DOI issue:
American section
DOI article:Hoeber, Arthur: The winter exhibition of the National Academy of Design
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28250#0482
National Academy of Design
bow to Mr. Abbey’s capacity, profoundly respect
bis place in art and recall his illustrations with
affection, this work leaves us coldly analytical .
There is health in Frederick Freer’s Longshore-
man, uninteresting as the theme is, for it represents
only a toiler—it might be a portrait simply of one of
the labourers on the docks—and he is doing nothing
in particular, yet the painting breathes enthusiasm,
with some of the life of the world about us, a con-
temporaneous interest on the human side, and so
we welcome the canvas. Clever in an Abbey way
is Marion Powers’s The Bouquet, which for distinct
cleverness is not excelled in the display. A serving
maid is standing in a dining-room arranging some
flowers. About her is a mass of furniture, plates
and bric-a-brac, all put down with rare dexterity
and with a good deal of nice feeling for values. If
the lady will beware of the danger of being clever,
she should go far along the art road. Both Wilhelm
Ritschel and Paul King have found inspiration in
Dutch themes, the former with some fisherpeople
on the beach, the latter with a Moonrise, Katwyck,
both canvases strong and full of vim.
Two marines, curiously enough, are the impor-
tant pictures of this exhibition and they come from
Winslow Plomer and Paul Dougherty. The first
needs little introduction to
the reader, and the second
is by no means a stranger.
Air. Homer’s picture is
called The Gulf Stream,
wherein there is a disman-
tled vessel in which is a
negro, while about him the
angry sea is filled with
sharks and flying-fish. It is
a daring performance en-
tirely personal, painted with
the certainty of a master—
which Mr. Homer is—and
the colour is to the last de-
gree original. A picture like
it in theme was shown last
year, if we mistake not, in
the Pennsylvania Academy
of Fine Arts. There is not a
dull square inch to the
canvas. Air. Dougherty,
though a young man, is not
without honour in his pre-
vious contributions to the
Academy of which he is an
associate, and he has 'paint-
ed marines from the first,
but this present envoi is a great advance on any-
thing he has shown.
The theme is simple enough, being of the sea on a
quiet afternoon rolling leisurely in against a jagged
promontory, such as one may see along the coast of
Alaine, where indeed the subject was taken. There
is little incident, a few simple facts of nature, the
charm of the work lying in its remarkable presenta-
tion of sky and water, the former being full of
atmosphere, while the latter discloses great pro-
fundity and wave action. One simply feels the wet-
ness, the tang of the salt air, the bracing quality of
the place. It is veritably the sea and is a perfectly
earnest, honest, straightforward effort that has been
eminently successful. Its production places Mr.
Dougherty immediately in the front rank of Ameri-
can painters, nor do we know of any one who depicts
the ocean better.
Charles H. Woodbury and F. K. AI. Rehn both
send marines, the latter disclosing unusual and' un-
expected strength with his A Giant Surge. Still
another marine man represented is Henry Reuter-
dahl, better known hitherto as an illustrator, al-
though he has been showing colour work as well.
His present contribution is in an illustrative way,
though the colour is seriously considered, and the
CII
bow to Mr. Abbey’s capacity, profoundly respect
bis place in art and recall his illustrations with
affection, this work leaves us coldly analytical .
There is health in Frederick Freer’s Longshore-
man, uninteresting as the theme is, for it represents
only a toiler—it might be a portrait simply of one of
the labourers on the docks—and he is doing nothing
in particular, yet the painting breathes enthusiasm,
with some of the life of the world about us, a con-
temporaneous interest on the human side, and so
we welcome the canvas. Clever in an Abbey way
is Marion Powers’s The Bouquet, which for distinct
cleverness is not excelled in the display. A serving
maid is standing in a dining-room arranging some
flowers. About her is a mass of furniture, plates
and bric-a-brac, all put down with rare dexterity
and with a good deal of nice feeling for values. If
the lady will beware of the danger of being clever,
she should go far along the art road. Both Wilhelm
Ritschel and Paul King have found inspiration in
Dutch themes, the former with some fisherpeople
on the beach, the latter with a Moonrise, Katwyck,
both canvases strong and full of vim.
Two marines, curiously enough, are the impor-
tant pictures of this exhibition and they come from
Winslow Plomer and Paul Dougherty. The first
needs little introduction to
the reader, and the second
is by no means a stranger.
Air. Homer’s picture is
called The Gulf Stream,
wherein there is a disman-
tled vessel in which is a
negro, while about him the
angry sea is filled with
sharks and flying-fish. It is
a daring performance en-
tirely personal, painted with
the certainty of a master—
which Mr. Homer is—and
the colour is to the last de-
gree original. A picture like
it in theme was shown last
year, if we mistake not, in
the Pennsylvania Academy
of Fine Arts. There is not a
dull square inch to the
canvas. Air. Dougherty,
though a young man, is not
without honour in his pre-
vious contributions to the
Academy of which he is an
associate, and he has 'paint-
ed marines from the first,
but this present envoi is a great advance on any-
thing he has shown.
The theme is simple enough, being of the sea on a
quiet afternoon rolling leisurely in against a jagged
promontory, such as one may see along the coast of
Alaine, where indeed the subject was taken. There
is little incident, a few simple facts of nature, the
charm of the work lying in its remarkable presenta-
tion of sky and water, the former being full of
atmosphere, while the latter discloses great pro-
fundity and wave action. One simply feels the wet-
ness, the tang of the salt air, the bracing quality of
the place. It is veritably the sea and is a perfectly
earnest, honest, straightforward effort that has been
eminently successful. Its production places Mr.
Dougherty immediately in the front rank of Ameri-
can painters, nor do we know of any one who depicts
the ocean better.
Charles H. Woodbury and F. K. AI. Rehn both
send marines, the latter disclosing unusual and' un-
expected strength with his A Giant Surge. Still
another marine man represented is Henry Reuter-
dahl, better known hitherto as an illustrator, al-
though he has been showing colour work as well.
His present contribution is in an illustrative way,
though the colour is seriously considered, and the
CII