New-York tribune., 1922-10-08
By Royal Cortissoz

By Royal Cortissoz
: AZ an earlier date than usual there
ara activities to be observed in the
art galleries Several exhibitions are
onenea this week and they are auspi-
rious,v interesting. Coming at the same
t;na &c the bankers convention, they
ven,;nd us that they are concerned with
.;n,;,.r issues. Picture selling depends
n,on business prosperity. Nobody
,,no,v. inst what the season just open
;ns has before it, Dealers have been
catching the war clouds in tho Near
r.s, Il seems trifle absurd that
.ffa;rs in Constantinople should in
t,neace the fortunes of shop on Fifth
Avenue, but they do precisely this
thing. As the chances of a new war
rscede the artist may breathe a sigh
Of relief. His prospects are better,
this winter at all events, if the world
is dedicated to peace and recpnstruc-
tion.
There was a summer exhibition 1T
Southampton described in these
columns which served as memorial
to the late William NJ. Chase. 1t was
composed of paintings by his disciples,
with one or two from his own brush.
At the Ferargil gallery there now opens
another show, similarly touched by
sentiment, devoted altogether to his
art. 1t is made up of paintings owned
by his family, justly announced as a
comprehensive group. The two rooms
reveal him practically at full length,
doing for him on small scale what
was done for him at the Metropolitan
Museum not long after his death.
These paintings will revive apprecia-
ton of remarkable talent They dis
close at once the eclectic nature of
Ghsse's art. The luscious study Of q
melon which comes early in the list is
unmistakably a souvenir of his emu
lation Of the manner of Vollon. Some
of the figure painting here recalls i'm
mediately the mote" OF Alfred Ste
vens. This sympathy for Continental
methods was always cropping out in
Chase. But it is important to observe
it as consisting of sympathy, not Of a
weak dependence upon what other men
did. All the time Chase was born
painter, doing brilliant things because
he could not help himself. One of the
most significant of these exhibits is a
little early water color, THE Red
Shawl The technical adroitness in
it is positively exhilarating.
1t is his essential vitality that counts
even when the given painting happens
to be the fruit of some experimental
mood, presently abandoned. There are
portraits in the collection, clever,
decorative pieces, which have been to
some extent out-moded Their faciIe
craftsmanship does not quite develop
into the preservativc virtue Of style.
Yet there is no denying the artistic
susto in them, the swift, elastic quail
ity in the painters touch. His ardor
still glows. And it gives us, along with
his cleverncss, a certain refreshing
force as Of the truth sincerely stated.
One of Chase's portraits of himself is
here, delightful presentment of his
elegance, his pictliresqneness. Yoo
are aware OF he same traits In the
various other canvaseg, the portraits,
the bits of still life, the Venetian
sketches, and so on. Chase's lightness,
his vividness, his brisk, effective
craftsmanship, are in them all If there
is no great depth anywhere there is
in what lesser man would have left
merely superficial genuine artistic
charm
The Kraushaar gallery is filed with
paintings recently executed on the
Maine coast by Mr. George Luks. One
OF them, the "Two Lights" is fine
example of the beauty which he can
achieve in the modulation of tone when
ne chooses to give his mind to the pro-
cess. The scheme is very simple. 1t
WOULD be lost without tenderness of
color and Mr.. Luks wreaks himself ON
'ais, developing the most delicate har-
mony we have ever encountered in any
picture of his. He almost slips into
the spirit of Whistlerian study Al
most, but not quite. The pictorial
motive has his characteristic boldness.
The fourteen other paintings are en-
srely in his familiar vein of rugged
impressionism. He paints turbulent
waters, dashing themselves against a
rocky shore, and when he introduces a
hgure he makes it natural part of his
fough-hewn composition. We sigh, here
and there, for the intervention of that
tonal charm which belongs to the "Two
Lights"
The surfaces are too often panty,
crude. Perhaps the lovely bloom of the
canvas just cited struck the artist as