International studio (57.1915/1916)

The Art of Law ton Parker

taken as the first of the artist’s public successes.
This painting illustrates admirably a noticeable
characteristic of Parker’s work—the happy union
of classicism and realism. Here, as elsewhere, he
renders an individual not merely as a type; here,
like other modern masters, he seeks to interpret
the beauty of the actual. Yet with all his years of
training, he inevitably adds a touch of the classic,
a suggestion of universal beauty, a charm and
grace which are his heritage from distant ages.
Parker believes in the modern point of view, in
interpretation of the actual rather than adherence
to worn-out formulae, and in recent years he has
painted this modern point of view. But his taste
is so refined and his training so profound that in
much of his work, brilliant and modern as it is in
brushwork, colour and lighting, there creeps in
something of the subtle beauty of the older
tradition.
In spite of the range of his activity, Parker has
long been best known for his portraits. And in
this department his rank is very high. For while
many well-known men are makers of society por-
traits, are painters of clothes and manners, Parker
has always aimed at the essential of the art; the
interpretation of character. Moreover, he has
been unusually successful in his aim. Add to this
incisive expression of character an unconvention-
ality of pose, which is not employed for the sake
of novelty, but as the natural expression of the
sitter’s individuality. When asked how he would
begin a certain portrait, he replied: “By making
thirty or forty studies in pencil and colour.” He
frequently does this preliminary labour in order to
discover a pose which is individual, inevitable and
artistic. But Parker goes further; he says “Our
faces are not made of marble; they do things.
The question is not whether eye matches eye or
ear corresponds to ear; it is rather whether the
head and the figure are vital, are full of the life
peculiar to this one person.”
Much of this is illustrated by the portrait of
Mrs. Leonard Woods, which won a third medal in
1902 at the Old Salon. The attitude of the figure
placed before the mirror with hands resting on a
table is delightfully unconventional. Moreover,
the nearness of the artist to the subject is empha-
sized by the perspective of the table top, thereby
enhancing the suggestion of reality. This master-
piece of skilled craftsmanship, this harmony in
black and gold, possesses a style of its own, a swing
of line, a vitality which made it altogether worthy

to establish the reputation of the then rising young
painter.
Further development was shown by The Por-
trait of an English Girl, which won a gold medal
at the International Art Exhibition at Munich in
1905. This was painted by artificial light, and is


MARTIN A. RYERSON, ESQ. BY’ LAWTON
CHICAGO UNIVERSITY PARKER

a quiet harmony in greys. The beauty of the
lost profile touched by light reflected from a mir-
ror, the texture of skin and garments, the con-
trast of gloved and ungloved hands, and the
sweeping lines of the gown challenge the attention
and satisfy the eye.
It will be noted that in the three paintings—My
Model, Mrs. Leonard Woods and The English Girl

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