DOI issue:
Nr. 226 (December 1915)
DOI article:Breed Zug, George: The art of Lawton Parker
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43460#0117
• STUDIO
VOL. LVII. No. 226 Copyright, 1915, by John Lane Company DECEMBER, 1915
The art of lawton parker
BY GEORGE BREED ZUG
Lawton Parker is the first Ameri¬
can to win a gold medal at the Old
Salon. This is only the last and most important
of an unusual series of academic honours which
have been honestly earned by that distinguished
American painter.
“Academic” is not here intended to carry any
honours which, since they were the hardest to win
and at times the highest open to an American,
meant most in the world of art.
Following his preliminary study in Chicago and
Paris, Parker worked under Mowbray and Chase
in New York. It was there that he won the John
Armstrong Chaloner scholarship which sent him
back to Paris and gave him five years of training
under such masters as Gerome, Laurens, Benjamin
Constant, Besnard and Whistler. Yet from none
suggestion of disparage-
ment; quite the contrary,
since it is just such hon-
ours that carry with them
real authority, as dis-
tinguished from the
empty officialism of most
World’s Fair awards. An
exposition jury is usually
a heterogeneous com-
pound of men more or
less innocent of any real
knowledge of art, whose
chief concern is to hand
out the Grands Prixes
to the satisfaction of the
exhibiting countries, and
who are often dictated
to by some domineering
juror. Most of Parker’s
honours have come
from quite a different
source.
In Chicago and New
York, then in Paris at
the Ecole des Beaux
Arts, at Julian’s and at
Colarossi’s Academy, at
Munich, and three times
at the Old Salon, Mr.
Parker has received those
MISS KATHARINE JONES
BY LAWTON PARKER
of these men did he bor-
row a manner; from all
he gained in mastery of
his craft, and the happy
result has been, not imi-
tation, but resourceful-
ness, independence and
sincerity. Each success
has, naturally enough,
brought new opportuni-
ties. For example, it was
the winning of the Prix
d’Atelier at the Beaux
Arts that led Albert Bes-
nard to invite the young
American to assist in the
decoration of the Cazin
Hospital at Berck. From
this experience, more
than from any other,
Parker feels that he
learned the real meaning
of simplification, its effec-
tiveness and carrying
power.
This simplification and
carrying power are in
evidence in My Model,
which, with its “honour-
able mention” in the
Salon of 1900, may be
xxxvii
VOL. LVII. No. 226 Copyright, 1915, by John Lane Company DECEMBER, 1915
The art of lawton parker
BY GEORGE BREED ZUG
Lawton Parker is the first Ameri¬
can to win a gold medal at the Old
Salon. This is only the last and most important
of an unusual series of academic honours which
have been honestly earned by that distinguished
American painter.
“Academic” is not here intended to carry any
honours which, since they were the hardest to win
and at times the highest open to an American,
meant most in the world of art.
Following his preliminary study in Chicago and
Paris, Parker worked under Mowbray and Chase
in New York. It was there that he won the John
Armstrong Chaloner scholarship which sent him
back to Paris and gave him five years of training
under such masters as Gerome, Laurens, Benjamin
Constant, Besnard and Whistler. Yet from none
suggestion of disparage-
ment; quite the contrary,
since it is just such hon-
ours that carry with them
real authority, as dis-
tinguished from the
empty officialism of most
World’s Fair awards. An
exposition jury is usually
a heterogeneous com-
pound of men more or
less innocent of any real
knowledge of art, whose
chief concern is to hand
out the Grands Prixes
to the satisfaction of the
exhibiting countries, and
who are often dictated
to by some domineering
juror. Most of Parker’s
honours have come
from quite a different
source.
In Chicago and New
York, then in Paris at
the Ecole des Beaux
Arts, at Julian’s and at
Colarossi’s Academy, at
Munich, and three times
at the Old Salon, Mr.
Parker has received those
MISS KATHARINE JONES
BY LAWTON PARKER
of these men did he bor-
row a manner; from all
he gained in mastery of
his craft, and the happy
result has been, not imi-
tation, but resourceful-
ness, independence and
sincerity. Each success
has, naturally enough,
brought new opportuni-
ties. For example, it was
the winning of the Prix
d’Atelier at the Beaux
Arts that led Albert Bes-
nard to invite the young
American to assist in the
decoration of the Cazin
Hospital at Berck. From
this experience, more
than from any other,
Parker feels that he
learned the real meaning
of simplification, its effec-
tiveness and carrying
power.
This simplification and
carrying power are in
evidence in My Model,
which, with its “honour-
able mention” in the
Salon of 1900, may be
xxxvii