New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-14


Senior Zuloaga, they stop. IL is the
singular fate OF this devotee OF emo
ton, imagination, and the sixteenth
century. that his view Of Spain ~ an
external affair, reinforced in the direc-
ton OF mystery, glamour, hints OF the
Spanish soul by expedients that are at
bottom theatrical.
Hogarth was never histrionic. Senior
Iuloaga is hardly anything else. lie
impresses the beholder, as we have SAID
before. not with the FIRE Of drama, but
with the meretriclous effect of the tab
leau. Let us revert for a moment TO
I'll Greco. There is a famous view or
Toledo by that master in which the
town is brought in n startling way out
Of darkness by play OF such light a
was never seen on sea or land. But
the genius of the man, working upon
his fantastic conception, makes IL not
only valid, but thrilling Over and
over again Senior Zuloaga essays TO do
something Of the kind, introducing Il
town into the background of his pict-
ure, surmountng it with heavy, rolling
clouds, moving heaven and earth, in
short, TO turn topography into drama.
lie cannot quite DO it, He hasn't mag
ination enough, genius enough. ~
Greco, with his high inspiration, could
paint to good purpose as though by
torchlight IN dungeon Of the lnqulsl-
ton. His modern disciple fails to
equal him because he is painting, tig-
uratively, in n windowless studio. That
is what Senior Zuloaga is, a prodig-
iously sophisticated studio man. Az
such he tells US about the soul OF Spain
Just so much as we would expect from
a competent contributor TO the Salon,
and no more. And as such he raises
some troublesome questions on the
subject of technique.
Hitherto we have sought to consider
Senior Zuloaga for the sake of his mes
sage, looking chiefly to the matter OF
what he has TO say. Only too soon,
however, We must consider his way oil
saying it, We must observe him as a
pdinter. There he is one OF the most
disconcerting visitors we have ever
welcomed from Europe. He has the
attributes which enable an artist TO
make a hole in the wall at the Salon, a
solid sense OF form, good enough draw
ing, adrot workmanship. He knows
how TO cheese picturesque subject
and he uses sufficiently assertive
scale. For the rest no pays terrific
penalty for remaining, as he says, a
sixteenth century person. That mani
festo Of his contains its specious in
gradients. Beware of the Russian, says
Mr.. Kipling, when he tucks in his shirt.
Beware of the artist when he begins
to quarrel with the age in which he
lives, tries 10 think himself back TO
another period, and paints too narrow
ly In the way dictated to him by his
90 To-
world out from his studio, he breathes
vitiating air. We observe Senior Zu-
loaga following out his programme. ar
ranging, composing and magnifying his
subject, but We do not discover him
"exalting" it. Why not? Because, in
the first place, his imagination, rs we
have shown, is not of 4 very high order,
and secondly, he is a poor painter
That crucial feet is hardly to be estab-
lished, we admit, without difficulty.
Does not Mr.. Sargent announce in
foreword 10 the catalogue that this
exhibition is an event "of supreme
artistic interest,"" and should not an
artist Of Mr.. Sargent'5 eminence know 2
We think he should, and We shrink,
naturally. from contestinG his judg-
mcnt. However, we recall a certain
remark Of Whistler about superla-
tives that left nothing for appre-
citation of the National Gallery, and
against Mr.. Sargents dictum on what
constitutes Supreme artistic interest"
we simply cite the touchstones provid-
ed by that great museum, and few
others, not forgetting the peculiarly
opposite Prddo.
10 is the mark of the great painter
10 show an interest in paint. He does
many different things with il, accord
ing to his genius, but there is one
thing he never does and that is to
leave it-psinty. Senior Zuloaga leaves
il thus, and in so crude, coarse and
repellent a state that he causes posi-
tive bewilderment. it is all very well
to say that the artist must not make
a fetch of surface, that we can't all
be Vermeers, but surely there is no
rational excuse for the Opaque, slaty
color that Senior Zuloaga affects. To
make 10 worse, he turns his back abso-
lutely upon the art of omission, scorns
the fascinating problem Of "yalues, "
and piles detail upon detail until his
canvas looks like checkcrboard. We
might cite various examples. but one
viii suffice, the Lolita" No. 25), in
which the reclining figure wears a
thin, clinging robe patterned with
blue on white There is something
appalling about the raucous clash Of
tone in this painting. Hardness OF
surface. gross opacity. are here made
the deadlier by the sheer banality Of
the hues employed. One can compre-
bend Senior ZuIoaga's Indifference to
refinement of surface; some artists
are framed that way. But the harsh
uginess Of the thing that shocks us.
It is applicable. alasl on hypothesis
that stares one only too plainly IN the
face. This painter has no taste. It is
hard saying. An artist is commonly
supposed to possess taste, by the very
nature of his profession. Well, as a
matter of fact. we have known multi
tudes of artists who had no more taste
than is commonly attributed to a
plumber Only they have been, as a
rule. extremely mediocre artists. Senior
Zuloaga is not mediocre. He has abili-
ty. He has gifts. Why then, has he
no taste? 1t is the most pulling
point developed in a survey Of his art
It is pulling until one recalls those