New-York tribune., 1920-01-11

before Mr.. Miller's best figure work. be-
fore such nude as the "Fantasie of
the Antique" one would not have his
characteristic scheme changed by so
much as a flicker of our latter-day i'm
pressionism. One hopes then to be
sure that he may continue indefinitely
in his remote, sequestered path, work
ing spell that begins by making us
think of George Frederick Watts, but
ends by convincing US that it is \
spell Of his own, absolutely. The in
| stinct for beauty has not been left out
of his cosmos. On the contrary, it is
the wellspring Of his art. In poetry,
said Matthew Arnold, the illusion is
everything. So it is in art, for Mr.
Miller. In technique he sometimes is at
loss. In pure charm he is almost un-
failing.
Charm is not precisely the eleme MT
for which we have been prepared in
| the work of Mr.. Bellows. Like Mr..
Luks, he often conveys the impression
Of man painting by main strength
But this time he has surpassed him
self. He is his old, familiar and clever
self in the single portrait he shows,
the engaging Margaret In the
landscapes and coast scenes which form
the bulk of his contribution he is new
and strange and altogether delightful.
Has the size of an artists canvas any
influence upon the quality Of his work ?
These pictures, painted on q smaller
scale than any we have associated with
his productions, have an intimate
quality that he has hitherto left un-
revealed. 1t is an intimacy of mind, of
emotion, that is here established. 1t
is so winning, SO full of the attra tive
ness of nature-and of an original point
of view-that we make nothing of cer-
tain oddities, like the drawing of Mr..
Bellows's cattle. His cows are own
sisters to Behemoth, but they fit en-
chantingly into these enchanting
studies. Sometimes, as in "The Black
Bull the transcript of fact is as ac-
curate as the artistic envelope is love
y. But chiefly we think of the
painters interest in his subject, of the
singularity Of his vision, of the uncon-
ventional utternnce to which he has
been stirred, of the exhilarating fresh
ness with which he has set forth his
impressions of landcapes near the sea-
The robust and sometimes heavy
handed technique which has occasional
| ly got between us and the substance Of
his work is in this instance somehow
adjusted, subdued, to the more spiritual
| nature of that which he has to saw.
His independence is not asserted for
the sake OF a tour-de-force in brush
work. 1t leaves him sensitive artist,
an artist sensitive to beauty.
Mr.. Sterner's plea is in this exhibi-
tion for the beauty that resides in
technique pure and simple He is va
rled in theme. He paints the nude, he
makes studies for portraits, he is deco
ratlve. But it is not his purpose in
any OF these works to proclaim a recon
dite idea. 1t is rather to express grace
Of form through distinction of line
and skill in modelling, with an occa-
sional excursion into a kind of gay
bravura, as in the clever Fancy Dress"
There are examples in which he aims
at pictorial charm and secures it, The
"Summertime" is a conspicuous illus
tration of his adroitness in compost
tion. AS an allegory it has no great
depth. AS a study of the nude, based
upon knowledge both of form and Of
design, it preserves all the solid mer-
its of the academic hypothesis and adds
to them a personal accent. 1t is pity
that Mr.. Sterner has not brought into
his exhibit any of those imaginative
motives which he has disclosed from
time to time in his autographs. He,
too, has been in Arcadia. but this time
he forgets to dream--hs work is mum