National Academy Exhibition
Carnegie Prize, December 1909
the opalescent river by gardner symoxs
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN proverb, "It is ill to praise and worse to blame the
EXHIBITION thing which you do not understand." The same
astute gentleman remarked, also, that small rooms
The exhibition of the National Acad- help the mind to concentrate itself,
emy of Design recently held at the Fine The jury, by the way, concentrated attention on
Arts Galleries, New York City, displayed 271 pic- The Opalescent River, by Gardner Symons, by
tures out of a total of 441 accepted. The excess of awarding it the Carnegie prize. Later a report was
170 returned for lack of space had a metaphysical published that an anonymous donor had purchased
hanging, enjoyed doubtless by their painters, each the painting for the Metropolitan Museum. Mr.
after his own personal fashion of enjoying meta- Symons is spoken of as a disciple of Mr. Redfield,
physical honors, but perhaps not so keenly appre- and his indebtedness has been remarked. His evi-
ciated by the visitor. This quaint annual proce- dent pleasure in producing a thoughtful pattern
dure puts one in mind of the circumstances described while taking pains that his record be faithful sug-
by Ko-Ko, Pitti Sing and Pooh-bah in their trio in gests, however, more than a hint of Mr. Schofield
Sullivan's "Mikado," wherein they set forth the as well. In any case he joins himself to those
death by execution of the victim they were too ten- painters of landscape who study the forms of na-
der hearted to execute, doing so with a delightful ture, and particularly of the earth itself, with that
seriousness. Yet it is easy to flout the difficulties sort of seriousness which is always demanded of
met by the Academy in restricted space. One figure painters in portraying human form. This
Leonardo da Vinci set down a true saying in the river is not simply water divided from the land, as
ci
Carnegie Prize, December 1909
the opalescent river by gardner symoxs
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN proverb, "It is ill to praise and worse to blame the
EXHIBITION thing which you do not understand." The same
astute gentleman remarked, also, that small rooms
The exhibition of the National Acad- help the mind to concentrate itself,
emy of Design recently held at the Fine The jury, by the way, concentrated attention on
Arts Galleries, New York City, displayed 271 pic- The Opalescent River, by Gardner Symons, by
tures out of a total of 441 accepted. The excess of awarding it the Carnegie prize. Later a report was
170 returned for lack of space had a metaphysical published that an anonymous donor had purchased
hanging, enjoyed doubtless by their painters, each the painting for the Metropolitan Museum. Mr.
after his own personal fashion of enjoying meta- Symons is spoken of as a disciple of Mr. Redfield,
physical honors, but perhaps not so keenly appre- and his indebtedness has been remarked. His evi-
ciated by the visitor. This quaint annual proce- dent pleasure in producing a thoughtful pattern
dure puts one in mind of the circumstances described while taking pains that his record be faithful sug-
by Ko-Ko, Pitti Sing and Pooh-bah in their trio in gests, however, more than a hint of Mr. Schofield
Sullivan's "Mikado," wherein they set forth the as well. In any case he joins himself to those
death by execution of the victim they were too ten- painters of landscape who study the forms of na-
der hearted to execute, doing so with a delightful ture, and particularly of the earth itself, with that
seriousness. Yet it is easy to flout the difficulties sort of seriousness which is always demanded of
met by the Academy in restricted space. One figure painters in portraying human form. This
Leonardo da Vinci set down a true saying in the river is not simply water divided from the land, as
ci