DOI Heft:
No. 270 (September 1915)
DOI Artikel:Cournos, John: Three painters of the New York School
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21213#0260
Three Painters of the New York School
word “ unity ” is interesting, since he implies by it
a unity of character; one may gather that he has
not much faith in art for its own sake. “ Colours
are beautiful when they are significant, lines are
beautiful when they are significant,” declares Mr.
Henri. This conception is related to that of the
Chinese painter who called his art “ the movement
of his spirit in the rhythm of things,” or that of
another who defined art as “ mind on the point of a
brush.”
It is this quality of thought indefinably perme-
ating a work of art that, in the case of a portrait,
makes a universal type of what otherwise might
be a purely local character. Millet’s dictum of the
type being “ the most powerful truth ” has sunk
deep into the fertile American soil. Mr. Henri’s
studies of types have this impetus behind them.
They arouse other than merely retinal impressions.
Mr. Henri has drawn upon Spain and Holland as
well as upon America for his material. It is through
his democratic humanism, his exclusion of feudal
themes, and his vigorous mental attitude and faith
that he is an American. He is more American than
Whistler, less than Winslow Homer.
Mr. Henri’s large gallery of types presents an ex-
cellent opportunity for testing his ideas on “ specific
technique—the method that belongs to the idea,”
which means simply that the style should vary with
the subject. This is by no means a new idea—it was
the method of the Chinese painters; but what Mr.
Henri desires to impress upon one is that the
“JOPIE VAN SLOUTEN ” BY ROBERT HENRI
“LAUGHING GIRL” BY ROBERT HENRI
failure of many modern artists consists in that they
have a “stock technique,” a thing a painter should
avoid as scrupulously as a writer the trite plot and
the cliche phrase.
Nothing could be more dissimilar in treatment
than his portraits of a baby and of the Fish
Market Man. The first is a quiet canvas, rosy
and fresh, serene in handling. There is an atmo-
sphere in it suggestive of childhood. The colour,
the background, and brushwork all help to create
this impression. The Fish Market Man, his face
distorted and all furrows, his eyes concentrating a
lifetime, shows a contrast in handling. Here the
background is dark, and the brushwork seems
hurried and feverish as though the painter were
conscious of the fact that he had to paint a man’s
whole past in three hours—for it took just that
long, a single sitting, for the artist to do this
portrait. “ Going to art school, I am taught this
technique,” said Mr. Henri, as he turned from one
picture to the other; “what am I to do when I
come to paint this subject?”
We paused before a portrait of a Stoker, a real
masterpiece of character. It is the dignified head
of a labourer of middle age, whose sad eyes tell
the story of a hard past; there is no expectation
in them of anything else from life but life itself,
life with its numbered days one of which is like
another, life with all its weariness and labour and
240
word “ unity ” is interesting, since he implies by it
a unity of character; one may gather that he has
not much faith in art for its own sake. “ Colours
are beautiful when they are significant, lines are
beautiful when they are significant,” declares Mr.
Henri. This conception is related to that of the
Chinese painter who called his art “ the movement
of his spirit in the rhythm of things,” or that of
another who defined art as “ mind on the point of a
brush.”
It is this quality of thought indefinably perme-
ating a work of art that, in the case of a portrait,
makes a universal type of what otherwise might
be a purely local character. Millet’s dictum of the
type being “ the most powerful truth ” has sunk
deep into the fertile American soil. Mr. Henri’s
studies of types have this impetus behind them.
They arouse other than merely retinal impressions.
Mr. Henri has drawn upon Spain and Holland as
well as upon America for his material. It is through
his democratic humanism, his exclusion of feudal
themes, and his vigorous mental attitude and faith
that he is an American. He is more American than
Whistler, less than Winslow Homer.
Mr. Henri’s large gallery of types presents an ex-
cellent opportunity for testing his ideas on “ specific
technique—the method that belongs to the idea,”
which means simply that the style should vary with
the subject. This is by no means a new idea—it was
the method of the Chinese painters; but what Mr.
Henri desires to impress upon one is that the
“JOPIE VAN SLOUTEN ” BY ROBERT HENRI
“LAUGHING GIRL” BY ROBERT HENRI
failure of many modern artists consists in that they
have a “stock technique,” a thing a painter should
avoid as scrupulously as a writer the trite plot and
the cliche phrase.
Nothing could be more dissimilar in treatment
than his portraits of a baby and of the Fish
Market Man. The first is a quiet canvas, rosy
and fresh, serene in handling. There is an atmo-
sphere in it suggestive of childhood. The colour,
the background, and brushwork all help to create
this impression. The Fish Market Man, his face
distorted and all furrows, his eyes concentrating a
lifetime, shows a contrast in handling. Here the
background is dark, and the brushwork seems
hurried and feverish as though the painter were
conscious of the fact that he had to paint a man’s
whole past in three hours—for it took just that
long, a single sitting, for the artist to do this
portrait. “ Going to art school, I am taught this
technique,” said Mr. Henri, as he turned from one
picture to the other; “what am I to do when I
come to paint this subject?”
We paused before a portrait of a Stoker, a real
masterpiece of character. It is the dignified head
of a labourer of middle age, whose sad eyes tell
the story of a hard past; there is no expectation
in them of anything else from life but life itself,
life with its numbered days one of which is like
another, life with all its weariness and labour and
240