International studio (58.1916)

Springtime at the Academy


THE BLUE CASCADE

BY FREDERICK J. WAUGH, N.A.

SPRINGTIME AT THE ACADEMY
BY W. H. de B. NELSON
In this joyous season of awakening,
when the pall of winter has been cast
aside and all living things rejoice, it
might be assumed for granted that the artists
would be imbued with the same quality of sen-
suous delight and would manifest it in their
offerings. Such is indeed the case in isolated
instances, but taking the exhibition as a whole,
there exudes from the majority of the canvases
displayed more the essence of winter—apart
from the mere subject—than that of spring,
rather the impression of a funeral than of a re-
birth. Famous clubs, by over-exclusiveness, have
frequently had to close their doors, the associa-

tion perishing of dry rot, just as great families,
by too studied selections in intermarriage, have
developed dulness and idiocy until the happy
mating of a son and heir with a milkmaid has
saved the situation. Similarly it behooves an
academy to look to its laurels by the continuous
infusion of fresh and original talent unimpaired
by overdraughts of scholastic training.
The many excellent one-man and group exhi-
bitions up and down and round about Fifth
Avenue are apt to disconcert the judgment and
make one forget for the moment the handicap
which the Academy, under its rules, must of
necessity accept; still, making all allowances it
does seem preposterous that so much art that is
stale, flat and unprofitable should rub shoulders
gaily with a great deal that is decidedly good.

LXXXVII