Gallery 80 is notable for the work of painters who have followed rather closely the old academic traditions: for the smooth and polished canvases of W. M. Paxton and Philip Leslie Hale. There are also seven landscapes by Willard L. Metcalf, fresh attractive work of the "plein-air" school.
Gallery 67 is rich in fine landscapes, and contains the best of the exhibition"s marines. Here are the only works of Charles H. Davis, a notable follower of the poetic Inness School, and of Leonard Ochtman and Ben Foster, who stand well to the fore among the more vigorous landscapists. Also worthy of attention are the landscapes of Braun, Borg, White, Wendt, J. F. Carlson, Rosen and Browne. The marines represent well a department of painting in which Americans have long excelled; on wall A are four by Paul Dougherty, on B and C three by Frederick J. Waugh, and on D one by Emil Carlsen. Of the other paintings the most interesting is the idyllic bit by Hugo Ballin on wall C, representative of the decorative tendency.
Gallery 68 contains as its most important exhibit three portraits by J.
C. Johansen, on wall B, all typical of the brilliant fluency of this remarkable painter. Among the landscapes here the most important are the two Schofields on wall D, typical of the best and sanest phase of Impressionism in America. Very important too are the canvases by Daniel Garber on wall C.
Gallery 69 contains a mixed collection, with such different good things as Lawton Parker"s polished figure studies (wall B) and J. Francis Murphy"s poetic landscape (wall C). On wall C is a painting by John W.
Alexander, one of the leaders in American art, which is typical of his method of subordinating subject interest to line arrangement and color composition.
Gallery 70-Portrait Room. On wall C are three portraits by Irving R.
Wiles, and on D two by Julian Story-both names long well-known in American art. But the surprising thing is that several of the canvases by less known men stand up with, or even surpa.s.s, these.
Gallery 71 is notable chiefly for some good landscapes.
Gallery 72 contains little to hold the attention, unless it is the group of canvases by Walter McEwen, who shows adherence to the older traditions, not only in smoothness of technique, but in sentimentalism and general prettiness.
Gallery 73 is given up chiefly to Alson Clark"s over-sketchy and intemperately colored Panama pictures. The most interesting thing here is Ernest Lawson"s "Beginning of Winter," on wall B, a representative work by one of the most successful American followers of Impressionism.
Gallery 74 is a room of good landscapes, with a few outstanding canvases like Will S. Robinson"s "Group of White Birches" on wall C.
A new start should be made here by pa.s.sing through rooms 70 and 71 to 43, from which the numerical order can be followed back to room 51, adjoining the central hall.
Galleries 43 and 44 have a range from many mediocre to a few really good things, lacking anything that demands special attention.
Gallery 45 is a room rich in comparative values. Note the delicacy of treatment and of color in William Sartain"s three landscapes, on wall A, and in Birge Harrison"s atmospheric paintings on wall D. Compare these with the heavily painted and richly colored canvases by Walter Griffin on wall C, and then with the more straightforward, vigorous work of Charles Morris Young on wall B. Harrison, Griffin and Young, at least, are of the distinctly modern school; but note how individually each has utilized his inheritance of vibrating color and light. On wall A are two fine figure studies by Robert Reid, an innovator and a really great painter, though he did not show it when he painted the panels for the Fine Arts rotunda.
Gallery 46. There is much poor material here; but on walls B and C are some paintings by Frank Vincent Dumond that are interesting for their fresh coloring and their solving of light problems.
Gallery 47 contains evidences of progress in varied lines, from E. L.
Blumenschein"s big Indian pictures, and Cohn Campbell Cooper"s studies of American cities, to the experiment in painting flesh against a richly varied background, by Richard Miller, a gifted American who has long lived in Paris.
Gallery 48 contains much promising work of various tendencies, but no outstanding features.
Gallery 49 contains, on wall A, a splendid collection of the work of Dwight W. Tryon, one of the older school of landscapists, who helped to break the way for the moderns and has kept up with them to a great extent. With the exception of one canvas, the pictures on walls B and D are by J. Alden Weir, another roadbreaker, and an experimenter with new effects of light and atmosphere. In such canvases as "June" and "White Oak" one finds some of the best that American art has built on the theories of Monet.
Gallery 50 contains some good landscapes, but nothing that demands special attention aside from Sergeant Kendall"s refined figure studies.
Gallery 51 is given over in general to the independents and extremists of American art. Here are canvases by Glackens, Sloan, and Breckenridge, rather disappointing to one who has watched hopefully the movement they represent. Certainly their exhibits are suggestive of a rather undisciplined vigor and freedom. On wall C the five canvases in the lower row are by Robert Henri. They are the experiments of a master, rather than his best works. The truly representative Henri picture is the "Lady in Black Velvet," on wall D. This has a wonderful synthetic quality, a suppression of detail and a spotting of interest at the important point. There is, too, a spiritual quality that is lacking in the other canvases. On the other side of the doorway is Gertrude Lambert"s "Black and Green," a notably fine canvas.
The only other general rooms of the contemporary American section are those at the far north end of the building, beyond the foreign sections, numbered from 117 to 120.
Gallery 117 is a sort of catch-all room, in which are many things that never should have been admitted to the galleries. The really interesting feature is the series of canvases by Frieseke, full of light and freedom. Gallery 118 is less mediocre on the whole, but lacks any features of special appeal. Gallery 119 includes a surprising conglomeration of paintings and drawings in all mediums, wherein the extremists have their say. There is a wealth of interest here, but one must have time to separate the bad from the good. Gallery 120 is also marked generously by the newer tendencies. The important feature is the group of virile paintings by George Bellows, on wall C. These mark the most successful American attempt to grasp sanely the bigness and freedom of the post-Impressionist movements.
