DOI issue:
Nr. 196 (Juni 1913)
DOI article:In the galleries
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43452#0435
Iii the Galleries
EVE (A DETAIL) BY TH. MOLKENBOEK
to no painter to achieve, but he has given us the
spirit and mystery, the color and silence to a great
degree, and for that we must be grateful. These
treeless wastes, these unpeopled rock cities, these
weird panoramas of wonderful but God-forsaken
tracts of country have made their appeal to Mr.
Dow at the bewitching red-orange stage of sunset,
and in some of his pictures these temples not hewn
by man have become veritable sanctuaries.
During May an extraordinary exhibition of
paintings and sculptures by Mr. Henry Clews, Jr.,
at the galleries of Gimpel & Wildenstein, attracted
some attention by the outre character of the
exhibits and the gauntlet of defiance hurled at the
critics “who write up art shows.” It seems that
these misguided people, in company with some
erring artists, have actually imitated his art let-
ters and stolen many of his self-coined expressions.
The final words of the preface to his catalogue,
“Behold the liles of the field,” might suggest inno-
cent maidens, Easter lambs and demure prim-
roses, but in place of these tender motifs we are
met with such subjects as three entirely similar
heads, representing Christ, Magdalen and Satan,
springing from a common base, and heads, too, of
sinister, almost appalling, features. Opposite
them the degenerate head of a devotee of the
Green Fairy, entitled The Absinthe Drinker, and
many other bits of sculpture, which though be-
traying genius, point to a curious taste. Of the
five paintings shown only one, Mother and Child,
strikes a pleasant note. Miss Demivierge and The
Stork Girl are unwholesome in suggestion and
color. Like M. Manet of old, the artist’s inten-
tion seems to point to the desire of bewildering
and shocking his public.
During the first half of May some fifty oils and
pastels, mostly of the thumb-box standard, were
on view at the Arlington Art Galleries, and many
of them might with advantage have stayed away.
On the other hand, some show great proficiency,
especially in composition and treatment of skies
and tree groups. One cannot overcome the sus-
BY TH. MOLKENBOER
LXXXII
EVE (A DETAIL) BY TH. MOLKENBOEK
to no painter to achieve, but he has given us the
spirit and mystery, the color and silence to a great
degree, and for that we must be grateful. These
treeless wastes, these unpeopled rock cities, these
weird panoramas of wonderful but God-forsaken
tracts of country have made their appeal to Mr.
Dow at the bewitching red-orange stage of sunset,
and in some of his pictures these temples not hewn
by man have become veritable sanctuaries.
During May an extraordinary exhibition of
paintings and sculptures by Mr. Henry Clews, Jr.,
at the galleries of Gimpel & Wildenstein, attracted
some attention by the outre character of the
exhibits and the gauntlet of defiance hurled at the
critics “who write up art shows.” It seems that
these misguided people, in company with some
erring artists, have actually imitated his art let-
ters and stolen many of his self-coined expressions.
The final words of the preface to his catalogue,
“Behold the liles of the field,” might suggest inno-
cent maidens, Easter lambs and demure prim-
roses, but in place of these tender motifs we are
met with such subjects as three entirely similar
heads, representing Christ, Magdalen and Satan,
springing from a common base, and heads, too, of
sinister, almost appalling, features. Opposite
them the degenerate head of a devotee of the
Green Fairy, entitled The Absinthe Drinker, and
many other bits of sculpture, which though be-
traying genius, point to a curious taste. Of the
five paintings shown only one, Mother and Child,
strikes a pleasant note. Miss Demivierge and The
Stork Girl are unwholesome in suggestion and
color. Like M. Manet of old, the artist’s inten-
tion seems to point to the desire of bewildering
and shocking his public.
During the first half of May some fifty oils and
pastels, mostly of the thumb-box standard, were
on view at the Arlington Art Galleries, and many
of them might with advantage have stayed away.
On the other hand, some show great proficiency,
especially in composition and treatment of skies
and tree groups. One cannot overcome the sus-
BY TH. MOLKENBOER
LXXXII