International studio (57.1915/1916)

The Ambidextrous Childe Hassam

hundred or more pictures of Mr. Hassam’s. The
surface appeal, the conglomerate impression is
effusive; we are confronted by a consummate
cleverness, by an undeniable knack for painting,
directed by a vision which sees quickly, ac-
curately, at times charmingly. But we sometimes
ask ourselves just how much there is back of this
kind of work; just how much latent strength it
possesses. One point must be emphasized: If a
sheer facility be (as some think) a cardinal virtue,
then Mr. Hassam stands, beyond the shadow of
a doubt, at the head of American painting. In
his characteristic way, he is incomparable. But
just how much does his characteristic way amount
to?
We confess that, for us, Mr. Hassam represents
—superlatively represents—a kind of painting, a
point of view, in the last analysis negligible.
And, so far as we are concerned, we sometimes
attribute this to its lack of an interest in any-
thing in particular, its gracious, slightly super-
ficial recognition of everything in general. We
do not intend for a moment to fall victim to the
fallacy of nationalism in art—there is practically
no such thing as nationalism in that kind of art
which is, by a consensus of the best opinion, con-
sidered the most representative kind of art. On
the other hand, it seems to us that we have a
right to demand of an artist that he supply us
with a kind of special charm that we may look
for in vain elsewhere. We do not ask that he be
an originator—as a general rule, the great artist
is he who compiles, rather than he who originates.
But we do ask for a certain unique tingle, an
indefinable differing from the rest. Does Mr.
Hassam supply us with this difference? Is his
note a distinctive note as you find it in Weir,
Murphy and Tryon at their top notch? Is it not
rather a kind of supremely gifted cosmopolitanism,
a rather too facile preoccupation with the mere
surface of things. To say as much as this is, we
fear, to violate the holiest of holies in art, that
doctrine of artistic absolutism handed down from
time immemorial and indorsed by no less sig-
nificant a figure than Whistler. Nevertheless, we
cannot now, and we never have been able to
understand why a mere mechanical proficiency
is an end-all in painting when it is only a beginning
in the kindred arts of literature and music.
Paint for paint’s sake is all very well, when a
consummate craftsman like Ryder, possessed by
a purely academic point of view, attains a super-

lative degree of sheer loveliness. We accept the
rather sterile impulses back of his work in view
of the impeccable beauty of the workmanship.
But Mr. Hassam can lay claim to such im-
peccable beauty of workmanship. His paint
is often uneven in quality, sometimes deteriorat-
ing into a positive slovenliness. His taste is not
always unimpeachable. He will put as exquisite
a bit of painting on a canvas as you could wish
and irretrievably ruin it by the incongruous in-
trusion of some stupid, superfluous, crudely in-
dicated nude. The restless ardour of his dis-
position, as reflected in his art, leads one to wonder
if he has not lacked the supreme control, the
supreme self discipline, essential to the develop-
ing and the maintaining of the very highest kind
of artistry. His temperament is less a fine one
than an effulgent one. More versatile than Ryder,
Weir, Tryon or Murphy, he pays the penalty for
doing a great many things better than they do
them, by doing no one particular thing as well.
His point of view is not always easy to identify,
from the point of view of a dozen others. To sum
up, does his work supply us, in the last analy-
sis, with that urgent, imperative kind of beauty
which we feel to be both authentic and indispens-
able?
The municipal art society of
NEW YORK
The society’s initial gift to the Morris High
School, of decorations by Edwin W. Deming, was
later followed by their assuming the decoration
of the Washington Irving High School in its
entirety, an enterprise which has attracted wide
attention and is progressing along lines which
make it a credit to the city as well as to the
society. The decoration of the entrance hall with
a series of mural paintings by Barry Faulkner,
rendered possible through the gift of Mrs. E. H.
Harriman, is in an advanced stage of progress,
and an over-mantel by Miss Frances Grimes has
already been installed. The decoration of the
great staircase hall with suitable panels is also
under way, the gift of the society, and a prize
design by Robert K. Ryland for the decoration
of the auditorium awaits the completion of
arrangements to secure a fund for its installation.
More has been done within the last few months
toward the mural decoration of our public schools
than in the dozen preceding years.

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