New-York tribune., 1922-03-12
Nuance and Fact
Landscapes by Creacen, Symons
AID Rnal

Landscapes by Creacen, Symons
ard Beal
1t is impossible to avoid the matter
of contrast brought into the fore
ground at the Macbeth gallery. In one
room there are paintings by Mr.. Ed
mund Greacen; in the other paintings
BY Mr.. Gardner Symons. One is all
for delicacy and the nuance. The other
is all for full, resoundng statement.
Never were there two more antithet-
cal associates. Mr.. Greacen paints
both landscape and the figure. In the
treatment of the latter he does not ap-
pear to have made any appreciablc ad-
vance. His dainty young women arc
delightful appsritions-an might, as
studies of form, protitably take on
more of an aspect of structural weight
Their fragility is not that of nature,
but of rather thin modelling and draw
ing. They please without carrying
complete conviction. The landscapes
are enchanting. In the absence of
catalogue we can give no titles OF num-
bers, but must be content with gen
eralizaton on the pictures at large,
with special reference to the studies
OF unmistakably wet snow. They have
great beauty Of tone. Refinement is
developed almost to an extreme. We
have felt on other occasions that Mr..
Greacen's delicacy carried it's own per
lis. Mistness will sometimes lead one
further astray than midnight black
ness. 1t would be interesting to see
what he would make of q scene bathcd
in blazing sunshine. In the mean time
there is personal quality in his soft
grayness that causes US to overlook the
want Of bone and sinew in his scheme
of things.
There is plenty Of bone and sinew in
MIR. Symons's work-almost too mucn.
Light. as he handles it. is pitilessly
revealing. II it falls upon such a thing
as a nuance it strikes it dead. But
this painter has at least the quality Of
his defect. IF he paints with an en-
position, he at any rate achieves
comforting measure Of sheer tangible
truth His earth is substantial His
trees are truly rooted in it. A hillside
in ono of his pictures actually climbs
toward the sky, and the SKY vibratcs
with color, His winter scenes have in
them an authentic chill. Beauty does
not altogether escape Mir. Svnlons. II
enters into his art. But it seems to
enter by accident and through no emo
tonal Intervention of his. Ia short.
these arc not subjective studies of
landscape, They are the work Of q
kecnly observant eye, q sure and very
strong hand. Imagination and taste
are in abeyance
MIR. Clifford Beal's art is growing bv
the proverbial leaps and bounds. It
must be only about year ago that we
So" at the kraushaar gallery two paint /
lngs of his that spelled advance. a view
across the Hudson River and scene
IN Central Park. Now at the same ral- |
lery he exhibits some pictures that are
entirely different in attack and that
are better Something has been lost
III the transition he has made. some
'h'ng OF tenderness, Of charm. But
more has been gained. He paints the
coast scenes here assembled more Wig
orously, and, by the same token. with
greater simplicity The "Sword Fish
erman' is work enkindinr in its
J. 1orce, Its vitality. 1t is we'll composed.
'oo' an interesting pictorial unit. There
are few pictures in which the artist
Is willing to be charming again. We
may cite the color and light in the
'f'sherman's Hut and the skillful|v
touched bit Of vivacitv which he calls
ne Promenade" But what impresses
us most in these paintings, and in the
ilt'ie group of water colors shown in
another room, is Mr. Beals new gust
OF energy, the increased directness If