DOI Heft:
No. 118 (December, 1906)
DOI Artikel:Studio-talk
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28250#0196
Studio-Talk
not, if he had learnt to see nature through
the eyes, or, rather, to imbue it with some-
thing of the spirit of another master, be more
convincing and original than he is now? Is style
possible without full-fledged characteristics, so
strong and tangible that they are recognisable at
the first glance? Without venturing upon an
answer to this question I fear that an absolute
disdain of eclectic influences is apt to lead our
reflective and imaginative faculties to a domain of
intellectual asceticism, where one may be able to
produce strong, but not the highest kind of work.
Whether Dougherty falls short or reaches the ideal
of which he never loses sight, every true votary of
art can only wish that we had more painters of
such high artistic consciousness and such a definite
aim. There would then no longer be any doubt
that our art would throw off the shackles of foreign
influence and that America would produce great
artists out of her own gestation, body and soul.
Robert Henri's style of painting is becoming
more and more direct. He sacrifices everything
to simplicity of expression. Every year he has
less to say, but what he says he accomplishes with
rare precision. At the start of his career, after his
return from Paris, he was a mild impressionist,
fond of light key compositions. Only in his land-
scapes, however, for in his figure-painting he was
lurid and sombre even at that time. He created
for himself a hectic chimeric sort of idol woman,
and in a way this period was the most interesting
one of his career. A few years later he strongly
came under the influence of Manet, and his style,
as seen in Un Petit, became rather strict and hard.
The effect was realistic, common and yet unfore-
seen, so modern it seemed to be. He was in need
of a more fluent touch and greater care in his brush-
work, and he derived these qualities from a closer
intimacy with the works of Titian and Velazquez.
Henri has been a serious student all his life; every
phase of art is a problem to him which he has
“ LA NEIGE ”
l82
(In the Luxembourg )
BY ROBERT HENRI
not, if he had learnt to see nature through
the eyes, or, rather, to imbue it with some-
thing of the spirit of another master, be more
convincing and original than he is now? Is style
possible without full-fledged characteristics, so
strong and tangible that they are recognisable at
the first glance? Without venturing upon an
answer to this question I fear that an absolute
disdain of eclectic influences is apt to lead our
reflective and imaginative faculties to a domain of
intellectual asceticism, where one may be able to
produce strong, but not the highest kind of work.
Whether Dougherty falls short or reaches the ideal
of which he never loses sight, every true votary of
art can only wish that we had more painters of
such high artistic consciousness and such a definite
aim. There would then no longer be any doubt
that our art would throw off the shackles of foreign
influence and that America would produce great
artists out of her own gestation, body and soul.
Robert Henri's style of painting is becoming
more and more direct. He sacrifices everything
to simplicity of expression. Every year he has
less to say, but what he says he accomplishes with
rare precision. At the start of his career, after his
return from Paris, he was a mild impressionist,
fond of light key compositions. Only in his land-
scapes, however, for in his figure-painting he was
lurid and sombre even at that time. He created
for himself a hectic chimeric sort of idol woman,
and in a way this period was the most interesting
one of his career. A few years later he strongly
came under the influence of Manet, and his style,
as seen in Un Petit, became rather strict and hard.
The effect was realistic, common and yet unfore-
seen, so modern it seemed to be. He was in need
of a more fluent touch and greater care in his brush-
work, and he derived these qualities from a closer
intimacy with the works of Titian and Velazquez.
Henri has been a serious student all his life; every
phase of art is a problem to him which he has
“ LA NEIGE ”
l82
(In the Luxembourg )
BY ROBERT HENRI