International studio (34.1908)

IVin slow Homer


Property National Gallery oj Art, Evans Gilt . By Permission
VISIT OE THE MISTRESS BY WINSLOW HOMER

out or All’s Well of the
Museum of Fine Arts, Bos-
ton, the Eight Bells, the
Life-line, the West Wind,
The Breaker and The Fog
Warning; or, indeed, even
the High Cliff—Coast of
Maine, in the National
Gallery, wherein the ma-
jesty of the scene is meas-
ured by three little figures
high up on the rocks. It
is true that Mr. Homer is
not an impeccable drafts-
man, that his figures do not
always take their places in
his compositions, that they
are occasionally gruesome
and frequently homely—
but they stand for the
drama of life, and they
speak a universal language.
I have left myself small
space in which to treat of
individual examples of Mr. Homer’s work, but as the
majority are familiar through reproduction it may
suffice to merely draw attention to certain charac-
teristics which, with those already mentioned, are
shared in common by all. As Air. Homer’s works
are lacking in decorative quality so they display an
absence of tone, but if their color is sometimes
crude their values are always correct. The All’s
Well and The Search Light are about his only can-
vases which seem to be keyed to a single note, but
there is not one which fails to display accurate re-
lationship between light and shade. I have said
that Mr. Homer paints hatefully, according to mod-
ern standards, that technical perfection and artistic
charm do not enter into his consideration, but on
this very account his pictures patently demonstrate
the supremacy of message over method. In view-
ing Air. Homer’s paintings one is not moved to
enthusiasm by the cleverness of the painter, but
rather inclined to forget his existence—the way the
effect is produced is less impressive than the effect
itself. And yet it can hardly be said that this is the
art which conceals art, for more than occasionally
the medium is annoyingly evident. What is it, then,
that gives these paintings importance, that lifts
them above the level of contemporary productions
and wins for them universal praise? Not the craft
of the painter, nor the beauty of the themes, but
that touch of the universal which endures through-
out the ages and makes all mankind akin.

A group of Mr. Homer’s paintings lent by public
museums and private collectors has been made the
feature of the Carnegie Institute’s exhibition this
year, and by the organizers of exhibitions in other
cities than Pittsburgh his works are eagerly sought
and genuinely honored. Since the first this painter
has been what the world calls successful; his pictures
have met with little adverse criticism, made many
friends, and found ready sale. If, therefore, in
these later days he does not care to affiliate with his
fellow-workers, it is not because he has aught against
them or complaint to make. Living simply through
choice he finds his chief pleasure in solitary sport,
but is not entirely unmindful of what is passing in
the world which he has deliberately shut out.
Indifferent to sales, to praise and to blame
alike, he still goes on his way with fixed purpose,
manifesting at all times self-resourcefulness and
independence. In the world of American art
there is to-day no more unique figure than his, and
to the field of American painting none has made
nobler contribution than he. L. M.
The group of twenty-one paintings by Air.
Homer shown at the Carnegie Institute were con-
tributed by various musuems, the Metropolitan,
the Boston, the Providence, the Corcoran, the
Smithsonian, the Layton Art Gallery of Alilwaukee,
the Pennsylvania Academy, the Carnegie Institute,
and numerous private owners in America.

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