New-York tribune., 1921-04-03

wcgian mountains and valleys, so much
OF the. icy coldness of their waters. so
much Of serene beauty, that we re-
gret the more the absence of subtletv
where that element is sorey needed
1t is needed to develop the play Of
tone, the gradual deepening of white
into gray and even darker notes. the
enrichment of snowy expanse by the
tlnts of rose and blue which we sup
pose a Norwegian quite as much as an
American sky can bestow Something
of these ingredients in the scene is
1aintly limited at. Too tften the sub
Ject is reduced to a common denomi-
nator, enveloped in a dazzling white
ness. If that is the imperious charac-
teristic of Norway then it is hard on
the artist. 1t leaves him truth, but
denies him charm. Verlaine, a mum
dane poet If ever there was one, long
ago sang the virtue of the nuance
We crave it in these pictures. 1t is
odd, too, that it should not be present,
for Mr.. Singer is adroit in the treat
ment Of atmo sphere, which has so
much to do with the promotion Of in
tricate mysteries of tone.
M. Victor Charreton, the French
landscape painter whose American
debut was made at the Dudensing gall
lery year or so ago, is represented
again this season at the same place by
collection Of about twenty-five pic
lures. His salient virtue is an agree
able variety. Some of his best land
scapes are of an urban type He paints
effectively the picturcsqueness of the
streets Of Paris. He is even more sue
cessful when, he tackles the old build
ings of provincial town, whelmed in
snow. Snow in his pictures is wet and
heavy. He gets it's texture. Best of
all he unifies his architecture and his
weather, secures a capital pictorial i'm
preston. Nothing could be more in
tensely French, more eloquently the
portrait of place, than his painting
of some ancient suburb, with gray
houses lifted above the frozen road
Nothing, that is, save his pictures of
the countryside, records of summer
and autumn, with the red roofs of
farm buildings accenting his judicious
.harmonies. He is veracious and
facile painter, broad in style, but ca
pable. as in the apple blossoms en-
ivening one Of his canvases, of strik-
ing delicate note. 1t is pleasant to
see his work once more.
The Ferargil studio differentiates
itself from the Ferargil gallery by the
simple process Of locating itself, on g
smaller scale, around the corner. 1t
presents just now number of "little
paintings" Of France and Italy by three
artists-M. Elizabeth Price, Eleanor
Abrams and Lucille Howard. They are
all exemplars of the moderately clever
sketch-book method-the method which
takes the picturesque "bit'' as it is
found and adds nothing to it. Mrs.
Price is deft and firm enough in the
notation Of fact. The Wine Shop,
Quimperle," registers her high water
mark. Miss Abrams shows a promis-
ing tendency toward certain suavity.
certain atmospheric quality. Miss
Howard, like Mrs Price, has a measure
of dexterity. The trouble with this
trio is that they make very little of COM
position, painting rather too casually
their no doubt amusing fragments of
the European scene; and they need
both to simplify and refine their color
and greatly to. strengthen their draw
ing. Their work at present has too
amateurish a status.
Mr.. Wharton Harris Esherick, at the
Babcock gallery, is moving. in the right
direction. He is. an observant painter
of landscape, bringing truth into his
impressions of New England and other
scenes In simple, sincere manner. He
studies light and air to good purpose.
There is thus some substantial founda-
tion for the effort he makes to poetize
a number of his pictures, either
through the introduction Of dancing
figures or through the interpretation
Ct the romsntic glamour Of night.
There Is no great force in his art, as
yet, but there is some feeling, the.
promise of finer achievement.
The leading figure in the miscel-
laneous exhibition at the Powell gal
lery is Miss Martha Walter, favorably
known for some years for her studies
Of groups on sunlit beaches. One or
two Of her familiar sketches are shown
now. But her principal contributions
are paintings in which she studies i'm
migrants, singly or in crowds. They
are interesting for the character in
them, and they denote even sounder,
because more searching and firm, work
manship than she has been wont to
reveal in her familiar compositions.
Mr.. Hugh Breckenridge sends a we'll
painted interior study and a better
garden scene. A landscape by Mr..
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