International studio (30.1906/1907(1907))

National Academy of Design

this an occasion for distress, since the average por-
trait is outside of the owner, his friends and family
not a wildly absorbing thing, masterpieces being
few and far between. Yet there are some good ones
here—prominent among them being one by Albert
Sterner, of his son. Mr. Sterner, who is better
known for his exquisite illustrative work, sends a
large, ambitious canvas of a handsome lad standing
under a tree with a dog by his side and a vast stretch
of distant country vaguely seen. It is poetic, of
course, for the man touches nothing that does not
bear the imprint of his mental charm and senti-
ment, and the colour is fairly attractive, yet the
canvas is a bit empty and scarcely furnishes reason
for its area. But it is a departure; it is out of the
beaten path, and one may not pass it by without a
careful look and being impressed by its distinction.
With a naivete all too rare in our exhibitions,
Luis Mora renders charmingly a portrait group of
two children, which he calls The Pirate and the
Prisoner, for he has thus given an added pictorial
interest to the arrangement, representing the lad,
with slouch hat and gun, standing behind a sweet-
faced little maid, who is seated on the floor in front
of him. It is all an agreeable bit of unconscious
adolescence, direct, earnest and capably presented
by a very clever craftsman who has made great
strides, and is yet, we make bold to assert, only at the
beginning of his career. This, too, is a sizable can-
vas, but it is full and gives genuine pleasure in the
contemplation. The Brabanconne, by Gari Mel-
chers, turns out to be one of his familiar Dutch
maids, in all the bravery of attractive and quaint
costume, at full length, painted with his virility
and effectiveness, but more of a portrait study than
a pictorial composition. As such, however, it is able
and has distinction. Irving R. Wiles, among the
best of the portraitists, has two works, a man and a
woman, the former, Mr. Powell, being very like
and in the nature of a brilliant impression of the
man; the second, full of graciousness in pose and
painting. William T. Smedley, in a portrait of the
singer, David Bispham, gets excellent character
with a suavity of handling, while a canvas of his
little girl, seated in her chair with her doll, receives
the Proctor prize for portraiture.
Cecilia Beaux is singularly quiet in her Richard
Watson Gilder, the likeness being capital, and the
Scotchman, Alexander Roche, in a small genre of
his friend Ben Foster, is happy and gets the personal
side of the model. One may not mistake Samuel
Woolf’s portrait of Mark Twain for that of any one
but the distinguished writer, yet we have a prefer-
ence for another work that Mr. Woolf sends—a

study of a man seated. Robert David Gauley, in an
unpretentious little canvas of a woman in grey,
secures distinction and impresses the spectator
with his earnestness, his research into character,
and his ability to manipulate his pigment, all of
which are above the commonplace, and there is a
small and equally modest performance, from Will
Howe Foote, of a pretty girl, painted obviously con
amore. We must include among the portraitists
the names of I. M. Gaugengigl, Charles C. Curren,
Thomas Eakins, Maurice Fromkes, and Robert
Henri, the last having his Spanish Girl, an ambi-
tious canvas, though we prefer his delightful Girl
in the Fur Cape as being altogether more spontane-
ous and entertaining. Finally, Childe Hassarn has
a portrait wherein there are faults of construction,
and though the colour is highly decorative and the


Copyright, rqob, by Wm. T. Smedley
THOMAS R. PROCTOR PRIZE
“DOROTHY D.” BY WILLIAM T. SMEDLEY

XCVIII