New-York tribune., 1921-05-08

fatisse at the Museum)
that Derain is a creative pioneer.
means nothing in face of the fact that
what they actually achieve is awkward,
crude and ugly.
The controversial issue is impossible
to ignore in this matter. Post-Impres-
sionism is nothing if not challenge
Even 30 fair-minded q commentator as
Mr.. Burroughs, making show and then
stepping aside, as it were, ito let
humanity decide" drifts, perhaps un-
consciously, into the tacit affirmation
of a certain laudatory point of view.
Cezanne is for him, as we have seen.
a "great and mysterious figure" He
finds Picasso an artist of "extraordi-
nary skill" In what way "extraordi-
nary" we wonder? But there are one
or two sayings in the catalogue which
must be quoted intact:
manner suits the time. The old
ideal of high finish and careful
workmanship has now fallen into
dlsfavor and an unlabored and
sketchy appearance has come to be
characteristic of our painting. The
same change Of taste has shown itself
In connoisseurship-th critics have
given their admiration to-. arts fur
ther and further back in history,
searching ever for cruder forms.
The sculpture of savages now oc-
cupies the place which pre- Raphael
frescoes held in the aesthetics of our
grandfathers, and the influence of
the totem pole and the negro idol is
found In the work Of the typical
artists of to-day.
To which we may reply with a ques-
ton: well, what of it?" Assuming
for the sake Of argument that all this
is so, it may be added that Mr.. Bur
roughs is not announcing a new and
valid dispensation; he is merely draw
ing up an Indictment of the time which
he say Cezanne suits. Only we submit
that he is assuming too much, both as
regards the time and its connoisseur-
ship. The old ideal of high finish and
careful workmanship has not fallen into
disfavor, save with body of artists,
critics and collectors which is rela-
lively small. Especially if it is re-
membered that types of high finish
and careful Workmanship are to be
found much closer to ourselves than
any artists of the Renaissance. They
are to be found, for instance, in the
impressionist school. Manet and Degas
are types of high finish and careful
workmanship compared with Cezanne
and Matisse. The latter are not the
of impressionism, but unsuc-
cessful rebels against its central prin-
ciples.
Those, as we have indicated, are in
no wise grand, gloomy and peculiar.
What chiefly concerned Manet was that
he should know how to paint. Having
mastered his craft, he proceeded to
paint life directly, frankly, with no
hanky- -panky about it. The "progres-
sives," so called have not done this.
If they have mastered the craft of
painting they conceal the fact. Mr..
talks about "the effort of
the post-impressionist movement to
escape diffused effect by the sup
preston of the accidental and the mo-
to set down only the contours
most significant of the shapes of OBJ
jects." Presumably it is this philos-
ophy which is at the bottom of the
"Etretat" of Matisse, in which giant
eel lying on pile of seaweed in the
foreground disputes the dominance of
cliff and sky. Robbed of all the facti-
tious aid that may be supplied by dis
quisitions about his effort" Matisse
seems to US simply TO have painted
poor picture, kind Of aesthetic betise.
1t is the way of post-impressionism
The public is free to make its choice
If it has courage, then we have no
doubt of the upshot. After all, there.
ought not to be much difficulty about
choosing between "the old ideaP' and
totem poles.