New-York tribune., 1921-12-11
lhe Art of the Late Edwin A. Abbey

eyed Boy and divers others-which
testify TO the craftsman's ability. Yet
persuasive as that ability may be it
leaves US feeling as il in the presence
Of talent that is working in a
vacuum, without direction.
Some one once said Of Theouhile
Gautier, we believe, that going along
the path of art he had chosen to tarry
in half way house. Mr.. Bellows gives
us that impression, Now and then he
seems to draw rear the edge Of mar
row world and peer over. He paints Ii
picture like his Cloudy Day or others
like the "Warshipg on the Hudson and
the Approach 10 the Bridge" and we
I feel, vaguely, uncertainty, the approach
of beauty into his cosmos But we
have scarcely begun to feel the dim
appeal Of these works when we are
confronted by huge thing like the
New York" 4 mere weltcr Of unrelated
details, or we stumble again upon the
Padre and we suspect once more that
the artist has not found his bearings
II is q Ane thing, no doubt. to WELD q
strong, emphatic brush, but to make
only an empty gesture with it leaves
the spectator cold. One does not crave,
either, Something different in Mr..
Bellows's painting. All that one asks
is that that painting, as painting,
should 90 to its logical conclusion,
that it should be brought TO higher
pitch OF interest. That is what hap
pened with Nelasquez, With Manet.
They had the gesture. But it led to
something. it led 70 the beauty OF so
much painted surface. With them
technique justihes itself regardless Of
subject; we love it for It's own sake,
find it in itself beautiful and thrilling.
In the hands Of MIR. Bellows we find
in it only kind of brutal energy, the
raw material for style rather than
style.
At the recently opened Fearon ga
bronzes by Dir. r. Lynn Jenkins. One
of them, THE ldes Of March," is i
really dramatic competition, in which
the dead CGsar and his two stalwart
bearers are portrayed on small scale,
yet with monumental largeness and
dignity. Enigma is beautiful head,
modelled with the same breadth Of
style and possessing, in addition, fine
grace, a fine sentiment There are one
L two good nudes. and the group is
'ompleted with charming "Madonna
nd Child IN marble. Mr.. jenkins has
distinction. His colleague on this oc-
casion is young English portrait
painter, Mr.. J. Young Hunter, whose
canvases fill the walls OF two rooms
They are suavcfy polished perform
ances. This artist tenlpers the deco
rative taste OF the day with a certain
sobriety which gives a serious interest
to his portraits of women. On the
whole, however, his most successful
portraits are those of men, portraits
in which his rather conventional mode
~ subordinate in significance TO his
forceful workmanship. There is con
structive modelling in his heads. He
draws with no marked individuality
but at any rate with precision ard suf-
fcient case
Maxine Maufra, The French land
scape painter, who died in 1918 at the
age Of ffty-seven, belonged to that
wing Of modern art which long ago
wholeheartcdly accepted the lead Of
Claude Monet. lie did not initiate the
master In fact, he probably could not
have done SO if lie had tried. He never
possessed the subtlety which Monet
has SO often manifested. He knew
nothing OF the nuance. But he emu
lated Monet in respect to light, and in
his color, TOO, there are traces of the
older mans influence His work has
frequently been seen at the Durand-
Ruei gallery IN scattered examples
Now there is comprehensive exhibi-
tion available there, one OF two dozen
landscapes and marines. They have
pleasant freshncss, Maufra was
close observer and 4 competent work
man. Occasionally, as in "Lc pont,
Moret sur Loiner," he has modest
charm. There are some fine blues in
his sea pictures. Yet when all his
merits are summed UP it is still i'm
possible TO feel more than mild ex-
citement over his art lie was sin
cere, conscientious, adequate. He was
rot especially distinguished The rea-
son is obvious enough He had neither
originality nor style.