Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1912 (Heft 38))

By giving an exhibition of drawings and an exhibition of sculptures by
Matisse, in both cases picked examples of the artist’s work, the Photo-Secession
has given the New York public a chance to judge fairly the merits of one of
the most potent influences among the young generation of artists. The value
of his influence and his importance as compared to other artistic pioneers could
only be judged by comparison with equally picked examples of the works of
Cezanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Picasso and others, and we hope that oppor-
tunity for such comparison may soon be given us.
Incidentally we might add that the little fifteen foot square room was
visited by more than 4,000 people during the Matisse exhibition.
Paul B. Haviland.

As is our custom, we reprint for the sake of record some of the newspaper
notices which appeared on the exhibitions held in the Photo-Secession Gallery
during the season of 1911-1912:
David Lloyd in the “Evening Post”:
The Photo-Secession, No. 291 Fifth Avenue, introduces variety into its recent programme
by dipping lightly into photography. When we say photography, we refer to pictures taken
with a camera and elaborated with the assistance of various chemical processes in the produc-
tion of negatives, positives, and incidentally an occasional superlative. At the Photo-Secession,
the word has a more philosophical meaning. Possibly it might be said that in this generalized
sense, photography is there understood as the reproduction on the flat of what we see. Just
at present, we may be pardoned if we neglect to dip, even lightly, into philosophy. We have
had at the “Little Galleries,,—and they are almost fantastically little for the purpose—a series
of exhibitions in the past season showing work by Henri Rousseau, Manet, Toulouse-Lautree,
John Marin, Cezanne, and Picasso, in the case of the last two, the first exhibitions of their
work in this country. At the opening of this season, we have had Gelett Burgess. None of
these used the camera. Baron Ad. De Meyer, thirty of whose works have now been selected
and hung, does. It will hardly be disputed that he uses it adroitly. He presents studio sub-
jects and a number of portraits. The attractive Aida maid of Tangier heads a series of Turkish
pictures. Mrs. Young of Glebe Place and Mrs. Wiggins of Belgrave Square represent another
type of human character. There are, in addition, a number of deftly handled studies in still
life, such as the bowl of waterlilies, the Punch and Judy, the Nymphenburg figure. De Meyer
shows a pleasing taste in conventional composition. His lighting is expressive. In elimination
of detail where it is superfluous and in explicit delineation where it is appropriate, he is equally
at ease. He seizes character in his heads with the utmost skill. This interesting exhibition
remains visible through the fifteenth of the month.
J. Edgar Chamberlin in the “N. Y. Mail”:
Photography is certainly a fine art in the hands of Baron Ad. de Meyer, of London, whose
photographs are now on exhibition at the Photo-Secession gallery.
An absolutely lovely and certain use of light and shadow, and a delicate sense of beauty
of form and posture, make such pictures as “The Silver Skirt,” “Glass and Shadows,” “Water-
lilies” and others a veritable joy. And what photography can do in the way of understanding
and vital portraiture is instanced not only by the portraits of Miss J. Ranken, Marchesa Casati
and others, but by the striking photographs of London slum women.
Baron de Meyer’s work should certainly be a joy to those who believe that photography
has long since taken its place among the arts which are capable of illumining the world and
express the highest emotions.
J. Nilsen Laurvik in the “Boston Transcript”:
Once more the Photo-Secession has reverted to its old love and in the exhibition of Baron