Studio: international art (15.1899)

An American Painter

In his pictures, all too few, and produced at
intervals all too wide for his many admirers, the
keynote of the technique is simplicity, and the
most striking characteristic of the subjects their
deep spiritual significance. The self-evident propo-
sition that in a work of art it is the individuality of
the author of that work which is the most impor-
tant factor is well illustrated, for everything from the
hand of Abbott Thayer is imbued with the dignity
and simplicity of the artist's own temperament,
combined with a delicacy of intuition into the
inner life of humanity which wins the spectator
from all thought of details or accessories, bringing
him into direct touch with the very ego of the
subject, whether that subject be a sleeping child, a
maiden looking out from the threshold of life with
the eager innocent curiosity of the neophyte, or a
fellow artist already worn with the conflict between
the real and the ideal. The work done by Abbott
Thayer is, in a word, such as could only be pro-
duced by one who has suffered much and thought
deeply on the problems of humanity, who has
striven to pierce through the veil hiding the here-
after, and who does not look upon death as the
end of all things, but rather as the awakening to a
higher life.

Although he has achieved considerable success

PORTRAIT OF T. MILLIE DOW BY ABBOTT H. THAYER

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PORTRAIT OF MISS DOW BY ABBOTT H. THAYER

as a landscape painter, it is his portraits, revealing
as they do his insight into human nature, which
place Abbott Thayer in the first rank; his colour
sense is delicate, he has no mannerisms, and his
pictures appeal to every one with a charm difficult
indeed to analyse, but which haunts the memory of
those who know them.

One of the earliest pictures to attract general
attention was the small canvas called Sleep, ex-
hibited first in the Dudley Gallery, London, and
later, in the National Academy, New York. Only
an infant in a cot with her arms tightly clasped
round a puppy, both fast asleep, painted in sombre
grey tones, yet breathing forth the very atmosphere
of the land in which the spirits of the two friends
are wandering, where all things are, yet are not.
Delicately but strongly handled, with no accessories
to heighten the effect, the little gem delighted every
one, the merest tyro in art criticism recognising its
pathetic beauty.

Something of the same repose, but in this case
the repose of arrested action, characterises the
work known as Crossing the Ferry, one of the
very few pictures from the artist's hand which is
crowded with figures. Painted in Paris, but ex-
hibited first in New York, this fine composition
marked a considerable advance in technique and
is remarkable for its skilful drawing and richness of
colouring. The horses in the foreground, especially,