International studio (50.1913)

A Painter of the Figtire in Sunlight: Lillian Genth

short years she has won many honors and dis-
tinctions. The Shaw Memorial Prize, National
Academy of Design, New York, for The Lark,
now in the Engineers’ Club in New York, was
won in 1908; the Bronze Medal at the Inter-
national Exposition of Fine Arts, Buenos Ayres,
in 1910; the First Hallgarten Prize, National
Academy of Design, New York, in 1911, for The
Depths of the Woods, now in the National Gallery
in Washing¬
ton—this is one
of the loveliest
things she has
painted—and
the Bronze
Medal, National
Arts Club, New
York, in 1913.
Really Orien¬
tal in tempera¬
ment, her tend¬
ency is rather
toward the mys¬
tical interpreta¬
tion of things.
She has an intui¬
tive understand¬
ing of the deeper
aspect of art in
its relation to
life. Another
tendency that is
marked is the
change in her
use of color.
Her color is be¬
coming clearer,
brighter and
more distinct.
With a decided
preference for
greensandgrays,
her palette is be-
coming broader and is taking in a wider range of
colors in later works, which proves that the artist
is getting away from any mannerisms, to a larger
and freer technique.
Miss Genth has painted a number of successful
portraits. One of Talcott Williams, the distin-
guished head of the new School of Journalism at
Columbia University, was successful both in vir-
ility and in characteristic likeness of a personality
of distinct individuality. A portrait of Alfred H.
Peiffer, of Philadelphia, was also most success-

ful, in which the technique is direct and broad.
The charming Mother and Child, exhibited at
the Spring Academy in New York, is a proof that
this artist is not content to confine herself to a
limited subject matter, however delightful it may
be. It is the first time she has essayed this form
of expression. But her success is unmistakable.
The tenderness of the mother is happily realized,
the child, a wonderful rendition of happy baby-
hood, is a de-
light to behold.
This beautiful
Mother and
Child, totally
different from
Miss Genth’s
other work,
promises much
for the future,
because it shows
great versatility,
both in idea and
in the manner of
expression. A
wider contrast
in figure work
could scarcely
be imagined.
There is a deeper
realization of
emotion, a more
human under-
standing, than in
anything previ-
ously done.
Springtime, in
the Metropoli-
tan Museum in
New York,
throbs with
youth and buoy-
ancy; it is keyed
high, but has
tender and exquisite blues and greens that give
back the light to the sun.
A June Afternoon, recently shown at the
Autumn Academy, in New York, is painted in a
somewhat different manner. It represents the
figure of a young girl in a charming flowered frock,
intent upon flowers in a bowl on a table. The
June sunshine streams through a green Venetian
blind and irradiates the canvas with color.
The charming Pastoral, now in the Brooklyn
Institute of Arts and Sciences, is an idyllic figure,


BY LILLIAN GENTH

Owned by the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences
PASTORAL

LVIII