New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-21
Galleries Full of American Paintings

At the little gallery In the hnoedlet
establishment over when MIS- AipeIe
Sterner presides are fourteen plcCuie'
bv Robert Henri. This IS week OF eN-
bibitions Of the work of men VINO, IKE
Inness and Renoir and Hasssm anu
Glackens. have been moved from tne
forefront of radicalism-where one
pictured them waving revolutionary req
rags-to a place well wlthlh me coh-
ventional dictum. Time alone, bunting
,bn odges of radical statement, could
wort his wonder. Robert Henri, as
Uigb Priest of "The Eight" was
prominent dissenter, around whom gath
cred certain impetuous youths. There
are new gods now, and impetuous youth
is following the footprints they aug
into the hard earth. Mr.. Henri mean
while though the following and the
ardor of it have diminished more
generally recognized. That means nat
while here and there we are to md a
student crying out casually rotten,
that additionally inspired word among
students. the museum heads, rubbing
their hands together, like good hosts,
are pickering for the pictures. Inc
student bodies cannot be expected TO
accent the obvious. They are the new
race of connoisseurs, Cousin Ponses
routing out genius in unsupported holes,
and. of course, If We quote them, gen
Grafton ahead of their own.
Mr.. Henri has changed lot-and a
little-in fifteen years. His woman In
BLACK" now at the Chicago Art Insti-
tute. is of a period that he may never
resurrect: a period in which life as the
prime motif was wont 10 direct the nat
ure of the style employed in recording
il. Mr.. Henri, then, rarely set out TO
circumvent difficult technical problems.
He gave the effect of life on a single
figure through the contrast of a dark
background; in the manner of Rem
brandt or Of a theatrical spotlight
That manner, which was undoubtedly
the easiest, did not bother him, and 1t
need not have bothered US. The har-
monies OF color were derived through
nm arbitrary subjugation of all the col
ors in the picture. lie was tonalst:
He may be one still at heart, even II
there are ample enough reasons TO
bring up a question. Life, perhaps as
an art motif or merely as life with no
added exotic glamour, has begun TO tire
him. 1t may be that he has painted TOO
many portraits; said his say on indi-
VfCudlS ONeE-Ifequeullys nc III 40 Nv"
10 technical considerations, TO abstrac-
lions and distractions, and, when these
are faded by lack Of variety, to travel;
travel in search for a palpitation, per-
haps similar to the one required by the
prince in Barrie's cinderella" And 10
may be that the "palps" he earns thus
are merely technical-we are not sure.
Among the pictures here are some
like Herself" and Himself and
Edna" and MARY Cd" and Jose"
and the Manchu-Chinese Girl" in
which the impression of life and the
painters liking for it override the
artistry or are the masters of it. In
others here. among the more recent
-"Ricardo-Indisn Of San II De
fonso." Nude" and Reclining Nude"
the forms are designed with respect
for synthesis and rhythm above the
local accident. and the color, which re-
minds one of the thinness character
istic of Matisse, ia almost purely sub
iective, an abstraction which loses
pover as il loses connection with
truth as the painter himself was ac-
eustomed 70 realize IL. His has al
WAYS been realistic vision, inclined
10 optimism 10 be sure, but realistic,
and now We find il adrift in foreign
and pulling waters.