The New York herald., 1922-03-26
Significant Art of
Sheriff Bob Chanler

Sheriff Bob" Chanler Is a genius.
This was proven. II proof were neces-
sary, by the extraordinary quality OF the
assembly upon the occasion of the open
ing of the exhibition of his works In the
Kingore Galleries. To me. / confess,
the rooms seemed just like heaven. An
Anatole France sort of heaven, / suppose
l ought to add. The angels. or pure
spirits, or whatever they were. that made
up the company seemed to have come
from the far corners of the earth. to be
ecstatncally happy. to be totally without
the English vice of "side," to be howl
ingly picturesque and TO feel in a way
that can only be described as heavenly
the delightful bond that united them ali
so solidly. This bond. II Is needless to
say. was the consciousness Of belonging
to the Societe des Ants de Bob Chdnler.
It was indeed some party. There has
been nothing quite like 1t this winter. and
yet picture shows open each week In
this town by the score. The only ex-
PLANTATION. as / said before, is that Sheriff
Bob is a genius. And II goes to prove
also that we are already a long way
upon the road t. being ''just like Paris"
The nearest thing to 1t that ever
experienced was gathering In the
rooms OF the Cosntesse Something-or-
MARITIME, we were always told) TO hear
some Indian musicians improvlse and III
this gathering an unquenchable lumi-
nary, in spite OF the dim lights, was Ga
brief d'AnnunZio.
Sheriff Rob's party approached the
Partisan one so closely In spirit that for
n moment ] had hallucination that
saw D'Annunzlo there in the flesh. II
did not seem In the least surprising.
Nothing in Sheriff Bob Chanler's art
seems surprising. The giraffes. the
flamingoes. the porcupines he presents
10 you seem instantly like the oldest
friends. But 1t was an hallucination,
just the same. II wasn't Gabriel dan
nunzio. 1t was DR. Christian Brinton.
who for the moment was putting the
porcupines and giraffes through their
PAGES, to the delight OF all and sundry.
The 0erias loci seemed as happy as
n schoolboy. In the midst af per-
feet bombardment Of compliments he
caught sight of me and whispered.
laughingly. i've got nothing to be
afraid of, have IT, which Is the typi-
cal modesty OF unmistalSable talent. He
had. indeed. nothing TO be afraid OF. nor
have we others, his countrymen. On the
contrary, we may be unfeiEnedly proud
OF the entire shooting match.
But as TO saying how, why or where
fore Il is good that is another mat
ter. Sheriff Bob's art is much too fine
to he analyzed. According TO the school
books II Is wrong. according TO the
academies II is wrong. but according to
that higher tribunal that judges works
Of art by the pure JOY that is 10 be got
out OF them they are all right.
The output is as amazing In quantity
AZ II Is In quality, and the walls, which
are completely covered by the screens
and other decorative arrangements,
fairly glow with color. Chanler's mas
terpiece, tho immense panel OF "Gi-
RATES." was too huge to be got into the
galleries and remained at home In the
artists studio In Nineteenth street. But
the beautiful "Porcupine Screen" In old
Japanese browns, the gay "F'lamingo
Screen" and the screens that show the
glories OF the heavens and the wonders
that flourish beneath the sea are as
stunning as ever. There are amateur
ish touches occasionally In these works
OF art but only the fussily ignorant viii
dilate upon them.
There are other artists who can draw
more accurate stars than some of those
in the great Astronomical Screen" be-
longing TO Mrs. Harry Payne whitney.
but none among them could have as
sembled the Armament In such a manly
and vigorous way, or could haze