International studio (44.1911)

Birge Harrison

bought and it now hangs in the museum at Mar-
seilles. For this the artist received a medal at the
Exposition of 1889, whither it was sent by the
authorities of that southern seaport.
In 1882 Mr. Harrison, along with his brother
Alexander, journeyed down to Pont Aven, in Brit-
tany, where again there was a large colony, and
from there, with his wife, he started for a voyage
around the world, mainly for the purpose of visit-
ing her home in Australia. Not much work was
done on this trip, except in a literary way. Mr.
Harrison, incidentally, is almost as facile with his
pen as he is with his brush. The trip finished
in California, the artist establishing himself at
Santa Barbara, where he remained some six years,
painting that locality and confining himself to the
landscape, for he seemed to have lost his taste for
the figure. In his round-the-world trip he
stopped some time in the South Sea Islands, writ-
ing papers for Scribner's Magazine, which he illus-
trated himself. The California life was cut short
by domestic bereavement and Mr. Harrison then
went to Plymouth, Mass., where he had relatives
and where he found great consolation in the beau-
tiful Cape Cod landscape, over which he toiled
faithfully, with admirable results. From there he
went to Canada, settling every winter at Quebec,
where he soon became identified with pictures of
snowscapes, and it must be admitted that he
paints the snow with exceeding good taste, discre-
tion and truth of values. However, and fortu-
nately, too, the man has not confined himself to
such themes. In truth, there is scarcely any
phase of nature that Mr. Harrison has not at-
tacked at one time or another with satisfactory
results, for he has no parti-prie in the matter, ap-
proaching each theme with receptive eye and mind
and endeavoring not only to obtain just tran-
scripts but to add much of his own personality in
his interpretation of his nature, the only way inci-
dentally that worthy pictures are made.
Mr. Harrison, as a rule, is drawn more to the
lyrical side of nature than to the dramatic. His is
the gentler interpretation of the scene, the ten-
derer side, that time of the day fullest of the poetry
of the world out of doors, and to his task he brings
a well-trained eye and hand, an intellect that is in
keeping with the best traditions, and an abiding
good taste. One is conscious in looking at his
canvases that the scene has strongly appealed,
that the painter has saturated himself with the
subject, has studied just the best lines in a com-
position suited to bring out his idea, while he has
evolved his color scheme much from within him,

and more as a souvenir of the effect than the con-
crete rendering of the particular tints that were
before him. He is particularly happy in the ren-
dering of his skies, which he invests with charm
of atmospheric qualities, and he secures delight-
fully the mystery of twilight, that subtle,
indefinite time of the day when all is bathed in
tender color. As I have said, however, he does
not play upon a single note, and I have seen some
of his marines that entitle him to a high place
among the men who limn the sea and shore. He
has been singularly happy in the painting of tran-
quil streams in the winter landscape, or, again, in
depicting these waters rushing down from the
melting snows. Now and then in these streams
he will give a reflection of the setting sun, and
obtain astonishing brilliancy, until the canvas ap-
pears to be artificially lit.
Also he has painted New York streets, catching
the picturesqueness of the great metropolis, bring-
ing out unusual beauties of sky line contours, hith-
erto unsuspected, disclosing, in short, that the
material for the painter is always at hand, if he
have the trained eye to perceive it and make his
selection with discrimination. For some years
Mr. Harrison has conducted with much success a
summer class at Woodstock, N. Y., where he has
a large following of serious men and women, to
whom he has been a genuine source of inspiration,
for the man has the valuable gift of being able to
impart what he knows with a clear, analytical
mind and fluency of expression. Many of his
talks before his class are embodied in a book re-
cently published by the Scribners, entitled “Land-
scape Painting.” As a rule, these talks are
“straight from the shoulder,” and are of great
educational value. One may not go through this
highly interesting volume without a full realization
that Birge Harrison knows his trade thoroughly,
for he gives his readers a most entertaining analy-
sis of the art of painting, as well as the art of learn-
ing to see, which, as Charles H. Woodbury main-
tains, is of even greater importance than painting.
“Treat nature,” says Mr. Harrison, “with re-
spect and affection, but don’t let her rule you.”
The great French painter, Lhermitte, once said
to him: “A picture which needs a title, never
should have been painted.” And so he maintains
we had best not poach upon the preserves of the
story teller, for he can beat us at his own game.
Vision, he maintains, is the key to the door of art.
The true artist is he who paints the beautiful body,
informed and radiated by the still more lovely and
fascinating spirit—he who renders the mood; and

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