New-York tribune., 1922-10-29

giving light it's chance. The results
are delightful.
For ali we know he may have been
painting out Of doors for years down
at Provincetown, But the pictures he
has put before the public have been
Enthusiastically the fruits Of labor in the
studio. There are pictures here which
denote the same origin. The man who
gives "The First Mate" it's title is
seated in boat against background
of sail cloth, but the color scheme has
the quality of palette that has never
felt the breath of sea-air. So in the
case of the portrait which wa repro
duce the sylvan background is more
suggestive of some dusky tapestry than
of nature. If the show were made
simply of canvases like these yor
would say that the artist had stoo
still, save for the refining of hi
craftsmanship, which is noticeabl
about the head and the hands in TIL
portrait. But in the collection of abou
twenty-five pieces the majority stan,
for new experiment, the experiment
of painting in sunshine, directly and
swiftly. The unfinished state of most
of the paintings accentuates this air
of new and tentative venture There
are heads and figure subjects roughly
blocked in. There are landscapes in
which, by some amusing coincidence,
Hawthorne seems to 60 back to Chase's
old key on the Shinnecock moors,
/ broadly sketching simple foreground
and f1inging in blue sky across which
the wind blows white clouds tnctured
with rose. Some OF these latter notes
remind one Of the gayety Of Fortuny
and Boldini. But he can't get away
from his natural largeness and vigor.
The new studies are as robust, as forci-
BE as anything he ever did. And they
have luminosity of which his pre-
vious performances had given not the
least suspicion.
We cannot surmise and perhaps Haw-
thorne himself doesn't know the ore-
else direction his art may take under his
latest inspiration. But we are quite sure
that his lmpressionism spells certain
reinvigoration, especially as regards
ms color. Contrast, for example, the
somber tones OF "The First Mate" with
the singing blues and reds of the big
unfinished picture in which two women
are grouped with q negress holding q
nude child. Looking at this higher
keyed work we feel as if great win
dow had been opened in Hawthorne,s
studio. letting in rushing flood of
hight and air. vivifying the compost
Won 1t is She tingling vitality Of the
thlng that moves US. Musing on it
we realize once more this artists
salient virtue, his interest in life, in
authentic natural phenomena. Impress
sionism, as he is feeling his way to-
ward it, is not technical trick, merely.
but true means of expressing solid
truth
/ We say feeling his way" advisedly.
lmpressionism isn't picked UP in a dav
Playing with the binding light In his
huge full length of tennis player he
has got confused in the cross currents
as It were, and missed the unifvinp
simplicity to which we are accustomed
IN his studio paintings, Besides the
fonal clarity which goes overheard
IN the heat Of the fray, pictorial
& charm is utterly missing. 1t is a vast
snapshot, nothing more, and not an al
together satisfying one But what ex-
hiiaratien there is in it! There Is the
clcw to Hawthorne's new phase. 1t is
1 . transitional phase. He has been AL
Tired by the open air and it has mas
tered hin;a where he must ultimately
/ conquer il. The excitement for the
beholder lies in the unmistakablc signs
Of real conflict, Of fresh, strong.
thoroughly artistic contact with a de-
lightfuI problem. There is already
soptething Ike beauty in this work, the
beauty of vivid color, Of living atmos-
phere, and as the painter gets his dag
zlsng effects more undar control he vii,