DOI issue:
No. 177 (November, 1911)
DOI article:Brinton, Christian: The American exhibition in Rome
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43448#0364
The American Exhibition in Rome
GOING TO THE BOATS BY AUGUSTUS KOOPMAN
Pavilion at Rome. Our painting has not, as pro-
moters of exhibitions would have us believe, come
to a halt with the Dusseldorf or Barbizon tra-
ditions, with the Manet imitators, the devotees of
Degas, or the apostles of tonal division, including
the Impressionists and their immediate followers.
There are numerous young Americans both at
home and abroad who have fully mastered the
principles of a bolder, more synthetic gospel of
form and color, and they are assuredly entitled to
representation in any display of native endeavor
which claims to be comprehensive. Painting is
not alone what one sees. It is also what one feels
in the presence of a given object or scene It is
the expression of interior as well as exterior life,
and happily this truth has already been grasped
by many of the abler talents of the day. If, as
certainly has been the case, the Roman and Con-
tinental press and public have found our art lack-
ing in that sturdy, untrammeled individuality
which one instinctively associates with a young
nation, it is by no means
because such qualities are
non-existent. It is simply
because, through lack of
courage or discernment,
they have not been ac-
corded due recognition.
Even a cursory survey of
the American Exhibition at
Rome leads to the inevitable
conclusion that it fails to
compare favorably with the
showing made at Paris in
1900 or the admirable dis-
play organized by Mr. Hugo
Reisinger and seen to con-
spicuous advantage last
year in Berlin and Munich.
It falls behind the former
in numerical strength and
general comprehensiveness,
and is distinctly inferior to
the latter in logical sequence
and selective discrimination.
The representation afforded
such acknowledged masters
as Whistler, Win slowHomer,
Gari Melchers and Miss Cas-
satt is frankly inadequate,
while on the contrary a
goodly array of inconse-
quential nobodies are given
an altogether disproportion¬
ate amount of space. There is furthermore evi-
dent in the conduct of the affair as a whole an
entire absence of that personal distinction and
urbanity so essential to any undertaking which
aims to achieve success in a foreign capital. It is
not sufficient in such matters to be raucously
patriotic.
We have enough art in America to enlist the
interest and enlightened sympathy of Europe,
but it must be chosen with exacting taste and
presented in a manner befitting one of the most
delicate and sensitive manifestations of the na-
tional consciousness.
The two reproductions of pictures by the late
Edwin Austin Abbey, A Measure and Fair Is My
Love, which appeared in the October issue of the
International Studio, through the courtesy
of the Berlin Photographic Company, of New
York, Berlin, London and Paris, are copyrighted
by them in this country and abroad.
VIII
GOING TO THE BOATS BY AUGUSTUS KOOPMAN
Pavilion at Rome. Our painting has not, as pro-
moters of exhibitions would have us believe, come
to a halt with the Dusseldorf or Barbizon tra-
ditions, with the Manet imitators, the devotees of
Degas, or the apostles of tonal division, including
the Impressionists and their immediate followers.
There are numerous young Americans both at
home and abroad who have fully mastered the
principles of a bolder, more synthetic gospel of
form and color, and they are assuredly entitled to
representation in any display of native endeavor
which claims to be comprehensive. Painting is
not alone what one sees. It is also what one feels
in the presence of a given object or scene It is
the expression of interior as well as exterior life,
and happily this truth has already been grasped
by many of the abler talents of the day. If, as
certainly has been the case, the Roman and Con-
tinental press and public have found our art lack-
ing in that sturdy, untrammeled individuality
which one instinctively associates with a young
nation, it is by no means
because such qualities are
non-existent. It is simply
because, through lack of
courage or discernment,
they have not been ac-
corded due recognition.
Even a cursory survey of
the American Exhibition at
Rome leads to the inevitable
conclusion that it fails to
compare favorably with the
showing made at Paris in
1900 or the admirable dis-
play organized by Mr. Hugo
Reisinger and seen to con-
spicuous advantage last
year in Berlin and Munich.
It falls behind the former
in numerical strength and
general comprehensiveness,
and is distinctly inferior to
the latter in logical sequence
and selective discrimination.
The representation afforded
such acknowledged masters
as Whistler, Win slowHomer,
Gari Melchers and Miss Cas-
satt is frankly inadequate,
while on the contrary a
goodly array of inconse-
quential nobodies are given
an altogether disproportion¬
ate amount of space. There is furthermore evi-
dent in the conduct of the affair as a whole an
entire absence of that personal distinction and
urbanity so essential to any undertaking which
aims to achieve success in a foreign capital. It is
not sufficient in such matters to be raucously
patriotic.
We have enough art in America to enlist the
interest and enlightened sympathy of Europe,
but it must be chosen with exacting taste and
presented in a manner befitting one of the most
delicate and sensitive manifestations of the na-
tional consciousness.
The two reproductions of pictures by the late
Edwin Austin Abbey, A Measure and Fair Is My
Love, which appeared in the October issue of the
International Studio, through the courtesy
of the Berlin Photographic Company, of New
York, Berlin, London and Paris, are copyrighted
by them in this country and abroad.
VIII