One-man Rooms. As a part of the plan to show the various influences on the course of American art, it was decided to give up a number of rooms to individual displays by leaders of the several well-marked tendencies.
Galleries 75-79, 87-90, and 93, at the east side of the building on either side of the center, contain these "one-man shows."
Gallery 75-Sargent. Here are shown a number of canvases by the man generally considered the greatest living American painter-certainly the greatest of the portraitists. Though containing none of the really famous paintings, there are portraits which show the typical Sargent brilliancy-the swift sureness and the perfect balance of restraint and freedom. The James portrait is especially worthy of study.
Gallery 76-Mathews. In this room are shown a number of canvases by Arthur F. Mathews, most important of the California painters, as well as a few by Francis MacComas, another Californian. Mathews stands primarily for the decorative tendency. His canvases have a n.o.ble sense of repose that is too often lacking in contemporary work, and there is remarkable color harmony here.
Gallery 77-Melchers. Here are representative works by Gari Melchers, a famous American who has long lived abroad. Unmistakably these canvases are from a masterly brush; but the coloring is not always good, and the room is somewhat disappointing.
Gallery 78-Ha.s.sam. By common consent Childe Ha.s.sam is considered the greatest American follower of Impressionism. He is an innovator who has carved a sure place for himself by adding a new vigor to the methods of the original Impressionists. Such decorative canvases as 2033 on wall B, and such delicate ones as 2029 on wall D, should be compared with the Monets in room 61.
Gallery 79-Chase. This room is designed to show the work of an American who was greatly influenced by the Munich School of painters.
William M. Chase, both in his portraits and in his remarkable still-life studies, shows the fine German thoroughness rather than French brilliancy. The four canvases that hold the places of honor on all four walls show clearly the influence of Whistler.
Gallery 87-Duveneck. Here are works by Frank Duveneck, who like Chase studied at Munich. Sound in draughtsmanship, steady, and well-thought out, they maintain a remarkable standard of excellence. It is instructive to step from here into the adjoining large gallery, where the French influence is predominant.
Gallery 88-Redfield. In the winter scenes of E. W. Redfield one finds the sure touch of a master of the new and vigorous school of American landscapists. Redfield has modified Impressionism, clinging to a certain reality, and yet achieving the sparkling atmospheric effects of the luminists.
Gallery 89-Tarbell. In contrast to Ha.s.sam and Redfield and Twachtman is Edmund C. Tarbell, who has taken but little from the Impressionist group. His most characteristic and most appealing work can be seen in the canvases on wall A, beautifully lighted interiors which show the academic tendency, but in a new and delightful way.
Gallery 90-Keith. This collection of canvases, with its sameness of subject and arrangement, is hardly typical of the late William Keith at his best. He was the western representative of the Inness-Wyant school of the late Nineteenth Century, though he leaned more to the romantic than did the others.
Gallery 93-Twachtman. Here are the works of a painter who is closer to Monet than to the more vigorous American school of modified Impressionism. It is well to study one wall, A perhaps, and then to go to the Redfield and Ha.s.sam rooms, and then to the group of Monets, to see the various ways in which Impressionism has spread.
Gallery 26-Whistler. The Whistler room is quite appropriately placed with the foreign historical rooms, rather than with the other one-man galleries-as if Whistler should be grouped with the influences rather than the influenced. The room contains none of the artist"s finest paintings, but is well representative of the several sides of his work.
Wall D shows Whistler the portraitist, with "his faces and figures that emerge from a soft black background, very much as one sees a person in the gathering twilight." On walls A and B it is Whistler the colorist, and on wall B especially, Whistler the rediscoverer of j.a.panese color and figure composition. On wall D is the "Study of Jo," an uncharacteristic early work, which shows the influence of Courbet.
American Section: Prints
The American prints occupy rooms 29 to 34, along the west wall of the building just south of the central vestibule. The exhibit is very representative, and contains both historical and contemporary sections.
Gallery 29-Prints by Whistler. Here is a collection of Whistler"s etchings and lithographs, with a few drawings. The distinguishing quality is an exquisite delicacy.
Gallery 30-Historical Prints. In this room one can trace the development of American engraving and etching from the beginnings to the present day. Starting on wall D one finds steel engraving ill.u.s.trated from the days of Paul Revere to its decadence; then the history of wood-engraving to its flowering in Cole and Wolf; early and recent American etching; and a few modern copper engravings and lithographs.
Gallery 31-Prints by Pennell. This room contains a splendid collection of prints from all of Joseph Pennell"s important series, in etching, lithography and mezzotint-a remarkable display by one of the world"s greatest etchers.
Galleries 32 and 33-Contemporary Etchers. These two rooms contain a rich collection of contemporary American work that should be studied print by print. Even a superficial look will indicate that even without Pennell and Whistler the American etchers are doing work universally worth while.
Gallery 34-Color Prints. Here is an interesting collection of color prints in both etching and wood engraving. It shows the achievement of the younger artists in mediums that were practically unknown in this country ten years ago.
American Section: Ill.u.s.tration
Galleries 41 and 42 are given up to drawings and paintings by Howard Pyle, who has been called "the father of modern American ill.u.s.tration."
Gallery 26, adjoining the Italian section, contains a small but fairly interesting group of original drawings for ill.u.s.tration. In the work of Wyeth, Schoonover, Elizabeth Shippen Green, Jessie Wilc.o.x Smith, and others, there is very strong evidence of Howard Pyle"s influence. On wall B of this room, and in the adjoining gallery 27, there is a collection of photographs of American sculpture and mural paintings.
Gallery 36, adjoining the main west vestibule, has a miscellaneous collection of drawings and paintings in all mediums, ranging from the most delicate and polished to caricature and sketchiness run riot. There is a great deal of interest, but little that is important in a big way.
American Section: Miniatures