International studio (58.1916)

A rt Collecting and Psychology

Courtesy J. S. Carpenter, Des Moines, Iowa
LOOKING OUT BY CARL LARSSON


collector and not independence alone, but inde-
pendence with discrimination, for this is a work
of much distinction. Felice Carena is one of the
Modern Italians. He is a superb draftsman and
an exquisite colourist, and one who feels the
mystery of things. All of these qualities are to
be felt in Wayfarers. The subject is a man on
horseback. The horse is standing still and its
rider is turning his head in conversation with
another man on foot, who is pointing into the
distance. The canvas is painted in those broad
mysterious masses which you associate with the
work of certain Spaniards. The drawing is strong,
yet you do not think of it. The colour is rich and
pure yet is subservient to the dramatic quality
of the painting. It impresses one as a big con-
ception of a big subject. It is dramatically
treated, both in composition and in spirit, and
this spirit seems to pervade the landscape which
has all the luminous and mysterious beauty of
early evening.
Not far from the Carena hangs a Zorn. It is
a delightful example. Few finer things have been
painted by this master. Zorn is essentially a
painter of humanity yet only in equal proportion
to the more abstract characteristics to be found

in his work. He cannot be called a painter of
light, yet joyous light and refreshing shadows are
everywhere. There is movement and palpitating
life in his art. His figures have individualities
and with all this he is one of the greatest techni-
cians of his day, yet we are so impressed with
those qualities which are greater than mere exe-
cution that one could never think of him as merely
a technician. As a matter of fact, the brilliant
side of his art is never the first that attracts one’s
attention. It is the freshness, the modern love
of light and healthy life, originally and spon-
taneously interpreted, which fascinates and in-
toxicates. It is part of the world in which we
live and of which we are also a part. Not the
world of Sweden but the whole world, for Zorn
has the true universal quality, the essential of all
great and living art.
A painting called Fox and Duck by Bruno
Liljefors, another contemporary painter, also in-
terested me. The animals of Liljefors seem as
separated from the world of human activity as
the art of Brangwyn is part of it. As a painter
of animal life he has few equals. He is a keen
student of the lives and habits of the animals he
paints. When I say that his animals seem sepa-

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