International studio (60.1916/1917)

Modern Art

Modern art: walkowitz,
MONET, AND BURLIN
BY WILLARD HUNTINGTON
WRIGHT
By far the most important exhibition of the
month is that of Walkowitz’s water-colours at
291 Fifth Avenue. Walkowitz, long associated
with the “new movement” in America, has
afforded spectators much food for thought. Elis art
has been something of a mystery, appearing at
times hopelessly inconsistent; yet by his sincerity,
his modesty, and his ability to go straight ahead
on his own way, Wal-
kowitz has impressed,
even the layman, with
a feeling that he was a
man of future great¬
ness, and that, back of
his sensitive lines and
thin colour washes,
there was a quality
which, though it evad-
ed analysis, was of gen-
uine significance.
In the present exhibi¬
tion, however, the aver-
age spectator feels more
at ease; for, superfi-
cially, the pictures are
more objective. But,
although an element of
recognizability enters
into them, this artist
cannot be judged or ex-
plained on grounds of
representation. He
must be approached,
not with eyes alone, but with a highly developed
subjective sensitivity—a sensitivity which can
experience form while at the same time ignoring
its pictorial aspects.
Like Renoir, Walkowitz, in his drawings and
some few of his paintings, is interested in lyrical,
linear composition. In other of his works he is
interested in volume, as Daumier was. And, in
one piece at least, he has approached volume from
the standpoint of Cezanne. In other paintings,
he has sought to depict the mind’s emotional
reactions from turbulent scenes—those moods
which we reconstruct after we have participated
in a carnival, for instance. But the result is by

no means the ephemeral one arrived at by the
Futurists. Walkowitz’s means are profound, and
his effects are often of aesthetic permanency.
However, the lines which lead us about his
works, the volumes which exist in emotional space,
the memorial edifices built from the materials of
our experiences—these three phases of Walko-
witz’s art have not yet been united in one work.
They represent impulses which still remain sepa-
rated and individual; they lean toward each
other, but nevertheless they are dissociated reac-
tions to unrelated stimuli. They divide this
painter’s talent into two parts—the masculine and
constructive side, which
embodies rhythm and
form; and the purely
receptive, reconstruct-
ive and emotional side,
which is inherently
feminine. These two
aspects of his work
must unite and coalesce
before he will have at-
tained his highest ex-
pression. As yet he has
only achieved formal
solidity by means of a
scene’s emotional as-
pect; some day he will
produce an emotional
reaction by means of
his formal orders.
Only a few—not more
than five—purely emo-
tional pictures are to be
seen in the exhibition.
And, on the other hand,
there is much stern,
virile and even aggressive work displayed, for this
artist’s achievements are high and diverse. It
is to be regretted that his works are neither num-
bered nor catalogued so that one could speak of
them individually, because they are indeed
worthy of detailed consideration.
Walkowitz’s colour, which as a rule runs in very
nearly complete and satisfying gamuts, always
counts as form, and so delicately does he place it
on his planes that his shapes are frequently ex-
quisite. It has the same quality of firmness, with-
out being obvious, as has his composition. One
feels, rather than recognizes, that he is working
with a nearly pure palette. In some of his pic-


Courtesy the Daniel Gallery
INDIAN MOTHER

BY BURLIN

CXXXII