New-York tribune., 1922-05-21

fills paintings Of his that in theme and
treatment seem echoes Of drcamland.
Such an artist would inevitably have
IN 1889, the son Of printer, Matthew
Marls was not, in his boyhood, a nota-
| ply meditative type. On the contrary,
he seems to have been full of fun He
made many pen drawings in the course
OF his carly training. In the Academy
at Antwerp, where he had Alma-T adema
for companion, he studied anatomy
He grew up with disciplined mind,
thoroughly instructed talent. 1t was
his bent to know what he was about
| Mechanism appealed to him. He could
take clock to pieces and put it to-
gether again. In 1859 he went to Paris.
Montmartre gave him fairly sympa-
thetic world in which to live, but the
one great enthusiasm that he developed
there was, oddly, for Gothic art. This
stayed with him all his life long. Mr..
Fridlander notes an interesting en-
counter Of this period. "In Paris there
came to him Van Gogh, saying he was
desrous Of pursuing the spiritual in
art and asking for the advice of Mat
thew Maris, to whom the latter an
swcred: Go take rope and hang your
self implying that he might as we'll
do that as encounter the starvation
that in all probability awaited him in
such course as he proposed" Maris
himself, steadfastly pursuing the spirit
ual in art did not starve, but he suf-
fered hardship and seems to have been
confirmed by it more and more in a
hermits way of living.
He exchanged Paris for London, and
through fifteen years worked for the
dealer and decorator, Daniel Cottier.
We read of his designing gas globes, of
all things in the world! After his de-
I parture from the Cottier establishment
| he appears to have painted in some
thing like monastic retirement 1t ap-
pears that he did not use models. He
labored a good deal upon his knees, his
canvas resting on the seat and back of
an old Dutch chair. A Spartan SIM
plicity ruled his workroom. "All the
| year round his CRATE was destitute of
/ fire, and through all wintry weather he
would keep the upper part Of his north
window opened wide, creating thus an
atmosphere in which his friends, less
! hardy, sometimes paid dearly, if with
[ willing fortitude, for happiness in his
society; and sometimes he would say
! with evident enjoyment, as icy currents
! crept about the room, how much he
liked to feel the free air blowing over
, head" He had few devoted friends
/ and, when in the mood, loved to talk
with them, but mostly if he was not
/ painting he was immersed in a book.
! heart. Mr.. Fridlander tells this story:
"Once at The Hague when he was
| painting out of doors-a water color
"a little girl who watched him
asked if he had not done. No.
said he, and she departed. Return
ing a little later, she questioned him
|
affirmative reply, dashed over his
work Il handful Of sand she had
brought with her for the purpose!
He spoke Of it as though it had been
quite natural thing, and without
! the least trace of resentment"
He was Stole and, withal, humor-
ist This is to be inferred not from
any particularly droll anecdotes, but
from the general tone and temper of
the man. He lived by an inner light.
! Swan, the animal painter, looking at a
picture by Maris, asked him how GER
tain effect in it had been obtained.
"Swan," said the artist, ''you have to
20 to hell for it." solitary, brood
! ing man, who felt the sorrow of the
world and at the same time had it in
: him to chuckIe In the portrait that is
painted in this book he preserves the
rather forbidding aloofress of the
recluse, and still is nothing if not low
! able Mr.. Fridlander is reverential in
| his pages. We perfectly understand
| his affectionate point of view. He could
not have had any other, grasping as he
did the sincerity, the simplicity, the
true spirituality of his great friend.
/ This is not a book of gossip. 1t is
| rather an endeavor to convey an im-
preston, to make the reader feel what
was fine in the character of Matthew
| Maris. In that it succeeds.
| The faculty and students of the New
| York Evening School of Industrial Art
exhibition Of students work, which
| opens tomorrow evening at 204 East