New-York tribune., 1920-03-28


entage. He received his first trainins
in the studio Of his father, and con.
einued hrs studies in Madrid and ROM \
he has exhibited not only in Spain
out in all the European capitals. and
mas acquired numerous honors, Pic.
lures OF his hang in the Museum Of
MODERN Art at Madrid and in the Lux
emnourg. The brier biographical note
prehxed to the present exhibition sue-
gests an international. experience. but
II Is as national type that he iusti-
fies his art.
The story of modern Spanish paint
ing is curious one. Behind it loom
the great names Of Velasquez and Gova.
but these had come to mean nothing in
the arid period in which Fortuny was
born. There are early works from his
crush hanging in the. museum at Bar
celona which show the thin academic
, style by which he was confronted in
his youth. He emulated it before he
struck his gait. That, when he achieved
1t, proved an invention of his own.
he had prodigious dexterity, super
imposed upon even more solid qualities
His famous Portrait of a Spanish
Lady in the Metropolitan Museum
suggests the ease with which he might
have revived something of the old
Spanish tradition if he had chosen to
do so. He preferred instead to as
sumo the role Of kind of coniurer in
paint, and the works which give him
his fame are glittering feats of sleipht-
of-hand. They are masterly produce
tions. and if virtuosity like his had
been common in Spain he might have
founded brilliant school among the
artists who gathered round him in
Rome. What he did actually was to
poison the modern art of Spain. One
or two of his contemporaries emerged
with their abilities unhurt. Pradilla
and Villegas, at their best, have done
admirable work. Martin Rico, too, in
many of his Venetian scenes, and even
more in certain of his earlier Spanish
pictures, has been far from negligible.
And the Italian Boldini, who for some
years used the Fortuny hypothesis,
in some ways bettered his exemplar.
Boldini, latter developing style of his
own, has affirmed himself q really re-
markable artist. But we must not go
too far afield in the matter Of Fortuny's
influence. The pertinent point is that
on the whole it did more harm than
good where a beneficial influence was
needed. Modern Spanish painting
limped badly for years. It was me-
| chanical and brittle where it was not
simply vulgar. The modern gallery at
Madrid contains quantities Of deplor-
able painting.
A change for the better came when
Sorolla appeared. The present writer
well remembers learning in the studios
on visit to Madrid some twenty odd
years ago how zealously the young men
were gathering round the new master Of
a new technique. What his talent de-
veloped into is familiar to New Workers..
His Photographic realism, flooded with
sunshine, made a great and, in fact,
! disproportionate sensation when it was
revealed in fairly spectacular fashion at
/ the Hispanic Museum. Then came Zu-
/ loaga at the same place to produce
/ similarly startling and similarly over
wrought effect. Both men are gifted
and both have done something to fer
I H..
Nevertheless, that movement has not as
yet developed truly national sig
nifcance. Modern Spanish art is the
work not of school, but of few ac-
in field that is rich in mediocrity. The
first class man seems in that country
always an isolated phenomenon. 1t is
curious to note in passing how this has
been the case from the beginning. Eur
Duran, Ell Greco, Valesquez, Goya, each
of them has peculiar salience. They
shine through intrinsic merit and by
contrast with the rank and file of their
contemporaries. Fortuny repeated the
old experience. 1t has befallen again
Sorolla and Zuloaga. 1t is to be credited
also to Mr.. Pinazo His detachment
from the ordinary procedure of school
is not so obvious. He has no such i'm
mediately arresting trait as the blind
ing, staccato luminosity of Sorolla. He
does not paint with the cold force Of
Zuloaga But his very differences from
these men point to the wholesome orig
inalty of his art. The excellent i'm
preston which he more gradually con-
veys is traceable to nothing more nor
less than a sound and sane realism,
truthful delineation Of Spanish types
based on sincere feeling and good work
manship. He has strong decorative
tendency and as strong sense of color,
but lis special note is the concentration
of all his resources on faithful and
very Spanish Characterization Of his
subject.
If we judged Spain from some Span
ish pictures we should say that it was
always country in which sharp light
and shade brought out violent effects
of color. AS matter of fact, there
-. L.1r %n,o, ~ Cpopich 1ifo ae +hara