International studio (58.1916)

Cosmopolitan Carnegie

English Contemporary Collection, Carnegie Institute, igi6
A WESTERN WEDDING BY WILLIAM ORPEN


ern Swedish art to forego the scholastic pose, to
renounce the butterfly conception of beauty, and
resign oneself to influences that emanate direct
from nature and natural forces. Viewed beside
these fearless, tonic canvases the paintings you
have seen in the preceding galleries seem the
product of effete conditions, the legacy of atelier
and academy rather than the result of first-hand
feeling and observation.
Without in any sense desiring to appear pre-
sumptuous, it may not be amiss to hazard the

opinion that the Swedish Collection is the most
significant of those at present assembled under
the protecting aegis of the Carnegie Institute.
These northerners possess something of the sturdy
terrestrialism of Gustave Courbet. The note of
race and country is strong in their work. While
they speak an aesthetic language which is appre-
ciated the world over, their aim has been to pre-
sent Sweden, as it were, through the artist’s eye—
Sverige gnom konstnarsogon. And this they have
accomplished with convincing verity.

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