New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-11
BARBIZON AND SALON
TYPES OF PICTURES
Examples of Oriental Por-
celain, Old Glass and
Flemish Tapestry y
By ROYAL CORTISSOZ

] sources, and, as IL happens, tney CIed1c
the kind Of atmosphere which was more
familiar ten or fifteen years ago than
it is to-day. The DEGREES Of fashion
have interviewed since then to the eX-
altstion Of the old master. There is
scarcely an old master to be seen on
this occasion, which speaks rather OF
the days when collectors were inter
ested first in the anecdotic figure pieces
of the Salon, then in the Barbizon
school. and finally in French impress
sionism. Claude Monet dominates the
show. And completely TO bring back
the sentiment of an earlier day, there
is precisely the right admixture of ORR
entail art, the porcelains, jsdes and so
on which always filed in the back
ground at sales of the type TO which
We refer. The ensemble is charming.
For the sake of the record We must
note the origins of all this material.
The paintings III of them, all told
arc headed by the Monets collected by
the late James +. Sutton, Tor many
years senior member of the American
Art Association. Then there are pet
lures belonging TO the estate OF the
late Mr. Isidor Wormser, to Mrs. Har-
old Thorne. 20 Mr.. Edison Bradley. to
the estate of the late Mr.. +. l.. Lorlng,
and TO that of the late Mr.. Leon Man
del. The bulk OF the Orientalia Is sup
piled bv Mr. Edison Bradley, whose cat
alogue runs 10 more than thirteen nun
dred numbers, and includes, besides,
some fine old Flemish tapestries ana II
0uantity OF ancient vestments Mr SUIT
toms Eastern porcelains, bronzes and
worries form a smaller group. Inc
naintinrs will be sold at the Plaza on
the evenings OF January 10th and l1th.
The other things will be disposed OF
at the American Art Galleries on seven
afternoons. beginning January 18th.
The twenty-four Monets form an eN-
traordnary company. In the hrst
place. they have the interest of Illus
trating his art in practically all its
phases. Then the different examples
are intrinsically beautiful. representa-
tive in the best sense. Taken as
whole. the little collection serves the
purpose of magnifcently reviving the
sppeal Of highly indiyidualized
genius. Talk about an lmpressionist
usually devistes into talk about I'm
pressionism, and so about all the mem
hers Of the school One easily falls
into the way of regarding the latter
as drinking at a common fount, en-
blowing much the same formula. pro
ducinc much the same kind of picture.
This exhibition is a good reminder OF
the personal inspiration which carried
Claude Monet through. His mote" is
as clearly marked an affair as is, for
example, Whistler's. If the reader has
any doubt of this let him consider
how Independent Monet Is OF all the
conventions of picture making, how
completely he relies upon nothing
! more nor less than his own visualize
ton OF nature. He has no bias in the
matter of design. Indeed, he "a very
much at the mercy Of the motive
nature happens TO provide for him. II
! she is gracious. even poetic, as in ale
Bassin aux Nympheas," then 30 much
the better for the composition Of
Monet's picture. If she is Indifferent
to pictorial felicity, as in la Meule
a Giverny," then so much the worse
for the art of design.
Once, in his garden at Giverny,
Monet showed the present writer the
sources OF some Of his canvases. We
fingered especially by the placid pond
where he painted this "Bassin aux
Nympheas" and perhaps score OF
others. One did not see there the
"raw material" of the series. One
saw, simply, so many Monets, so many
: episodes. directly transferable to
canvas. The process did not suggest
itself as one involving any questions
of form. of decorative balance, OF ele-
ments weighed and sifted 1t seemed,
instead, to be just matter of repro
ducing the thing seen-as it was
found. The only alchemy wreaked
upon it was that of light. The vari-
ations of light were all that concerned
/ the artist.
Testimony to some such hypothesis
as this runs all through the present
collection. The enthusiast who sees in
Monet a great creative artist might
choose TO discern in the undoubted pic
torial variety of the group the proof OF
a designers purpose. For our own
part, we recognize rather the benenci-
ary of pictorial accidents, the lover OF
atmospheric effects who pursues light
and air and gives only a secondary at,
tention TO the undulations of ground
forms, the play of line and mass in a
scene. These twenty-four paintings
: make. as it were, twenty-four windows,
opened casually upon land and sea. IL
is not the composition that arrests us
in the "Chemin de Halage a Ar
genteuil," excellent as It happens to pc
The thing that counts is the pervasive
gray-and chill of winter, the .eXquis
iteness of mere tone as Monet distilled
IL out Of the otherwise dreary river
scene He is the poet of the weather
lust because he refuses TO poetize H.
but. by a kind of artless clairyoyance,
gets at its subtlest truths. One Of his
masterpieces is here, the "Menton w
du Cap Martin" which possesses, II
you like. an exact Typographical signih-
canoe But the local point is really or
no consequence. All that matters IS
the glorious beauty of the color, the
resonance Of Mediterranean blue, OF
rich earthly reds.
IL is a curious circumstance that TINS
patient searcher after vibrations OF
tone. whose works have appealed 70 the
scientific student of light and color.
should he one Of the magicians OF
purely sensuous charm. He tackled
"problems." He produced evocations or
loveliness. That is why the sale Of the
Sutton Monets should make something
like a sensation Their vitality is su-
perb. The moving waters in the
tTempete a Port Goulpfar," the opales-
cent mists in the "Brouillard, Giverny,"
the glittering elegance Of the peoples
in les Coquelicots. Giverny," make a
wonderfully vivid, living appeal. Where
are those DEGREES Of fashion? The old
master is in the ascendant, but we
prophesy that in the auction room next
week this modern master will irresls.-
IDLY affirm himself, for, though he is
not great creative artist, great in
ventive designer, he has the beauty OF