International studio (18.1902/1903)

—1XHIBITI0N OF
)—^ THE NATIONAL ACADEMY.
This year's exhibition of the National Academy,
whiie stiii being very far from the average of stand-
ard that it shouid, and indeed might, reach, is cer-
tainiy better than recent ones, and contains a
considerabte nurnber of good pictures.
One of these is a iarge iandscape,
by Emii Carisen. He is better known for his stiii-
iife pictures, two of which are here, beautifui in
tone and texture, hneiy painted, and invested with
that seriousness and dignity which can make the
representation of a hsh or kettie yieid a very high
forrn of sesthetic pleasure. The same iearned draw-
ing and brush work, the same fne seriousness of
feeiing, are to be found in this iandscape — agrassy
upland with a ciurnp of oaks haif-way up the siope.
It is in duii, cool iight, under a sky that has iarge,
biiiowy gray and white ciouds ; the big ciouds of
the upper sky, which ieave us in no doubt that we
are on an aititude, and that beyond the ridge of
ground there is descent; and with this sense comes
its accompanying sensation of whoiesome invig-
oration.
The Inness Goid Medai has been awarded to
Leonard Ochtman's GTrzj' This painter,
of sterling merit, is an Associate of the Academy,
one of the younger men who are heiping to infuse
new life into the organization. His subject on this
occasion is drawn from the country round Green-
wich, Connecticut, where he iives; an unduiating
stretch of grass, pinkish brown with iate autumn
tints, strewn with stones, bisected by a ruined waii;
and beyond it a iine of biue woods under a iofty sky,
where warm, gray and slaty ciouds are swept to and
fro by counter-currents in the biue vault. It has
the extreme sobriety of feeiing that characterizes his
work, but is so true in detaii, so delicately precise
in vaiues, whiie stiii being big and fuii in sentiment,
that one forgets the niggard bareness of the spot in
enjoyment of the impression which it has made upon
the painter's mind, and which he communicates to
us. Edward W. Redfeid, also, has chosen in his
W<7<Mf a scene severe and cheeriess

enough ; the road itseif — unkempt and patched with
snow —straggling under a low wooded hiii, beneath
which two smaii cottages iie ; ali seen in the monot-
onous no-iight, chiii and drear, of a November
twiiight. Yet it has meant much to the painter,
awakening something very tender in his imagination,
and he has expressed it with such maniy directness,
and withai so subtiy, that I doubt if any one who
reaiiy studies the picture can faii to enjoy it. For,
of course, it is easy enough to exciaim, " Oh ! I
don't like such giootny subjects," and to pass the
picture by; but that is to hug one's own iittie nar-
row prediiections and to shut oneseif off frorn the
possibie stimuius and joy of other men's impres-
sions. Mr. Redheid shows another iandscape,
<7/ a reach of coid, smooth water,
with a snowy bank on the right, and in the dis-
tance a hiii where drab and reddish trees spot and
streak the snow. For again it is a snow scene, a
subject which this painter treats with more than
usuai originaiity; and this picture is fuii of the
bracy exhiiaration of a fine, ciear day in winter. '
Near it is a nobie iandscape, by Carleton Wiggins,
of appie-trees and meadow, rich and deep in color,
with a ZW-fAtM in the foreground, the iate
afternoon iight warming her creamy, biack-spotted
coat. The beast is grandiy drawn, and a fine gravity
of feeiing runs through the whoie picture, making it
a most distinguished work, and, periiaps, the best
thing he has ever done. A study of these iast two
pictures might be recommended to Wiiiiam Fair
Kiine, whose own //%<? Nztw/ hangs near
them. It has been awarded the, second Haiigarten
prize, but that is not necessariiy in its praise. The
very subject may weii be considered undesirabie ;
only acceptabie if the sensuous charm of human
fiesh and of the swan's piumage and the con-
trasting movements of the two forrns be adequateiy
expressed. As it is, but littie attention has been
paid to these qualities, and the painter seerns
to have been satisfied with a mereiy decorative
styie of composition, in which, it shouid be added,
he has succeeded. Buthe paints indifferentiy, with
more reiiance, it wouid appear, upon glazes than
pigments, and the result is distressingiy amateurish.