Modern Art

Courtesy of "201" PROVINCETOWN

BY A. WALKOWITZ

tures there is a positive dominance of brilliancy which one remembers long after the actual vision.

I cannot help noting here the solid improvement Walkowitz has made since his last exhibition. His work is sturdier and less tentative; and at times he reveals a mastery which evidences the end of his experimental period. Here is an artist who should genuinely interest all other painters who are seriously striving toward deep expression. There is too much slavish discipleship to-day, both in and out of the schools; but Walkowitz is a painter who sedulously follows his own vision and despises that recognition which comes in the wake of other men's achievements.

At the Durand-Ruel Galleries there is a comprehensively chosen and tastefully hung exhibition of Monets. No. 2 is typically Monet both in brushing and in its sombre brown-black-blue colour scheme; but No. 1, done in the early stippling Impressionistic manner, is more like Pissarro; and No. 7 is as light and dainty as a Sisley. Indeed, nearly all of Monet is here; one can see the opalescent effects, the grey foggy atmosphere, and the dazzling sunshine, as well as the artist's many changes in technique. No. 5 comes nearer to being an ordered work than any other in the exhibition; while No. 13 is one of the most solidly painted bits which has ever come from the brush of this brilliant and important, though artistically

ineffectual, painter. Monet as history is admirable; but purely as a painter he falls far short of greatness. The technical virtuoso in him engulfs the artist. He vibrates to external nature, and his work is the direct rebound of what he has felt. His will seems in total abeyance while his brush is in hand. He is an example of a man emotionally overbalanced, one whose static outlook could see but one aspect to nature—namely, light. Renoir used light for purposes of form, but Monet is almost wholly ignorant of form. He is, however, deserving of study; for one cannot understand what followed him without knowing the problems he solved.

At the Daniel Gallery, Burlin and Man Ray expose. Ray formerly showed unmistakable signs of talent; but his new work possesses none of his earlier good qualities. Such artificial devices as electric bells, push buttons, gilt paper, darning silk and finger prints, which are plastered about his canvases, do not create any divergency of surface material. In their obviousness they serve only as somewhat humorous distractions.

Burlin at present is studying colour in its decorative aspects on realistic figures, as did, at one time, Matisse, Manguin, Puy and Lebasque. Actually I prefer some of this young American's work, as painting, to that of any of those mentioned, save Matisse. Burlin, though clumsy in drawing and without any profound knowledge of form, has made an astonishing advance since he last exposed; and his enthusiasm of advancement is very evident in his work. Nevertheless, despite his great talent, he has fallen into the error of many modern men: he has neglected all fineness of form and all variety of parts, with the result that his masses, though appearing heavy and solid, are in reality only great hollow enclosures after the style of Stern, L'Hote, Bernard, and the early Gauguin. But Burlin is steadily moving forward, and as he learns more of the human body he will seek effects less and lasting qualities more.

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