DOI issue:
No. 96 (February, 1905)
DOI article:Oliver, Maude I. G.: Dutch art at the St. Louis Exposition
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26963#0418
Dutch Art at St. Louis
display was the work of young artists, standing
for an altogether different generation from that
whose genius had made the movement great —a
generation with its own problems to solve, but
one which, if we mistake not, feels that it will be
justified in solving the problems along the identical
lines of its predecessors.
Still it may yet be too premature to make such a
statement, because we observe that, when the
younger men are relieved from academic bonds, they
are broad and fearless in an individual, though
always national, way. In our objections we speak
only of what might be the racial tendency, but the
exceptions to such a rule are very evident. There
are young Dutchmen who feel the benediction of
their peaceful, plodding home-land, who respond
with frank inspiration to its charm, and who speak
with authority and conviction. They are earnest
souls, well abreast of the modern tide. They are
catholic, at the same time individual and national
— such men, while conforming to the best
recognised canons, could never be restricted to the
prescribed limits of any locality or period. Not
that they will necessarily accomplish that which
will be an interpretation of art for all time, nor do
they, in every case, present their art in an
appreciably original way, but they feel that
they have their own humble messages to impart,
and that their messages should be personal
and sincere — an element which after all is an
important essential to true genius.
Take, for example, the Evening, exhibited by
Dirk Wiggers, with its effective bands of opal clouds
across a rich silver sky, and its insistence of hill-line
to sustain a carefully regarded foreground; one is
convinced that this young man of thirty-eight years
is conscientiously true to the poetry about him.
Noting the happy balance of separated fields,
with clumps of trees and hayricks, one believes
that the director of such a brush is an independent
thinker! Another canvas of similar intention,
although entirely different in rendering, was The
“ VIEW OF AMSTERDAM
BY J. MARIS
32 2
display was the work of young artists, standing
for an altogether different generation from that
whose genius had made the movement great —a
generation with its own problems to solve, but
one which, if we mistake not, feels that it will be
justified in solving the problems along the identical
lines of its predecessors.
Still it may yet be too premature to make such a
statement, because we observe that, when the
younger men are relieved from academic bonds, they
are broad and fearless in an individual, though
always national, way. In our objections we speak
only of what might be the racial tendency, but the
exceptions to such a rule are very evident. There
are young Dutchmen who feel the benediction of
their peaceful, plodding home-land, who respond
with frank inspiration to its charm, and who speak
with authority and conviction. They are earnest
souls, well abreast of the modern tide. They are
catholic, at the same time individual and national
— such men, while conforming to the best
recognised canons, could never be restricted to the
prescribed limits of any locality or period. Not
that they will necessarily accomplish that which
will be an interpretation of art for all time, nor do
they, in every case, present their art in an
appreciably original way, but they feel that
they have their own humble messages to impart,
and that their messages should be personal
and sincere — an element which after all is an
important essential to true genius.
Take, for example, the Evening, exhibited by
Dirk Wiggers, with its effective bands of opal clouds
across a rich silver sky, and its insistence of hill-line
to sustain a carefully regarded foreground; one is
convinced that this young man of thirty-eight years
is conscientiously true to the poetry about him.
Noting the happy balance of separated fields,
with clumps of trees and hayricks, one believes
that the director of such a brush is an independent
thinker! Another canvas of similar intention,
although entirely different in rendering, was The
“ VIEW OF AMSTERDAM
BY J. MARIS
32 2