The sun., 1919-02-16
"A Man Thinking by Sir William Orpen; British Exposition,
Anderson Galleries.

tivity and the Promised Land. But this
is no time for regrets. Rather It Is a
time for steadfastness and hope.
God, or the Ideal, alone Is perfect.
We who strive for perfection attest to
our imperfection by that very striving.
Though they who do not strive are
no less imperfect. Now, that yearning
and struggle for perfection Is a great
sorrow that would find an outlet In as
great JOY. 1t would express itself
Thus We seek to perfect ourselves
through the medium we choose.
And that medium. like sorrow, Is
not bound by laws. There are no for
mulR to copy. Theories are the meas
ure of a mans mind. In accepting
them we subscribe to the limitations
OF other mems thinking. Rather than
follow old theories 1t is saner and
wiser even TO formulate new ones.
But such theories as aim at establish
ing the limits OF the medium need
the most insistent revising.
For the basic concern of the artist
Is to create; that is, to make things
and persist-individual. He should
find what is really himself and how he
can best suit the medium to his par
ticular capabilities and how to make
each work in its turn a creation. n
might be well to begin by being sin
cere with oneself. But because sin
certify does not preclude the fool one
must also have ones mind constantly
play about his work like a shower Of
fresh water
But how far shall a work OF art he
distracted from nature, and what shall
be its form? I hold that a work of art
snail nave the poise and the movement
! or rhythn1-of nature, each line in
stinct with it's life.
Yet though based on nature it shall
not initiate nature by way of it's sur
! race. For that is but the dress. the
fusk of nature, and matters little. One
should enter its very heart. its spirit,
| ITS moods. One should feel weighted
with the weight OF nature. buoyant
! with its air, expansive with its volume,
| alive with its rhythm One will then
capture those moods and those phases
OF 1t that live always"
The Ardsley Studios Of Brooklyn,
OF Hamilton Easter Field. are now
showing some little known japanese
! prints. Groups by Sawa Sekkio. Ga
kutei, Shinsai and Hokujiu, artists
whose names are not precisely house
hold words in BrooklYn-nor in New
York, for that matter-adorn the walls.
Adorn is used advisedly. The prints
are quite mastery in design, in color
! and in expression.
/ In the inner gallery paintings by
Miss Julia Kelly and Samuel Rothbart
are pitte1 against paintings by Thomas
Rodnar and Bernard Gussow-the first
pair scoring the most points. Miss
Julia Kelley. whose star rose amid the
chaos of the first independent ex-
hibition and scintillates steadily in the
| Ornament now so that all may see
continues to progress. She tackles the
] most difficult themes and has her will
with them. Her '"Marshy Land" is an
amalgamation OF almost as many
themes as Michelangelo put into his
Last Judgment" and 1t IS even more
decorative than that much overesti-
mated work. l shouldn't accept the
| Last Judgment" IL you were to offer
| pleasant to live with, hut on the other
hand l shouldn't at all mind owning
Miss Julia Kellys Marsh Land" par
! tieularly II ! didn't live in the marsh
land and bad houscssssS led e.sa The
! colonial furniture which the Metropoli-
tan Museum Is now buying up all over
| the country.
Mr.. Field appears to be attempting
! something new and confidential in the
way OF exhibition catalogues. These
are two excerpts:
THE Japanese prints shown in jan
uary were SO beautiful that / have
decided to let them rpmaIn during
February. over the sofa arc six
prints by Sawa Sekkio; over the radia-
tor two by Kuniyoshi. over the desk
four by Kuniyoshl from the Nichiren
set) and his portrait; over the mantel
four, views at Osaka by Gakutei. over
the sideboard three scenes on Lake
four prints by Hokujlu.
| Unfortunately I missed Kibachino
MstsuN when he visited the December
show. but | was at home when he
came with friend last Sunday. They
arrived at $3.50, Harold Hall came at
a. and We Toasted. upon japanese art
(and few things more materially until
almost midnight, I have not had 50
| inspiring a talk on Oriental art since
Binyon was here. In speaking OF the
prints now shown Matsuki said that
Gakutei's masterpiece Festival OF
Tamangu at Osaka" Is so rare thN he
had not seen 1t before. The three
prints by Shinsal, the six by Sekkio
and two OF the four by Hokujiu were
also new 10 him.
/ "Thasa exhibitions ara for yoti all