The New York herald., 1922-03-19

guest rooms! And in the actual A
~. G. Brown were notoriously the first
pictures sold every year, and there
were yards of pansies" by amateur.
ssh painters, and quantities of other
insipidities. But there was an in
quiring spirit. The depths were far
lower than the Acadmy could stand
for at present, but curiously enough,
the celebrities were more celebrated.
The heroes mentioned had had a
great deal to do with the public's re-
sponsc to art. Before them we had
been as provincial as possible and
knew we were provincial. Something
possibly the final lessening of the
burdens of taxation resulting from the
civil war--loosened the strings that
| held our young men in check, and at
that time. in droves, they went abroad
70 learn how great painters paint
One or two, such as Homer and Albert
J.. Ryder, failed to learn many tech
nical secrets. but were stirred to look
hrgely upon life. and later became
| two of our greatest artists. Others,
| including Thayer and Duveneck and
Kenyon Cox, learned almost too much
4 technique.
- But when all these men returned
and began to exhibit their new man.
ners there was genuine enthusiasm
upon the part of the public. We were
no longer provincial. We banished
the Hudson River school of landscap-
lists overnight. 1t was something new
starting up and there was all the elan
that goes with renaissance. To be
sure, now that all these men are
dead, It begins to appear that those
If them are great who were not too
much enslaved by the schools. such as
winslow Homer. Albert Ryder. George
Fuller and Ralph Blakelock, and that
many of those who were most revered
I'm life, such as John La Fargo, Will
lam NJ. Chase. Duveneck. Thayer and
Kenyon Cox. have still to win their
final places among the elect.
Thayer studied with Gerome in
( Paris, the hardest, tightest, most fin
islned painter that ever lived. Prob
ably it was the model and the other
fellows that Interested him most, for
there is no trace of coolness, the one
thing Gerome might have taught him,
in Thayer's work. And probably too
he went often to the Louvre and
looked upon the Bronzinos and the
\ Tlntorettos and the other Italians
who had largish styles. Largeness of
style was the one thing he picked up
in Europe. Whatever else may be
urged against his work. the plan of
the picture always carries as far as
the eye can reach.
He tells in a letter to Mr.. Cortissoz
. that shall be quoted how his aim Is to
get at the soul of the sitter. 1t is
evident in all these canvases now
grouped together after a long separa-
ton that that was his aim, and also
that he took very imperious way
with himself when painting. He
meant to be great. With all his heart
and mind he concentrated upon the
search for the great thing in the sit
ter, but in the crisis of the attack
upon the motif something always
seemed to break. 1t lis seldom In art
that one sees such evidences of ner-
vous strain as may be found in these
Thayer canvases.
In order to get the Bronzino bgness
of manner the face frequently is pulled
back upon it's outlines until IL gets
quite out of relationship with the torso
\ Often the faces seem like masks, and
the brushes, especially in the draper
les. seemed TO have been whirled about
by man in uncontrolled excitement
Now there Is no intention TO say any
more than honesty demands. since the
present test has not been arranged
for me and the others who saw 1t all
long ago, but for the new people who
no longer care whether we are pro-
yincial or not and who Judge art by its
relationship with life. So I end this
chapter by admitting that I personally
feel that tho artist got his Bronzno
manner at too high cost.
His greatest success, technically, is
In tho manipulation of his lights. He
acquired this secret early and applied
! It to his Justly admired paintings OF
roses. The bloom upon n tea rose
. was his, and among the groups OF
| flower paintings of those days Thayer's
! works stood out like stars. To the
| angels he painted later he lent tho
Same soft incandescent light, and II
| was this light, as much as anything,
| that used to hush the spectators
voices. The roses, IL should DO noted
we're hothouse roses. and the bloom
from them which he applied to his
angels cheeks had much that was
cioistral and fragile about II.
Mr.. Cortissoz's article In the mu
seum's catalogue Is written with admi-
table restraint; fun Of the enthusiasm Of
q friend, yet without the extravagant