International studio (39.1909/1910(1910))

Contemporary American Landscape Painting

servant of a single manner he frequently demon-
strates by laying aside, temporarily, his colour
spots, and smoothly covering, with his pigment,
broad surfaces. Mr. Hassam has indeed both a
docile and a nimble brush, and whether composing
little jewelled mosaics of colour with the object of
reproducing the vibrations of light, or building up
on canvas, with deliberate stroke, a grim picture of
New York's canon-like streets, he is equally feli-
citous—equally individual.

The short stroke is also commonly employed by
W'illard L. Metcalf, who is likewise to be num-
bered among the foremost of the American land-
scape painters. Light and air are to him matters
of serious concern, but so also are form and
motion. Unlike the majority of those who follow
the impressionists' teachings, he cares not merely
for the effect of sunlight but for the object upon
which the sunlight falls, and paints not always in a
high key. In composition his pictures are not
invariably agreeable. Most often they are bits of
Nature selected without pictorial regard, but the
charm which they exerted upon the painter is
surely imparted to the observer, and the reason
for the choice made known. They are mature,
thoughtful transcriptions displaying, with evident

spontaneity, both the painter's love and knowledge
of the thing transcribed. Of somewhat the same
order are the works of Ernest Lawson and Carroll
S. Tyson, jun.

In quite a different vein are found the paintings
of D. W. Tryon, J. Francis Murphy, Bruce Crane,
Emil Carlsen, William S. Robinson, Leonard
Ochtman and Granville Smith, who transcribe
more subtle effects and interpret more definite])'
the illusions of atmosphere, Mr. Tryon is fond
of painting a gentle winter sunrise or sunset seen
through a screen of trees, which crosses the middle
distance—a theme utterly dependent for its charm
upon its rendering. Mr. Murphy is, perhaps,
more versatile, but likewise shows a preference for
the grey browns of late autumn and early winter,
for nature's gentlest moods. His work is subtle,
but, like Mr Tyron's, essentially definite ; the forms
he represents are studied and then, if necessary,
forgotten ; his colour is pure but well modulated ;
his handling broad but eminently skilful. It is as
though he said to the beholder, " Come and see
this thing which I have discovered—this unexpected
loveliness of Nature which will be no less lovely to
you than to me." Mr. Crane's painting is not
unlike Mr. Murphy's in style though his technique

' LATE STRING "

cS

IIV CHARLES MORRIS YOUNG