International studio (60.1916/1917)

In the Galleries

the headquarters, see only the finished surface
which is superimposed on an inadequate founda-
tion; and they imitate and vary it, oblivious to
the deeper needs of three-dimensional composition.
The pictures of Derain seen in this exhibition
are far from being his best. In them is little
actual colour, and no sensation of colour what-
ever. They have the coldness which results from
a detached mental process; and the women’s
heads might be school studies. On the whole, the
pictures are disappointing; and the greater part
of them are unworthy of this artist who has done
much creditable and solid work in past years.
The water-colours bear no relation to Derain’s
best work, and are direct imitations of Matisse,
though lacking Matisse’s sensitivity to flat form
and colour harmony. Even the still-lives are un-
interesting and of little value linearly.
Vlaminck’s work is much better. Here is a
painter who is always charming in colour, sub-
ject and execution; and his present exposed works
are of very genuine interest to those who are
attracted by the lighter side of the new painting.
Vlaminck is sensitively concerned with linear
movements, and, as a result, possesses a basis
from which to work. Furthermore, he is too truly
artistic to attempt to mislead the spectator by
carefully finishing a canvas’s surface when the
expression itself is incomplete.
At the Daniel Gallery are to be seen the oils
of Fisk and the water-colours of Demuth. Fisk
is not unlike Halpert save for a few temperamen-
tal differences. He is less technically gifted, and
has a heavier and more clumsy surface. But de-
spite his dryness of colour and hardness of out-
line, there are in his pictures a seriounesss of pur-
pose and an unfinished aspect which make it pos-
sible for us to hope that his future work will
show improvement.
Demuth’s pictures constitute for me the most
important modern show of the month. This
painter has made great strides since last he
showed his work, especially in his landscapes
which are as charming as Picasso’s early oils of
the same type. In Demuth’s figure pieces and
scenes of circus and music-hall folk is much that
is Matisse, more that is Picasso, and a great deal
that is Toulouse-Lautrec. The water-colours
possess a delicacy of colour, a nervousness, a
lightness, and occasionally a sensitivity of line,
which recall both the etching of Matisse and the
painting of Picasso’s blue-and-pink period.

The unfortunate thing about Demuth’s work
is that it reveals in the artist a contentment with
his tricks and mannerisms and a lack of striving
for more solid and masculine attributes. Occa-
sionally, however, there are real balances of vol-
umes, as, for instance, in the picture of the ballet
girl on horseback. And Demuth has a real feel-
ing for complete colour scales.
At bottom, of course, he is a draughtsman who
reinforces his drawings with colour, and not an
aquarellist at all, as is Marin. But, it is to be
hoped, this painter, in the near future, will devote
his entire time to organizing his sensations, not
into interesting illustrations, but into aesthetically
moving pictures. Already he is beginning to
grapple with the deeper problems of aesthetics.
At the Montross Gallery hangs the work of
Bruce, a painter who is primarily a disciple of
certain modern Europeans. His present pictures
are Renoiresque and Cezannesque, with this vast
difference: he lacks order in the rhythmic sense;
he is without any genuine colour knowledge; and
his drawing is insensitive. Bruce’s dominating
quality is sweetness. Almost every one of his
pictures is cloying, overbalanced by warmth and
prettiness; and they are too slight in form, and
too thin in conception, to make us forget their
saccharine femininity. Bruce is a weaker but a
more delicate and sensitive Weber.
IN THE GALLERIES
During December, with a large crop of
interesting exhibitions and one-man shows,
the greatest encomiums have, perhaps, fallen
to Brooklyn Art Institute for its wonderful Zuloaga
show, not omitting the best exhibition of etch-
ings ever shown in the East, and to the Macbeth
Galleries for the superb water colours of Paul
Dougherty. In the case of the Zuloaga’s, an
article appeared in our last issue. Here we
would only comment on the grand appear-
ance they make, due to the capital lighting and
hanging, and upon the amusing controversy
in the local papers on the subject of the Zulo-
aga nudes. How sublimely ridiculous to learn
that Mrs. A. Z. writes her disapproval, con-
curred in by Mrs. B. Y., whilst Mrs. C. X.
finds them quite in order. When will these
estimable ladies learn that Zuloaga is Zuloaga,
that art is art, and that they should exercise their
energies upon matters where they have more in-

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