Evening star., 1936-09-05
RICH ART IN CHILD
George de Forest Brush Won His Place
Among Successful Painters With Home
Beauty and Indian Lore.

mountain SIDE, uttering her dtrge TO
a leaden sky. What emptiness!" ex-
claims Caffln, land desolation Of
world without and spirit within" The
latter shows a young sculptor stand
ing before the work he has wrought,
a wall sculpture, waiting and hoping
for the commendation of his ruler. to
him supreme. In this as in the for
mer there Is sense of spacioasness
as well as Of momentary tensity. The
stories are well told, but as essays,
rather than scenes from life, they are
literary rather than primarily artis-
tic and they are rendered without
evident emotion, but very well.
Brush undoubtedly felt the romance
of Indian life and history and also
through personal contact acquired re-
spect for Indian character and dig
nifty. His work, so inspired, stands be-
tween the writings of Fenimore
Cooper and the poetry of Longfellow.
The Indian massacres, which occurred
so much nearer the time he was paint.
ing these pictures than ours, had no
place in his art-instead it was the
traits OF courage and established order
and custom that he set forth. 1t re-
manned, alas. for contemporary Amer
icar painters to offer as murals to
decorate our public buildings paintings
OF Indians Scalping, numbering and
torturing white men, women and chill
dren, crossing the territory which they
claim as their own.
T is interesting to recall how many
American art students returned
from abroad 40 or so years ago with
the resolve to represent the Indian on
canvas or in stone. Bush Browns first
work, after getting back to New York,
was the Buffalo Hunt" which he and
others have hoped would be erected
here in Rock Creek Park j. @. A.
Wards first important work in sculp-
tuIe was the Indian Hunter" with his
dog. which is in Central Park. New
York. The Sun Vow," by MacNeiI.
in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, was
produced after a sojourn of some
length in Rome and study of an
tiQuities. In these later days the story
has been carried on, and especially fine
paintings of Indians and Indian life
been made by a group of painters liv-
Ing in or, spending a good part Of the
year in Taos, N. Mex, among whom
mention may be made of Irving Couse,
Walter Ufer, Ernest Blumenshein and
Oscar Berninghaus. Through her por-
traits Of Indians our own local painter,
Miss Catherine C. Critcher, has made
enviable reputation.
But to return to Brush. It is not by
his Indian paintings, but those Of
mothers and children. that he will be
longest remembered. With the excep-
ton of the Mother and Child" in the
Corcoran Gallery Of Art, these have
been in the style of the Italian Renais-
Sance. Almost invariably the figures
are much less than life size, but beauti.
fully drawn and exquisitely painted,
idylls of domestic life, lovely to look
upon and remember. Invariably these
are of Mrs. Brush and her children. In
one she is seen reclining in a garden
chair, a small boy leaning interestedly
and affectionately on the head rest;
in another. an upright panel, she Is
seen as walking in garden, leading q
child by the hand. Almost always
there Is also child in her arms. How
the Renaissance painters would have
reJoiced in these works, so rhythmicaI
IN line, so good in composition, so
rich in color and with such admirably
rendering textures! And yet they are
essentially of our own time.
Texture is something which our
modern painters disregard and yet Of
how great importance it is. Silk is
not like wool or velvet, neither is cot
ton like stone or wood. Each has its
characteristic surface; why should
this be disregarded in painting? And
how alluring are certain textures, how
irresistible to the touch, how pleas
ing to the eye! A work of art that
does not tempt the sense of feeling,
the fingers, is not completely fulfilling
ings of George de Forest Brush ex.
eel. They seem to be built up with
a perfect impasto, not tossed of in
moment of inspiration. Notwithstand-
ing the fact that Brush has all his
life been a rebel against conventions,
he, more than almost any other
American painter, has emphasized
the importance of sound knowledge
and the value Of technical proficiency.
Never has he belittled his art or be.
grudged it his best.
"A charm so delicate as that found
in the works of Brush" Samuel Isham
has said, 'is only obtainable by q
craftsmanship equally delicate and
perfect. 1t is not alone for the sem
timent that the great art of Holbein,
the Van Eycks or of Terburg is re-
called. Their complete and calm
mastery of their trade. with no trace
of effort, of difficulties evaded, is not
for our day. but Brush has something
of their quality. His canvases seem
to have been done with their unhurry-
ing, absorbed labor. They have unity
of sentiment and completeness Of rem
dering-great beauty