International studio (51.1913/1914)

American Pictures at the Canadian Exhibition

THE RENDEZVOUS BY F. B. WILLIAMS


AMERICAN PICTURES AT THE
/\ CANADIAN EXHIBITION
A—X BY JOHN EDGCUMBE STALEY
The annual display of paintings in
the Fine Arts Palace of the National Exhibition at
Toronto always includes a number of canvases
representative of what is being done in the States.
This year the following twenty-three artists con-
tributed twenty-eight compositions: G. Bellows,
F. A. Bicknell, E. Carlsen, L. Cohen, C. C.
Cooper, E. J. Couse, P. Dougherty, F. Frieseke,
D. Garber, L. Genth, Childe Hassam, R. Henri,
J. R. Irving, J. C. Johansen, H. Prellwitz, W. S.
Robinson, C. Rosen, C. F. Ryder, G. Symons,
J. Turcas, H. M. Turner, R. Vonnoh, and F. B.
Williams.
By the last-named painter, The, Rendezvous was
undoubtedly the most interesting picture in the
United States section. It is a composition of five
principal figures—all women, in gorgeous des-
habille, such as Rubens loved to paint. The back-
ground shows a picnic in the wood; this, with the
feathery foliage and vaghezza, is very much after
the manner of the fetes galants of Watteau.
The abandon and the carnations are reminiscent
of the work of Titian. Had the name on the
frame been any one of these Great Masters few

would have doubted the ascription. This is great
praise, but it is justified by the proof that modern
American painters can paint lovely pictures with-
out affectation, fad and cant. Mr. Williams has
given us a rich colour scheme, beautiful poses and
delicious atmospheric effects.
Perhaps next in point of excellence to F. B.
Williams’s canvas was Gardner Symons’s The
Breaking of the River Ice. This is a simple nature
study, but it exhibits the limit—cubistical, if you
will—beyond which no serious painter will dare
to go. The subject lends itself to segmentary
treatment, for the icy hillsides are the complement
of the frozen river’s broken blocks. The illumina-
tion is brilliantly cold and well managed; strong
reds and purples and umbers are expressive of the
barren season. This is a classical composition,
even if a little hard.
Miss Lillian Genth sent a very delicate sym-
phony in tinted sunbeams and sheeny silk-
brocade. Summer Afternoon is certainly a very
feeble title for this delightful canvas. A Summer
Reverie would express the purpose better. The
girl has been reading in the balcony, but she has
closed her book and has risen to go to her room,
when her attention is arrested by some flowers in
a crystal bowl. She places her hand upon the
rim, and her mind has gone back to a memorable

CLXIII