New-York tribune., 1920-02-15


we associate with the art Of Felicien
Rops. This Is especially the case with
tho series, not represented hero, dedi-
Gated to "Elle," the series which M.
Mourey characterizes as Besnard's
Dance of Death" He has thought
much on. death and on the tragic side Of
life. Grimness is chiefly the note Of
the series of LA Femme" generously
illustrated in this exhibition. Ono can
not look at these without feeling the
pressure of q dramatic Imagination.
The show also amply represents that
great element in the art of Besnard, his
Venetian instinct for form. It is plo-
riously revealed in etchings like tho
beautiful Femme aux mains jointes."
In the treatment of all his subjects
Besnard Is painter-etch Il ever
there was one, the master alike Of limo
and tone and Of color as it is under
stood by the magicians Of the needle.
lie has long been an intimate friend Of
Zorn's, and there are hints in his work
OF the influence Of that craftsman. But
Besnard is a genius, which Is to say
that he Is Aais own man. It Is inde-
scribably refreshing to come upon an
art like his, so original, SO robust, so
distinguished, so freighted with thought
and emotion.
AT the Durand-Ruel gallery there is
an exhibition of forty-one paintings by
Renoir. 1t is opposite. He died only
short time ago and the recent SEN
sation made by his works in the auc-
tion room in New York has served to
intensity interest in him. There are
several pictures in the present collec-
ton which meet this interest. early
landscapes like the lovely "Bougival,"
or the "Seine Argenteuil," or the
luminous garden scene with a figure
painted in 1884 (Np. 33). Unfortu-
nately, the bulk Of the work shown.
much Of it of late date, suffers from
the turgid handling and hot color,
upon which the painter in his old
ago had declined. M. Durand-Ruel.
who talked with him on the subject,
quotes Renoir as saying that this hot
| coloratton was intentional and would
be modified by the passage of time.
Meanwhile, 1t registers an effect far
inferior to that which Renoir was won't
to achieve in his prime.
Post-Impressionism Is illustrated in
handful Of fragmentary water
| hv {ob
the Montross gallery. There glimmers
up through the group, like shadows
EN- erging upon the surface of
troubled waters, that gift for large,
flowing conception of form which he
never brought to the point Of full de-
velopment, In the best of the nudes
shown there are rich suggestive con-
tours. They are like Cezanne. So
often he got in sight Of the goal with
out quite reaching it. There Is the
same tentative grouping toward struc-
tural truths in such a landscape as the
Mount Victory" The exhibition as
whole is amorphous, obscure, and
leaves one cold
M. CASTOR Lachaise, who is showing
sculptures and drawings at the Bour-
geois gallery, Is, if we may believe the
laudatory preface to his catalogue, an
interpreter Of high emotion. The sim
gle heroic group that he shows, in
which a man lifts a woman in hi,
arms, both nude, bears the title Of
Love-" His subjects. 50 far as the
titles are concerned, have generally a
philosophical Significance But looked
at regardless of the catalogue, looked at
for what they are, NJ Lachaise's
works seem simply the exaggerated
portraits Of grossly fat woman. He
Is clearly a skilled technician, but
he has put his abilities at the service
of a morbid and even repulsive idea
Of form. There are two busts in tho
collection (Nos. 8 and g. which have
a fine monumental character. They
are the only points of charm in the
exhibition.