International studio (51.1913/1914)

C. Arnold Slade

AN EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS BY
/\ C. ARNOLD SLADE
From the 16th to the 30th of October, the
paintings of Mr. C. Arnold Slade made a

DETAIL OF THE ADCLTRESS BY C._ARNOLD
BEFORE CHRIST SLADE


handsome showing on the walls of the Art Club,
Philadelphia. Mr. Slade is a young American
painter of promise and performance, and one of
the very few specializing in Biblical subjects.
His great picture, great in size and conception,
here reproduced, which has since found a pur-
chaser, is entitled Christ on the Mountain, and is a
sincere and dignified masterpiece; the command-
ing figure might have received more prominence
and the disciples are here and there, possibly, a
little unnatural in pose, but on the whole it is a
remarkable canvas, full of the spell of the East
and the solemnity of the occasion.
Another large canvas from the East is his
Adultress Before Christ, 10 by 12 feet, of which we
reproduce a detail. A charming twilight, the
Shepherd, shows great temperamental ability, and
is one of his finest Oriental studies. Such men as
C. Arnold Slade and FI. O. Tanner are demonstrat-
ing to the world how successful American art is
today in the most difficult field, namely, Biblica
painting.
Visitors were astounded at the prolific zeal of
this prodigy, who, despite the fact that he exhib-
ited here a full room of paintings less than two
years ago, had returned with seventy canvases
and no repeats.
A symbolical work, Knowledge is Power, which
we reproduce on page cxxxiii, teems with rich
imagination intelligently applied, and its lesson is
apparent. Finely drawn and in harmonious
color, this picture, if not already disposed of,
should find an honorable resting place in some
important library. Mr. Slade shows his art train-
ing under Laurens, whose academic touch has
inspired the pupil without robbing him of his
marked individuality.
Yet another large canvas, full of movement and
atmosphere, is entitled Return of the Shrimpers,
and is redolent of Brittany. The artist has given
a first-class rendering of a healthy fisher girl step-
ping out well from her hips, but, unfortunately,
this happy pose has been repeated in the other
figures, somewhat disturbing the ensemble; none
the less, it is a remarkable canvas, and seems to
shower one with sea spray.
Mr. Slade seems to have planted his easel on
many sites. Besides Jerusalem he has sketched in
Tangier, Paris, Constantinople, Normandy and
Brittany, Venice, Egypt and Rome. His paint-
ing of Village of Etaples has passed to Mrs. John
L. Gardner, while the D. P. Kimball collection is
the richer for a canvas entitled Market—Tangier.
After a very successful sojourn in Philadelphia,

cxxxi