DOI issue:
Nr. 159 (May 1910)
DOI article:Gallatin, Albert E.: The art of William J. Glackens: a note
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19866#0333
William J. Glackens
THE ART OF WILLIAM J. GLACK-
ENS: A NOTE
BY A. E. GALLATIN
Degas had many cohorts behind him,
their numbers variously equipped, as well as strong
allies, in his vigorous campaign against the acade-
mies.
In Forain and Mary Cassatt, Degas had at least
two pupils and disciples to carry forward in a
worthy manner the essential characteristics of his
art; he had also a vast multitude of followers, and
uncounted legions of artists have learned invaluable
lessons from his masterly pastels and paintings.
William J. Glackens, a young American painter
and illustrator, although from Manet, it is true, he
has also derived many of his inspirations, is one of
these latter artists.
Glackens's paintings and drawings are invariably
interesting, for the artist is possessed of an exceed-
ingly fresh and engaging point of view. And yet
with all its originality the art of Glackens is closely
linked with that of Degas and Manet; it is, in fact,
a lineal descendant. This is not too evident, but
Glackens's usual choice of subject, his realism, his
composition, his powerful draughtsmanship, and
his line, as fluent and strong and full of character as
that of a Japanese draughtsman of the first rank,
all proclaim that he has absorbed at least some of
the lessons to be learned in the work of Degas and
Manet.
The subjects which appeal most to Glackens,
and the scenes which he is the happiest in depicting,
are found in the same slums, mean streets and
parks in which Degas finds his inspiration when
not at a rehearsal of a corps de ballet or strolling in
the paddock at Longchamps—only they are in the
poorer quarters of New York, and not of Paris.
But the great difference between Degas and Glack-
ens is that where the former too often seeks for the
ugly and repulsive, the painfully sordid, the ultra
prosaic, the latter looks only for what gaiety and
humor he may discover in the scene. And Glack-
ens is none the less a faithful recorder, an unflinch-
ing realist, because his sympathetic pencil is never
dipped in gall, as in the case of the brutal brush
of the cynic Degas.
Glackens possesses much knowledge of the tech-
nique of painting in oils—that most difficult of all
media; his composition and his palette are very
amusing. His drawings fairly reek with character
and his wonderfully expressive line records types
in such a truthful and far-seeing manner, his pene-
trating gaze sees so far beneath the surface of
things, that we can only marvel at the simple man-
ner in which he attains his ends. This genius for
instantly seizing upon the essentials of human
make-up is much of the same order as was Dau-
mier's—of whom Glackens, it is interesting to note,
is a great admirer. With a few rapid strokes of
his joyously spontaneous pencil he is able to record
unmistakably some type, but whereas Daumier, as
a rule, deliberately caricatured, Glackens only em-
phasizes the salient characteristics.
An artist possessing decided talent is Glackens,
and his is a career which the student of contem-
porary art will do well in following. He has gone
far: he is going farther. A. E. G.
The American Water Color Society Exhibition
remains on view in New York until May 22.
portrait of a by william
young man glackens
lxviii
THE ART OF WILLIAM J. GLACK-
ENS: A NOTE
BY A. E. GALLATIN
Degas had many cohorts behind him,
their numbers variously equipped, as well as strong
allies, in his vigorous campaign against the acade-
mies.
In Forain and Mary Cassatt, Degas had at least
two pupils and disciples to carry forward in a
worthy manner the essential characteristics of his
art; he had also a vast multitude of followers, and
uncounted legions of artists have learned invaluable
lessons from his masterly pastels and paintings.
William J. Glackens, a young American painter
and illustrator, although from Manet, it is true, he
has also derived many of his inspirations, is one of
these latter artists.
Glackens's paintings and drawings are invariably
interesting, for the artist is possessed of an exceed-
ingly fresh and engaging point of view. And yet
with all its originality the art of Glackens is closely
linked with that of Degas and Manet; it is, in fact,
a lineal descendant. This is not too evident, but
Glackens's usual choice of subject, his realism, his
composition, his powerful draughtsmanship, and
his line, as fluent and strong and full of character as
that of a Japanese draughtsman of the first rank,
all proclaim that he has absorbed at least some of
the lessons to be learned in the work of Degas and
Manet.
The subjects which appeal most to Glackens,
and the scenes which he is the happiest in depicting,
are found in the same slums, mean streets and
parks in which Degas finds his inspiration when
not at a rehearsal of a corps de ballet or strolling in
the paddock at Longchamps—only they are in the
poorer quarters of New York, and not of Paris.
But the great difference between Degas and Glack-
ens is that where the former too often seeks for the
ugly and repulsive, the painfully sordid, the ultra
prosaic, the latter looks only for what gaiety and
humor he may discover in the scene. And Glack-
ens is none the less a faithful recorder, an unflinch-
ing realist, because his sympathetic pencil is never
dipped in gall, as in the case of the brutal brush
of the cynic Degas.
Glackens possesses much knowledge of the tech-
nique of painting in oils—that most difficult of all
media; his composition and his palette are very
amusing. His drawings fairly reek with character
and his wonderfully expressive line records types
in such a truthful and far-seeing manner, his pene-
trating gaze sees so far beneath the surface of
things, that we can only marvel at the simple man-
ner in which he attains his ends. This genius for
instantly seizing upon the essentials of human
make-up is much of the same order as was Dau-
mier's—of whom Glackens, it is interesting to note,
is a great admirer. With a few rapid strokes of
his joyously spontaneous pencil he is able to record
unmistakably some type, but whereas Daumier, as
a rule, deliberately caricatured, Glackens only em-
phasizes the salient characteristics.
An artist possessing decided talent is Glackens,
and his is a career which the student of contem-
porary art will do well in following. He has gone
far: he is going farther. A. E. G.
The American Water Color Society Exhibition
remains on view in New York until May 22.
portrait of a by william
young man glackens
lxviii