International studio (46.1912)

In the Galleries

Courtesy of the Knoedler Galleries
PORTRAIT OF BY FRED W. WRIGHT
MR. JOHN W. CHARLTON


IN THE GALLERIES
The season of special exhibitions at the
galleries, waning last month, is almost at its
end, for there are few events scheduled for
the near future.
The Knoedler Galleries, during the latter part
of April, showed a small but interesting group of
portraits by Dana Pond, a collection of charcoal
sketches (mostly Venetian) by F. Hopkinson
Smith, and fourteen pastel portraits by Pierre
Tortoue. This trio of attractive exhibitions was
followed by a group of colorful landscapes by
Charles Melville Dewey. Among American land-
scape painters there are (or have been) realists and
there are impressionists. Dewey is a colorist, and
if there be any sacrifice of realism this must be
atoned for by the jewel-like brilliancy and the
poetic idealism of his paintings. One of the few
midsummer exhibitions of any consequence will be
the Knoedler’s proposed showing of a group of
American paintings during June.
One of a number of interesting portraits painted
by Mr. Fred W. Wright in his New York studio,
since his coming here from Indianapolis, was ex-
hibited at Knoedler’s Galleries early in May. It
was a portrait of Mr. John W. Charlton, smoothly
and deftly painted.
E. Gimpel & Wildenstein held an exhibition of

recent paintings and bronzes by Henry Clews, Jr.
The paintings, of which there were only six, made
up in interest for their small number, being, if
anything, ultra-Whistlerian, and of that bizarre
quality which is the occasion of so much critical
dissension. They are styled—some of them—
“interpretations”; any portrait should interpret
the character and the more salient traits of its
sitter, but are these “interpretations” portraits as
well? Let dissension flourish; let critics storm
and admirers rhapsodize! Mr. Clews is, like
Howard G. Cushing, always interesting, for which
let us be thankful. Stupidity is more likely to im-
pede American painting than brilliancy, however
bizarre this brilliancy may sometimes be.
The Macbeth Galleries made a “Group of
Selected Paintings by American Artists” their last
special exhibition of the season, and in this group
KarL Anderson, Gifford Beal, F. C. Frieseke,
Daniel Garber, Childe Hassam, C. W. Hawthorne,
F. J. Waugh and several other contemporaries
strike their accustomed note, and pleasantly deco-
rate the galleries with varied canvases.
The Berlin Galleries terminate their admirable
series of exhibitions arranged by Mr. Birnbaum.
They were principally devoted to those phases of
European art most fancied by the connoisseur, the
series comprising special exhibitions of drawings
by Aubrey Beardsley, Charles Conder, William
Rothenstein, Hamilton Easter Field, Maurice
Sterne, and Mahonri Young. The last of the
series to occupy the galleries until the first of
June is a showing of splendid etchings by a
young and highly gifted foreign etcher, Hermann
Struck.
The print lover will also find much to delight
him in the excellent showing of etchings by Frank
Brangwyn, Albany Howarth, Ernest Lumsden,
Axel Haig and Hedley Fitton.
During May the Montross Gallery held an in-
teresting exhibition of pictures in oil, water color
and pastel by a group of American artists—George
H. Clements, Elliott Daingerfield, T. W. Dewing,
Childe Hassam, W. L. Lathrop, Gari Melchers,
Van Dearing Perrine, A. Phimister Proctor, Alex-
ander Schilling, D. W. Tryon, Horatio Walker,
J. Alden Weir, Hugo Ballin, Arthur Wesley Dow,
George Inness, Homer D. Martin, Willard L.
Metcalf, J. Francis Murphy and Robert Reid.
All the galleries will keep a representative show-
ing of paintings on exhibition during the entire
summer, but not until November, or until Octo-
ber at the earliest, will their real activity begin
to manifest itself.

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