International studio (60.1916/1917)

Modern Art


Courtesy of “291

PROVINCETOWN

BY A. WALKOWITZ

lures there is a positive dominance of brilliancy
which one remembers long after the actual vision.
I cannot help noting here the solid improve-
ment Walkowitz has made since his last exhibi-
tion. His work is sturdier and less tentative; and
at times he reveals a mastery which evidences the
end of his experimental period. Here is an artist
who should genuinely interest all other painters
who are seriously striving toward deep expression.
There is too much slavish discipledom to-day,
both in and out of the schools; but Walkowitz is
a painter who sedulously follows his own vision
and despises that recognition which comes in the
wake of other men’s achievements.
At the Durand-Ruel Galleries there is a com-
prehensively chosen and tastefully hung exhibi-
tion of Monets. No. 2 is typically Manet both
in brushing and in its sombre brown-black-blue
colour scheme; but No. 1, done in the early stip-
ling Impressionistic manner, is more like Pissarro;
and No. 7 is as light and dainty as a Sisley. In-
deed, nearly all of Monet is here; one can see the
opalescent effects, the grey foggy atmosphere, and
the dazzling sunshine, as well as the artist’s many
changes in technique. No. 5 comes nearer to
being an ordered work than any other in the ex-
hibition; while No. 13 is one of the most solidly
painted bits which has ever come from the brush
of this brilliant and important, though artistically

ineffectual, painter. Monet
as history is admirable; but
purely as a painter he falls
far short of greatness. The
technical virtuoso in him en-
gulfs the artist. He vibrates
to external nature, and his
work is the direct rebound of
what he has felt. His will
seems in total abeyance while
his brush is in hand. He is an
example of a man emotionally
overbalanced, one whose
static outlook could see but
one aspect to nature—name-
ly, light. Renoir used light
for purposes of form, but
Monet is almost wholly igno-
rant of form. He is, however,
deserving of study; for one
cannot understand what fol-
lowed him without knowing
the problems he solved.
At the Daniel Gallery, Burlin and Man Ray ex-
pose. Ray formerly showed unmistakable signs
of talent; but his new work possesses none of his
earlier good qualities. Such artificial devices as
electric bells, push buttons, gilt paper, darning
silk and finger prints, which are plastered about
his canvases, do not create any divergency of
surface material. In their obviousness they serve
only as somewhat humorous distractions.
Burlin at present is studying colour in its deco-
rative aspects on realistic figures, as did, at one
time, Matisse, Manguin, Puy and Lebasque.
Actually I prefer some of this young American’s
work, as painting, to that of any of those men-
tioned, save Matisse. Burlin, though clumsy in
drawing and without any profound knowledge of
form, has made an astonishing advance since he
last exposed; and his enthusiasm of advance-
ment is very evident in his work. Nevertheless,
despite his great talent, he has fallen into the
error of many modern men: he has neglected all
fineness of form and all variety of parts, with the
result that his masses, though appearing heavy
and solid, are in reality only great hollow en-
closures after the style of Stern, L’Hote, Ber-
nard, and the early Gauguin. But Burlin is
steadily moving forward, and as he learns more
of the human body he will seek effects less and
lasting qualities more.

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