The New York herald., 1921-04-24

up with enthusiasm. Modern morality is
a curious thing. Nobody understands
it. least of all artists. Mr. Biddle is
quite right not to publish yet while.
Mr.. Biddle returns to Tahiti in about
two months Once that country casts
spell upon you it appears to be all up
with you. Mr. Bddle was there nine
months the other time He seems TO
have got rather well acquainted. To
have learned the anguauge well enough
in nine months to translate from classic
legend and to have learned the customs
well enough to do betrothal scenes--a
betrothal scene is one OF Mr. Biddle's
principal bids-s swift. But nine
months is not enough In which to acquire
a new technique. Mr. Bddle employs
his old one which is q very good and
impressionistic one.
/ liked best several smallish canvases,
landscapes with small figures, because
they gave the charm of the tropical
scene, without troubling one too deeply
about the savages. Mr.. Biddle's style
will change later on. indeed in the pic
ture called "Amat' there are signs that
something is happening TO 1t now, and
he will forget about impressionism, and
then probably will trouble us deeply
with the psychologists of the ingra-
tiating brown race.
In the meantime his friend, Hunt
Diedrich, thinks he has accomplished a
great deal already and has written
smashing foreword for the catalogue in
which he comes into direct collision
with some of the advanced French
thinkers of the time upon the subject
OF Taste" Hear Mr.. Diedrch:
Taste is the choice of the individual
imposed upon the many. 1t is lucidity,
courage and conviction. Few people
have taste. All cannot be leaders.
Many have appreciation and devotion TO
the beautiful. They are the disciples
who fulfil the inspirations Of the
prophets
"rrhe monuments Of old stand for the
taste OF the artists who imposed them
selves upon statesmen and soldiers. The
latter are OF oblivion. and their actions
are the echo of the poets and artists
whose ideas they immortalized.
III is hard to escape tradition. Biddle
owes his plastic training to France. The
war brought to him disiliusons, for It
made him realize that the time has come
when we can no longer follow In the
footsteps of European art. Unable to
find stimulus in aching Europe, he
turned directly to nature. To avoid
tradition, to plant upon the ruins of the
classics a new style, to find a new eX-
preston is the pleasure of American
youth.
There are many painters and color
lists. Biddle has added perfume and
intuition. Fascinated by the aroma and
weight OF tropical color and form. he
painted for a year in the West Indies
and has recently returned from nine
months stay in Tahiti
1T is hard to escape tradition, the
pitfall OF blind obedience to old prophets
and heroes ART Is a living evolution a
receipt for life. To taste IL 10 live. TO
feel. TO enjoy. Thank Nod. the artist
need not render account"
Mr.. Diedrich doesn't say so in so
many words. but he appears to think
that taste precedes action, that men Of
action generate taste. How Mortified
M Paul Tribe will be when he reads
such a dictum NJ. Tribe holds that in
creative period there is no such thing
as taste. Taste arrives 10 the dille-
tantes who separate the good from the
bad long after the husky creatures have
flung their successes and failures upon
the plant world.