Evening star., 1923-11-01
The North Window
BY LEILA MECHLIN

asked friendly artist recently, that
none OF. you can paint like Rembrandt
today, when, according to Prof Van
Dyke, there were a. dozen or more
who could equal him. at the time he
was producing" The artist shook
his. head and then, with the fash of
extenuating afterthought, exclaimed:
But five could nobody would want
them" And there was much truth
in the statement. A modern Rem
brandt in the present day and gen.
GRAFTON would probably go a-begg!ng.
To sor1e this may seem shocking
admission, but 1t need not be lament
ed: Happily We are not repeating the
are building an art of our own---an
art which reflects the life and. spirit
or our own time, and, despiteS the
calamity crters, is virile and beauti-s
dui; d,rR Rembranct was the product of
very fact that his era and his art
nave passed makes his works the more
valuable. We can learn from the
past, we can cherish, and do cherish,
old traditions, but we cannot repeat
nor reproduce that which is far be-
There has been much discussion of
the,>merits and demerits of modern
art. The f'moderntsts," so called, have
perpetrated many crimes against rea-
son ana beauty. They have been
inucn held up to. ridicule, but it
Is not UNLIKELY that they have per-
FORMED a helpful service-such, for
instance, as Winston Churchill in his
World Crisis" claims Lord Fisher
ala TOT the British navy prior to the
great war. 1T was Fisher" he says
VINO hoisted the storm signals and
them and beat them and cajoled them
out OF slumber into intense activity"
But" he adds, the navy was not a
pleasant place while this was going
on. The same may be said of art in
these later days 1t has not been
pretty-it has not been pleasant
put the artists probably did need to
be shaken and beaten and caioIed
out or their peaceful slumbers in or
der that they might get q new angle
or vision'-that they might worthily
carry on the torch.
x 4 ~
II any one doubts that whatever
the cause the effect has been benefi-
cial and that over the face of art to-,
day mas come Change change for
the better-let him or her straight
way visit the Washington Water
Color Clubs annual exhibition now on
view in the Corcoran Gallery OF Art.
IhiS exhibition is mostly made UP of
the works of local artists, yet 1t is
conspicuously notable for merit The
pictures which are set forth are crisp
and sparkling, definite, to the point.
colorful. strong There is no mig
gflng, no cropping around for some
thing undiscovered; each holds its
own by reason of technical compe-
tence as we'll as subjective interest.
Ihey are all. or almost all. courage
ously outspoken. But what they saw
Is worth repeating-the message they
deliver is that OF beauty. 1t is the
spirit OF the new art which here finds
expression.
So 1t is that all great art is born.
NO one conceives IL, but. out Of the
darkness 1t comes forth, many con-
tributfng consciously or unconscious
iy. Dutch painter said 10 the writer
some years ago. I'VE are producing
nothing new that is worth while; we
are holden by the vision of the great
men who have been among us-if we
paint a landscape. it must be in the
manner of Mauve or Maris; If a genre,
1t will be little 1sraels or Neuhuys
we see with their eyes" The French
impressionists opened the windows
and let in the light and the air-the
modernists seem to have taught us to
understand form and TO have opened
our eyes to the glory of pure color
Certainly art today has virility and
brilliancy unknown in the past. And
We are just stepping over the thresh-
old of accomplishment. Whittier we
shall be led we still are unaware. But
that there is progress and promise
lends confidence and interest. Per-
haps after all ours may be known as
an age OF art.
In a delightful article in the Field
of Art, Scribner's Magazine for No
vember, Mrs Van Rensselaer,, refer
ring to American art and the public
ventures the suggestion that even in
appreciation we are not so far behind
in this country or generation as is
often supposed. She cites the COM
plants made by the artists of the
past-certain great painters of the
Renaissance in Italy. Whistler among
moderns. and others-that the public
cares naught for art. and says. "It is
we'll to think also of Plutarch's story
d
heavy hand with which our legisla-
tors sometimes touch matters Of art"
Mrs. Van Rensselaer,, moreover, does
not consider that we have been timid,
have not known our own minds, nor
if we had been, she rightly declares,
Innes, Winslow Homer and Homer
Martin would not have come into
their own. That our cities are not
full of statues and other works in
sculpture by Saint Gaudens is not, she
ot,,S1 1on Of ~ ranto to-,
or will on the part of the public, but
the inability of one pair of hands and
an artist with conscience to pro-
duce. The orders were not wanting.
Where our shortcomings seem most
noteworthy to this admirable and
revered critic is in the line of the
decorative arts and in the depart
ment of art and criticism. we should
have" she says quite truly, more
critics Of the quality, let US say, of
is essential that our artists should
concern themselves intimately with the
crafts"
In support of the contention that
Americans are not Indifferent to art,
one recalls the number Of art museums
that have been established in differ
ent parts of the country in. the last
Ave years and the records of attend
ance at such institutions within the
last year. Over 100000 persons
visited the Art Institute Of Chicago
and the Metropolitan Museum, New
York, between January, 1922, and
January, 1923. The attendance at
the Boston Museum Of Art was over
100000. The attendance at the Freer
Gallery in this city since it's opening
last spring has averaged approxi-
mately 400 a day. And against these
numbers may be set the attendance
at great museums abroad According
to statistics recently received from
authoritative sources the attendance
at the National Gallery, London for