International studio (49.1913)

Fashions in Ant

terest which attracted such huge crowds to the
McMillin and the Borden collections at the
American Art Galleries and to the subsequent
sales at The Plaza when, amid great enthusiasm,
figures for paintings by several prominent artists
were smashed by generous margins. It is grati-
fying to note that on the former occasion a Corot
brought $75,200—not, however, a record price—
that an Inness sold for $16,500, and a pair of
Wyants went for
$12,000 a-piece, yet
what, in essence, is
the lesson to be
drawn from this sort
of thing? It is ob-
viously the same bit¬
ter and humiliating
story that has so
often been told only
to be forgotten,
namely that we al¬
most invariably fail
to appreciate our
really significant tal¬
ents while they are
living and working
by our side, often in
positive want and
obscurity. Such in¬
stances will of course
always come to light,
yet what we must
seek to do is to re¬
duce them to a mini¬
mum, and this can
only be done by hav-
ing our eyes open,
and keeping our sen¬
sibilities receptive to
that which is actu¬
ally taking place
around us in the
world of creative
form, color, and de-
sign. A prominent painter recently confessed not
without a tinge of shame and regret that “It
is not what we do, but what we get for what we do,
that counts in America.” Here you have the
crux of the whole matter. It is this absurd
inflation of values, this prestige deriving from the
exalted prices paid for the work of painters past
and gone, or men who are so currently popular
that each of them is a species of self-constituted
trust, that is responsible for present-day artistic

conditions in America. With us the average
painter is a one-picture man. He learns to depict
a certain scene or subject with no small degree of
charm and dexterity; he is successful in disposing
of it, and from thence onward his position is
assured provided he does not venture further
afield. The artist of to-day is not satisfied to be
picturesquely shabby or to face starvation in the
earnest and arduous quest of his esthetic ideals.
He is after quick re-
turns, and the way
to insure them is to
appeal to the innate
conventionalism of
the public. If you
do the commonplace
thing with an added
dash of grace and
personality you are
certain of success,
and success is what
the majority of these
men are seeking. It
is no longer the fash-
ion to be poor and
unappreciated. Yet
with the passing of
Bohemia there has
disappeared not a
little of that spirit
of ardent enthusiasm
and self-sacrifice
which has always
played such an im-
portant part in the
province of artistic
endeavor.
GARI MELCHERS
It is not, however,
necessary either to
relapse into Bohe-
mianism, or to suc-
cumb to commerci-
alism, in order to win a substantial measure of
fame and fortune; and no better instance of
this can be cited than the case of Gari Melchers
whose exhibition at the Montross Galleries
proves that even in these much abused days a
man can maintain his esthetic integrity. Mel-
chers in a sense marks the parting of the ways
between the old and the new. He has the dig-
nity, serenity, and superb draughtsmanship of
the masters, and he reveals at the same time


Exhibited al the Metropolitan Museum, by courtesy of Mr. J. P. Morgan
LADY BETTY DELME AND HER CHILDREN BY REYNOLDS

VI