New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10
The Roman Academy
Work Recently Executed Under
Its Aegis

In one of the most commodious of
the apartments at the disposal of the
League there have been placed the
latest envois from students of the
American Academy at Rome. They
make a little exhibition by themselves
and have deep interest for believers
n the function of this institution 1t is
the mission CT the Academy to stimu-
late the imagination of picked men, to
take young painters, sculptors and
architects who have proved their tech
meal mettle and give an inspiring d.
rection to their ideas. The annual
manifestations of the good work that
is thus being done vary inevitably, &C
cording to the individual timber in
hano. Only once in so often may we
expect an artist of the gifts of Paul
Manship, for example. The offerings
this year are a little mixed.
Mr.. Russell Cowles is a painter of
great promise. He has obviously sub
jected himself to the influence of Vero-
nese and his Categorical Painting for
Ceiling Decoration" done in the tradi-
ton of that master, is astounding in
the technical authority it reveals.
Furthermore, Mr.. Cowles has several
ether canvases which show that he
can detach himself from Veroncse and
paint loft his own bat" With his
, adroitness, his uncanny cplomb and his
skill both in form and in color, he
raises the liveliest hopes of serious
accession to the ranks Of our mural
painters. Mr.. Allyn Cox rivals him
in dexterity and polish, but in taste he
swerves surprisingly fiom the stand
ards associated with the Academy. He
cmulates the Caracci, of all the many
types to be observed in Italy, and re-
wives their redundant foLrishes with a
lamentable devotion. The marvel of
his mural decorations IS not that they
should have been done so WE'LL but
that, to use the old saying, they should
have been done at all.
The same matter of taste is raised
by the collaborators in the design for
villa to house the American Ambas-
sador. It may have been great fun
for Messrs. Shuttle, Lawson and Jones
to have played with this bit Of bravura
on paper; but it ought to have oc-
Cured to them that building actually
constructed on the lines followed by
them would only repeat the hollow ef-
feet of one Of the later and least edify-
ing periods in the architecture of Italy
Mr.. Lawson is on far more satisfying
ground in his drawings of the Villa
Gamberaia. There are some excellent
drawings by ]. X. Smith and r. M
Kennedy. Mr.. Kennedy's restoration
of the baths of the women at Hadrian' S
villa is particularly fine. Both the
sculptors, c. p. Jennewein and Joseph
Renter, have unmistakable talent, from
which sterling work may be expected
The former also shows himself to be
a good craftsman, in general profile
portraits. Mr.. r. E. Griswold, winner
of the 1920 competition in landscape
architecture, gives an suspicious &C.
count of himself; and there are inter
esting if not precisely thrilling ele-
ments in the work successful in the
same year by Carlo Ciampaglia, Gaze
tano Cecere and j. K. Smith. The ex-
hibition as whole maintains the pres
tige of the Academy. But the funda-
mental principles which McKim had in
mind need to be defended against the
excursions and forays Of students into
the more bsroque periods.