International studio (35.1908)

The Scrip

brushing away its surface bloom, and only a thinker
capable of disentangling the significance of innu-
merable complicated impressions could so reduce
an intricate subject to a simplicity that does not
imply emptiness.
Against these paintings, which betray the
strength of French influence upon the susceptible
American and Italian temperaments or show as in
Raffaelli the pure Parisian product, the painting by
George Clausen stands out in bold relief. Mr.
Clausen was born in England and is an Associate of
the Royal Academy of Arts. While his work, like
that of the majority of modern painters, displays
knowledge of French technique on the part of the
artist, it is essentially English in feeling, as emo-
tional as de Nittis is unemotional and typically
British in its tendency to embody an idea equally

Wilstach Gallery, by Courtesy of the Commissioners
INTERIOR

appropriate to expression in language. The exam-
ple chosen for the Wilstach Collection is called
Planting the Tree and shows a fine old English gar-
dener with his boy engaged in that interesting task.
The pose of the man and his gesture are expressive
of his complete familiarity with his work and ab-
sorption in it. Steadying himself upon his spade,
he pushes the roots of the tree into place with his
foot, w'hile he holds its upper branches in his right
hand. The boy is eagerly attentive to his minor
part in the little rustic drama. The pleasant Eng-
lish landscape, with its moist air, its cool greens, its
well-cared-for aspect, is painted straightforwardly.
The two figures in their putty-colored smocks and
red neckties are natural and simple and the picture
as a whole lacks the slightly forced poetic note that
gives to some of Mr. Clausen’s more recent pictures
an excessive emo-
tional and sym-
bolic significance,
while his personal
manner and pow-
erful modeling of
the earth’s surface
are seen effectively
if not at their best.
In the fine land-
scape by Fritz
Thaulow we have
represented the
modern Norwe-
gian school. The
subject is The Sun
in Norway, and
the rendering is
full of Northern
sentiment. The
river, partly in
bonds of ice, flow's
green under a cold
sky. little orange
fires on the left
bank send up their
smoke, cheering
the wide expanse
of snow. The
picture differs
from many of
Thaulow’sin com-
municating a sense
of loneliness and
dreariness not
Photograph by Rittenhouse fully relieved by
by w. b. tholen the signs of human

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