Contemporary American Landscape Painting
to tradition and lay greater
stress upon the preroga-
tives of art—men to whom
it must seem that the
business of art is to supple-
ment and perfect nature,
to carry out its intention,
and who represent light
by the use of luminous
colour. These are the
tonalists, Henry Golden
Dearth, Ballard Williams,
Sartain, Dessar, Keith and
- . Ranger, whose sense of
the pictorial is very acute,
and whose compositions
display a decorative
motive, appealing first to
the eye and then to the
intellect. These artists
are less fragmentary in
their speech than the for-
mer, and to the masters of
_ ' the Old World they are
^^"if^ lifll more akin. Mr. Dearth
HBBSS^^^^S^SffiSgBB**- and Mr. Williams both
display in their work im-
■j&MBtt^^k aginative power of a
i • £*k delightful order. Mr.
•-- -. Ranger is perhaps nearer
to nature at times and
*........-■- • ^.^^■■^■^^Bl more versatile, fashioning
"THE LAND OK THE HOPI INDIAN" BY ALBERT L. GROLL Compositions llltO
(By permission of Mr. Wm. Schanz) lovely patterns of colour
and yet preserving the
a coverlid of snow and seen under grey clouded feeling of the outdoor world. Mr. Keith, who has
skies, or in the half light of morning or evening— already been the subject of an article in this
and succeeds in combining bigness in effect with magazine, confines his activities chiefly to the
subtlety of suggestion. Granville Smith sets forth picturing of California woodland scenes, which he
outdoor scenes in which there is a mixture of transcribes much after the manner of Inness.
lights, introducing, most often, some such token Between these two groups, which are the anti-
of domesticity as a dwelling, a mill or a roadside thesis one of the other, is yet another group adhering
tavern. Now all of these painters interpret their in part to the tenets of each. Charles H. Davis,
themes more or less in an envelope of mist—not Wm. L. Lathrop, Edward W. Redfield, Walter
a fog, be it understood, but a visible atmosphere— Elmer Scho field and Charles Morris Young can be
and deal almost exclusively with ephemeral effects, classed neither with the impressionists nor with the
using delicate colour. In their pictures they accu- tonalists. They are the men who have dealt most
rately express the several planes of vision without frequently with stubborn facts, daring to interpret
displaying great contrasts of light and shade. nature in the unromantic light of mid-day, without
They are seekers for truth, lovers of nature, accept- the direct glint and glitter of the sun. Both
ing it as they find it; men of independent vision Mr. Davis and Mr. Lathrop use a broad, full brush
and conviction. and apply their colour with apparent directness.
On the other hand, however, there is a group, The former's work has more finish normally than
equally zealous and high-minded, who cling closer the tatter's, but is no more convincing. Mr.
12
to tradition and lay greater
stress upon the preroga-
tives of art—men to whom
it must seem that the
business of art is to supple-
ment and perfect nature,
to carry out its intention,
and who represent light
by the use of luminous
colour. These are the
tonalists, Henry Golden
Dearth, Ballard Williams,
Sartain, Dessar, Keith and
- . Ranger, whose sense of
the pictorial is very acute,
and whose compositions
display a decorative
motive, appealing first to
the eye and then to the
intellect. These artists
are less fragmentary in
their speech than the for-
mer, and to the masters of
_ ' the Old World they are
^^"if^ lifll more akin. Mr. Dearth
HBBSS^^^^S^SffiSgBB**- and Mr. Williams both
display in their work im-
■j&MBtt^^k aginative power of a
i • £*k delightful order. Mr.
•-- -. Ranger is perhaps nearer
to nature at times and
*........-■- • ^.^^■■^■^^Bl more versatile, fashioning
"THE LAND OK THE HOPI INDIAN" BY ALBERT L. GROLL Compositions llltO
(By permission of Mr. Wm. Schanz) lovely patterns of colour
and yet preserving the
a coverlid of snow and seen under grey clouded feeling of the outdoor world. Mr. Keith, who has
skies, or in the half light of morning or evening— already been the subject of an article in this
and succeeds in combining bigness in effect with magazine, confines his activities chiefly to the
subtlety of suggestion. Granville Smith sets forth picturing of California woodland scenes, which he
outdoor scenes in which there is a mixture of transcribes much after the manner of Inness.
lights, introducing, most often, some such token Between these two groups, which are the anti-
of domesticity as a dwelling, a mill or a roadside thesis one of the other, is yet another group adhering
tavern. Now all of these painters interpret their in part to the tenets of each. Charles H. Davis,
themes more or less in an envelope of mist—not Wm. L. Lathrop, Edward W. Redfield, Walter
a fog, be it understood, but a visible atmosphere— Elmer Scho field and Charles Morris Young can be
and deal almost exclusively with ephemeral effects, classed neither with the impressionists nor with the
using delicate colour. In their pictures they accu- tonalists. They are the men who have dealt most
rately express the several planes of vision without frequently with stubborn facts, daring to interpret
displaying great contrasts of light and shade. nature in the unromantic light of mid-day, without
They are seekers for truth, lovers of nature, accept- the direct glint and glitter of the sun. Both
ing it as they find it; men of independent vision Mr. Davis and Mr. Lathrop use a broad, full brush
and conviction. and apply their colour with apparent directness.
On the other hand, however, there is a group, The former's work has more finish normally than
equally zealous and high-minded, who cling closer the tatter's, but is no more convincing. Mr.
12