Evening star., 1936-12-19
Local Galleries Contribute to
WinSlolU Homer Exhibition in
Nom Vnrk

W1nSlOU homer EIHlOlLlOH III
Ne1U York.
MORE and more frequently local
collections are being drawn upon
for notable out-of-town exhibitions.
Both the National Gallery of Art and
the Phillips Memorial Gallery are
among the lenders to the impressive
Winslow Homer centenary exhibition
which opened last Tuesday in the
Whitney Museum of American Art in
New York. The latter lent two charm
ing water colors; the former an oil
painting from the Evans collection
High Clif-Coast of Maine" said to
have been considered by the artist as
his masterpiece.
This Is q superb exhibition dnci-
dentally, a great contrast to the one
OF contemporary painting, which 1t
directly follows and well calculated
to provoke thought as well as engender
admiration. 1t includes material
indicative Of every phase OF the artists
career" from the earliest days TO the
latest - drawings. illustrative work,
water colors and oil paintings. Six or
more galleries, on two floors, have
been given over to it; an illustrated
catalogue, with introduction by Lloyd
Goodrich and photography, has been
issued, and every pains have been
taken apparently to dignity the dis
play.
The High Cliff-CoaSt OF Maine
has been hung in the main gallery on
the first floor, and here may be seen
not only such famous works by this
American master as "Alrs Well" from
the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
and The Gulf Stream" from the
METROPOLITAN Museum, New York, but
number of canvases from private
collections very little known. such as
"Breezing Up''-a party of young peo-
pie in a catboat on fairly rough sea
and Right and Left"-two wild
ducks-one shot and falling-fying
over the dunes near the sea.
As far as possible. the paintings
have been arranged in sequence, be-
ginning with subjects found in the
South when, for q period during the
Civil War, Homer was a special artist
at the front for Harper's Weekly. and
concluding with his powerful epics OF
the sea painted in late life when prac-
the coast of Maine.
One thing in common which these
works share is the evidence of frank
sincerity on the part Of the artist.
Mr.. Goodrich quotes him as having
said. When I have selected a sub
ject I paint it exactly as it appears"
which is very significant. Certainly
Winslow Homer spent no time feeling
his own spiritual muscles or in har-
rowing effort to express himself. He
painted what he saw and as truth
fully as he could; to this end he bent
all his energies.
From first to last, he was in his
works illustrative. and viewing this
exhibition as a whole, drawings, wood
cuts and paintings, one cannot fail
to be struck by the thought that
Homer, better than almost any other,
has presented what we delight today
to designate as the American scene"
What Is more, he has done it delight
fully, without maudlin sentiment or
Grass yulgarity. In his paintings, he
shows us q group of Negroes in their
cabin home, as we might have seen
them had we stood in their doorway,
not as racial specimens. but simple
people leading a normal life: he shows
us children at play, as in Swapping
the Whip" and life on the farm ex-
emplified in WEAVING the Calf"
Even when his chief concern was
painting the sea from his rockbound
coast, because Of its moving power
and dramatic significance. he intro
duced figures to give human interest,
relating Nature to man.
N7INSLOW HOMER is said never to
have been what is called . good
mixer" even when living in New York
and working as an illustrator-he did
not mingle to any extent with his fell
low artists, he did not talk about art,
he did not 60 to exhibitions. IF q
man wants to become an artist" he
is quoted as saying. "he must never
look at pictures" And yet few, 1t
would seem, have so understandingly
and well presented the life of his own
time as he, and few have more faith
fully carried ON the great tradition.
OF exceptional interest in this ex-
hibition are the early drawings which
witness unequivocally to inherent tall
ent-creative ability-and the wood
cuts made for Harper's Weekly and
later Appleton's Journal from his
drawings. Unquestionably Homer was
not always fortunate in his engravers,
some of whom were very poor, but
somehow, even 50, the spirit and in
dividuality of the artist dominate and
make themselves felt despite the fee
BILE and sometimes erring craftsman
ship Of the Intermediary. These en-
gravings-wood cuts-cover o great
variety Of scenes-rural and urban
life at pleasure resorts and on the
farm-in city and village-they are
indeed "the passing show" as the art
ist saw it, and they revivify the life
of his time. Nothing could be more
literal and reportorial. This in q
measure Is true of the Homer oils,
which, while invariably strong, are
closely painted with great accuracy
In detail. Indeed, 1t was not until he
took up watercolor as a medium that
he seems to have found complete
freedom in expression. The boldness.
the vigor and freshness Of these is
matchless. Than his water colors of
sport life on New England streams
and lakes and woodland, nothing
could be more entrancing. Having
faithfully served his apprenticeship,
he allows himself, In these, WELL
earned liberty.
One of the two watercolors lent by
the Phillips Memo&al Gallery is an
early work, date, ,Sassl-s group Of
children "on the cliH-Iynemouth. "