International studio (34.1908)

National Academy


Copyright applied for by Lillian M. Genlh
THE LARK BY LILLIAN M. GENTH

hung prominently, and what is better, bad things
received by right of membership have been ruth-
lessly skied and so made as little in evidence as
possible. So radical has been the change that it is
enough to make some of the older men turn in their
graves! Revolutionary men are in prominent
positions; things that would have been relentlessly
rejected in former years look down benignly from
the line; the work of men prominent in the councils
hitherto are lost in the shuffle skyward and the
critic is obliged to sit up and take notice!
{ An innovation is in the matter of a number of
.canvases borrowed to make centers, or to add to
the importance of the display. Thus, four portraits
have been secured from owners of the work of John
S. Sargent and these include his likeness of Edward
Robinson, of the Metropolitan 'Museum of Art, and
there have been loaned an Abbott Thayer head,
wofk by Horatio Walker, D. W. Tryon, Winslow
Homer, J. J. Shannon, Siddons Mowbray and John
La Farge. E. C. Tarbell’s portrait of Dr. Seelye,
of Smith College, is here in the center of a panel,

coming from the recent show at
Philadelphia, as have many more.
This canvas by Mr. Tarbell more
than holds its own with the Sargents,
the Shannons and the Thayer. In-
deed, it may be said that these better-
known men do not stand out so
prominently as they have in the years
past, not because of their having
fallen off, but for the reason of other
men improving, developing along
original lines and getting a command
of their craft. Miss Beaux maintains
her strong position and there are men
of “The Eight,” who so recently
showed in New York and in Phila-
delphia, Robert Henri, John Sloan,
Arthur B. Davies and others, with
men who affiliate with them, Jonas
Lie, Jerome Myers and George
Bellows.
The general impression of the
Academy is one of dignity, of capable
craftsmen, of originality in a land-
scape way particularly. Here is
Walter Granville-Smith with a large
landscape of Indian summer, of great
charm of handling and knowledge of
painting, of tender tones and pleas-
ing color, with trees against the
warm sky and much mystery, recall-
ing well the season, and Robert
David Cauley has a delightful figure which he calls
Tanagra, because the lady holds a statuette in her
hand. This is painted in great detail, in a scholarly
mariner and is highly personal in color and arrange-
ment. Samuel Woolf, among the youngsters, has
an aged Jew at a newsstand, of cleverness and
interesting disposition of light and shade, while
Luis Mora has a couple of athletes, American
Gadiators, showing skill in modeling the nude.
Of a truth the portraiture, of which there is con-
siderable, while of fair average, is not particularly
striking. The figures are better and include com-
positions from Hugo Ballin, A. T. Schwartz, Louis
Loeb, Hugh Breckenridge, Douglas Volk, Charles
W. Hawdhorne and W. W. Gilchrist, Jr. A new-
comer is Clinton Balmer, a New Jersey man, with
The Vain Woman, an allegorical composition of
interest. Mention must be. made of Lillian Genth,
of Philadelphia, who has a strong nude figure of a
woman in the wToods, The Lark. It is very capably
executed and of excellent color.
Emil Carlsen is prominently among the land-

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