odd artists are represented
in a collection which seems TO US IN is
faults and in its virtues quite typicslly
American. We do not consider this
statement final however. We can see
that there are weaknesses In IL The
portrait painters OF this group, before
they were portrait painters, we're gen
tlemen or ladies, whichever the case
may be, and since they have become
portrait painters they have not ceased
TO be ladies' and gentlemen. This truth
answers for the color of the collection.
L. Is polite and mild; IL compromises
with truth sometimes in favor OF pleas
anter things. Pleasanter things that
need not be, however, batteries. Re
serve is here as a defence against that
fault. Your American is extravagant
only with his money-and thess pant
ers are not even Of that type, II paint
ers ever are. Only Sargent OF the group
"a portrait Of the Countess Szechenyi
-swirls his brush about with freedom
az times, and he rarely with conscience
less extravagance and not at all this
time. Even Anders Zon, one Of. two
foreigners here, in the portrait Of Mrs
John Crosby Brown, has put a strain
upon his dexterity and frightened the
enough so that one IL led 20 wonder Is
this the same painter. This. however.
IS an early work-1ating probably
from the ninsties.
Mr.. William Cotton's Portrait" and
Gordon Stephenson's Mrs. Harmon
Bailey" might servo az clews 20 the
general character OF the other por-
traits here. Mr.. Cotton's is excep-
tionally proficient. IL may indeed be
too much so. It may be perfunctory
in places where we see that the paint
er's mildly arbitrary conception OF the
head, for an example, might have had
more TO do with q set dogma than with
the necessary, IN portrait painting,
connection with his sitter. But 10 one
is infsllible and this head IS strongly
constructed. The Stephenson portrait
balances upon the ledge of photogrs-
ply without topping over. IL IL
retcent portrait OF a woman By man
who will always. perhaps instinctiyely.
refuse to inquire further, refuse, We
mean, TO push past barrier erected
on demand of good taste"
Mr.. Hassam With his portrait ~ Mr.
Oscar Leighton, and Dir. Weir IN the
one Of Colonel Weir, were permitted
greater leniency and took It. And
while they have recorded 10 an sppre-
ciabls extent the characters Of their
sitters we find 10 difficult % believe
them at home in portraiture. The re-
strictiors hamper them-they lose
their customary freedom; they halt,
they stammer sometimes.
Mr.. Philip l.. Hale's Dick Nicker~
SOM IL a good, honest, sincere work.
MIRA. Nan Watson's Robert Sarksr'
though weak in drawing, has quite IN
usuaI fineness in color, and Mr. Charles
s, Hopkinson's "Miss Joan Whitney,
a design which was evidently precon-
ceived and then successfully, e,arrled
out. This last portrait, full lengtn,
faces Earl Stetson CRAWFORD bis
Barbara Bowler when - p'oo"D''
This painter's best work.