The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-11-19

Qlu years. ago. MT. OLer mas more
SNOWY technique as painter, but he
Is not one, two, three with Reming
ton in reporting life. Remington of
course fell into the mad, wild circles
Of the genuine cowboys, recruited
from the ends of the world. and men
tally he was one with them.
The West then, so to speak. was
more East than 1t Is now. Now 1t has
settled down. There are people now
in the West who have been born in
the West. They have their own
problems and their own viewpoints,
and from themselves ultimately will
spring the artists who will do their
histories. The atmosphere created
by Taos, aided by the museums that
are springing up In all these Western
centers. will aid greatly In fixing
standard. Taos serves. In fact, since
we must have these artistic colonies
apparently Taos must be labeled as
the most praiseworthy of all.
The Manner of william WaIcot.
The etching manner and the water
color manner Of William Walcot an
Englishman, now exhibiting in the
knoedler Galleries, have more in COM
mon than the merely deriving from
the same artist should warrant. The
two mediums are as different as diff
ferent can be- but evidently Mr. Wal
cot doesn't think so His water colors
are astonishingly like etchings and his
etchings, in spite OF the fact that he
sticks pretty closely to the bitten line
and shuns enveloping tones, are
mighty like watercolors.
He has been, 1t seems. In love with
the grandeurs of ancient Rome and
such things as the Baths of Cara
Gala and the Coliseum have occupied
him greatly a friend Of his, Mr..
Salaman of London. has thought that
Mr.. Walcot's Imagination works Gre
atively. md he has filled up. as 1t were.
anew the gaps of centuries" There
Mr.. Salaman's imagination has also
been working creatively. Mr.. WAL
cot doesn't really fill up the eaps of
centuries. The gaps OF centuries
serve useful PURPOSES and never should
be filled up, at least, not by artists.
That / think is where Mr. Froude
got into difficulties with his sketch of
Cesar" He filled In the gaps OF CEN
turtles and made Caesar seem precisely
like one OF our CHICAGO business men,
and the sensitive reader doesn't en-
JOY coming TO any such conclusion as
that. Mr.. walcot. 1t is true. furnishes
Iis the old Baths OF Caracalla and re-
lines the now crumbling brick arches
with the original mosaics. but the
drama of life that enacted itself be-
fore these gorgeous walls is rather ca
valierly crossed over He tells us that
the mighty Romans were but midgets
within the gigantic temples that they
built for themselves, but beyond that
he might as well be an abstract MEM
Der OF the modern school. so little
does he insist upon filing up the
gaps For my part am the better
pleased. One Alma Tadema was
enough for this period.
The artist has come TO New York
with his pictures and has already es-
saved the giant structures in the
lower part OF the city. His work is
always COOL should have also said
In the BEGINNING that II was clever
but the New York pictures are very
cool New York is the modern Rome
we may as we'll n1odes'ly admit II
and II can easily be understood that
an artist who hrs been doing Baths
OF Caracalla with the help OF the en-
cyclopedias nnicht be somewhat dashed
at the first sight of our freshly gilded
and brightly mosaiced towers. He may
warm 20 them later.