New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-07

One suggestion alone that is made
] by Mr.. Childe Hassam's exhibition at
/ the Montross gallery would suffice to
4 give il high rank among the shows
/ of the season. He exposed his art at
/ full length i'm New York just a year
| ago. incidentally making his debut as
+ an etchcr and left delightful i'm
preston. Now, after so short lapse
of time, he does the same thing save
/ that he om.ts the etchings and # he
/ is equally delightful he is also twice
as strong. At his best then, he is at
/ his best again only 1t is better. Could
an artist more conclusively demon
/ strate the validity OF his gift? To
make such progress is TO be painting
/ OF a living principle, TO be ricn IN
/ energy and in that curiosity, that IN
stinct for new and fresh adventures,
which is as precious as technique IT.
self. And there is another fact that
+ soon comes to light, deepening our en-
+ ioymcnt and our sense of Mr. Hassam' S
+ force. About score OF his pictures
/ are painted in oils. Then come half a
/ dozen pastels, and after these perhaps
/ forty or fifty water colors. To any
/ one interested in artistic mediums
| there arc bound to be arresting points
in the collection. moments for appre-
4 citation of purely technical matters.
/ Yet and this is an important develop
ment the essential appeal Of the eN-
hibition pretty nearly obliterates all
question Of mediums. One suffers a
mild temptation TO talk about Mr.. mas
sans versatility, but that Is, after all,
rather irrelevant affair Versatility
may so easily tease man INTO At
tennis at virtuosity. his facility with
this or that medium leading him 20
display the facility, and nothing else.
Mr. Hassam seems to take ms com
mand over different mediums as a mat
ter of course, and on the Whole we
are inclined 20 take II the same waN.
We have long known him for com
peteut workman. There IS nothing
really. TO excite special admiration IN
his adroitness with pastel or water
color. Why shouldn't he be adrol''
after all these years? The thing that
matters is his inspiration, has ieeHng
for nature and beauty, and the lndi
vidual accent he places upon his WORK
The personal quality in this eXhlDl-
tion is of a sort which may possibly
be the better understood If the OBJ
server will reflect for a moment on a
D
in evidence in Anglican art We refer
10 the museum pi$ure," the painting
which is always winning a medal, al
WAYS getting itself bought for some
public gallery. Il is painted, as we all
/ know. hv some of the best artists we
( have There is nothing disparaglng
| TO be said about the latter, unless II
| be this-that the reaction of their
( success upon their art has been OF a
crvstallizing nature, causing them TO
paint picture after picture out OF the
same formula. Need we name names
T. is not the pleasantest thing IN the
world to do, nor is it strictly neces-
sory. Everybody knows the type.
: EVERYBODY knows the ambition of the
, average museum director, especially
( i'm the smaller towns, to secure "a
/ John Doe" or "a Richard Roe" He
cant live without it, any more than
/ he could live without electric light or
any other latter-day improvement, and
/ his resolution is the more firm fixed
because, in a way, he's right. These
painters of museum pictures are, we
rcrcat. among our best men. They
have ability. They have individuality.
But we only know that individuality
/ when 10 crops out in the usual form
/ in the landscape that you would know
( i'm all wcathers. in the figure subject
/ that YOU would know in the dark.
/ There is where Mr. Hassan puts the
question Of individuality in a better
I light. He has the virtue, plenty of il;
+ bu, while he, too, has won his medals
and has made his way into more than
( enc public gallery, we do not recall
I his ever having painted a museum
r.Cturc. The nearest thing to it that
/ he ever did was that sylvan subject .-
trees by the rivers edge, with nude
somewhere about-which at one time
hc unoucstionably was disposed to re-