The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-24
Exhibition of Works of Vincent Van Gogh
Touches All Phases of Artists Career
Includes Autographs, Water
Colors and Paintings
Other Collections.
By HENRY M'BRIDE.

quently De lound III small Euro
~ pean villages where geniuses
have been born is that now calling at
tention to the art of Vincent van Gogh
| in the Montross Galleries. It belongs
to the family OF van Gogh and is all
that is left to them of his labor. The
great collectors In the cities with their
potent pocketbooks have culled the
most famous canvases. as is ever the
way, but there remains much that is
\ typical and explanatory of an art that
will be disputed hotly enough foi some
years to come 1t will be disputed until
the above mentioned most famous
canvases" land as they eventually will,
In the public museums. 1t will be dis
puted because in van Gogh we have a
painter who needs editing as much as
FL Greco, and who when good is as
good as El Greco and when bad is as
bad as FL Greco; the goodness and the
badness in both cases resulting from
the same cause-an excess of genius
a facility for passionate eXaltation so
great that it finally ended in madness
The pathetic facts in the life of this
artist have been so often published
that there is no need to recount them
now. The grewsome injuries he in
flicted upon himself in one of the
crises of his malady have been made
\ much OF by certain writer's who judge
an artist by enything except his work
and, on the other hand by lovers of
the morbid who had not had such a
thine" since the days OF Baudelaire.
] Ct 1,t. - a
saving grace in a life that got along
for the most part without graces--and
both men helped each other enor-
mously even after death. They
are so linked that van Gogh now
profits by all the advertisement that
Mr.. Maugham's shilling shocker
founded upon Gauguin's life gave to
the latter and II Is not too difficult to
imagine that it was. the reception
given to Gauguin's life story in Amer
lea last season that induced the van
Gogh family TO send" US all that re-
NAMED to them OF their illustrious
sons work.
The collection touches all phases of
his career. IT includes pen-and-inks,
Autographs, water colors and paintings;
and. as has been said, of all qualities.
There are some superb things and some
that can only have value "for the asso-
cations sake" The politicians OF the
opposing party will seize upon some of
these wild productions as proof OF van
Gogh's inferiority, and the partisans of
the advance guard will lavish praise in
discriminatory. Between the two the
truth lies.
To those who do not know well their
van Gogh the chief surprise, probably.
will be certain early pieces in grave
Dutch tones that seem a far remove
from the later brilliantly light and color
full studies Of Aries But in these. and
especially in the water colors of the
Woman Near the Fire" and "The
Weaver" there is the familiar percep-
ton of solidities and of construction that
van Gogh afterward carried go far.
There is In one of van Gogh's published
letters n description OF q fervid admira-
ton for the power and force OF the lines
OF certain tree trunks that seemed to
plunge into the earth as though gripping
II for eternity, and he ended by saying
| that in his desperation to render this he
finally laid great strips of paint upon
the canvas just as il came from the
tubes. This frantic desire for strength
is evident in all the artist does--in the
drawing OF the rush Bottom chair, in the
black and white renditions of harvest
fields and harvest implements. and in
the best compositions. which have Il
surcness that is implacable.
Some of these BEST compositions are
devoted 10 subjects that are fiercely
ugly. such as concrete railway bridges
over nsphaltum roadways and which
most ordinary artists of the day would
consider themselves crazy in attempt
ing but in van Gogh the mere Intensity
/ nf hfo itnaq Ui1-Ng n diEfin CfIiGhpn
suit. There il one quite wonderful ex-
ample of this phase OF van Gogh' skill
In the present collecton--the water color
OF the Hospital at Aries" a glimpse OF
interminable and dreadful corridors rem
dered livid With the color harmonies of
the south of France.
The self-portrait lent by the American
owner. Mr. John Quinn. to top out the
exhibition. is one Of the superb things.
The self-pprtraits OF van Gogh are
usually superb things and he painted no
other sitter with the same command.
The portrait Of the blooming "Postman,'
and the word blooming" is not intend
ed as slang, is simply bursting with
character: and the Blue Girl Ia pc
culiarly haunting. A number OF the
early brown paintings show how ear
nestly this artist. when fresh from the
schools, tried 20 be an academician.
/. But liz was no use. Even IN tne
attempt TO paint the great Bible in
n storeotyped fashion. n much thumbed
paper issue of la Joie de Vivre" hap
pened into the foreground. Your true
ccademician does not permit himself
such contrasts.
The announcement that an admis-
sion fee Is TO be charged for THE ex-
, -hlbition will create CONSERVATION among
the art students. II happens In London.
occasionally. that a shilling entrance tax
IL levied successfully nj certain galleries,
but In this country. alas, art Ia not as
yet considered a necessity by the newly
rich working classes. and an entrance
fee has had a most chilling effect In the
few Instances on the avenue In which
Il has been tried. II will be n pity II
history repeats Itself in this case. for
after all. on acquaintance with the art
, OF van Gogh is part Of a modern edu-
cation.