AN ART EXHIBITION AT THE NATIONAL CAPITAL

...the fourth to Daniel Garber for "April Landscape...

...So it comes about that the average spectator interests himself in technique only when it forces itself upon him, only when it pushes itself between the artist's soul and his own and cuts off the communication...

...But with the bond of sympathy established, the spectator is almost sure to feel within him, an awakening of interest in the artists themselves, in that great band of men and women whose lives are given to the production of beauty...

...It cannot be denied that the "mood of mystery" which laymen have indiscriminately and unscientifically designated as "impressionism" or "the broad style" has tended to destroy much of the human interest of art exhibits of recent years...

...Before one of the greatest of the landscapes he remembered a man contemned by the world because of unusual and unconventional beliefs, who had found the painter of this great picture in his poverty and given him an education...

...There can be no doubt that the encouragement thus given to American art has had an effect, indirect to be sure, upon the Washington exhibition...

...It should be said, however, that most of these were not in the prize competition, having received prizes elsewhere or being the work of members of the jury of award...

...The prizes, which are all given by ex-Senator William A. Clark of Montana, have been awarded as follows: The first prize to Edmund C. Tarbell for "Interior...

...He finds himself thinking also of the art that never finds expression, of the talents that have been snuffed out by poverty and untoward circumstances...

...the second to Gari Melchers for "Penelope," also an interior...

...The mood of mystery seems to have disappeared and given place to a finer sincerity...

...The layman feels that some at least of the prizes must have been awarded for technical excellences which are beyond his understanding, and while he bows to the judgment of the critics, he is likely to pass on rather quickly to "sunlit snow fields" and other beautiful winter landscapes in which the exhibit is rich, to William Wendt's "Silence of Night" with its wonderful depths of darkening blue sky, to "Winthrop" and "Alison," the portraits of children by H. S. Hubbell and Sergeant Kendall, to "Sunlight" by J. W. Alexander...

...It is because he is made so little conscious of technique that he feels justified in passing judgment upon it and calling it good...

...Some one said of an exhibit in Chicago which contained many of the same paintings: "Its gratifying quality as a whole is its frankness and sincerity...

...For understanding the human and the social aspects of an exhibition, the layman's whole life has been a preparation, all his own joys, sorrows, disappointments and unsatisfied longings...

...Both of the men who reached out helping hands in time of need to these struggling young artists have passed into the silence, but being dead they yet speak to us through the art of those whom they befriended...

...There has been during the last six months an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington which critics have pronounced the best exhibition of American art ever held in the country...

...For a critical study of the methods of the various artists and their technique, on the other hand, special instruction is neses-sary...

...This going out of the soul of the artist to the soul of the spectator is the chief factor in the human interest created...

...Those who are more restrained have wondered and waited...

...However this may be, the layman finds the spirit of the out-of-doors, the love of little children and all the tenderer human relationships faithfully presented in this exhibition with little which distracts by calling attention to method...

...Those of the laymen who pride themselves on "speaking right out" have said, "It may be high art but I don't care for it...

...As such a person passes from one work of art to another, he finds himself drawn to this artist or to that who has seen and loved that which he himself has seen and loved in nature or in human relationships...

...Standing before one magnificent portrait, the name of the artist brought to his mind a poor boy from a remote country district who, as the result of an advertisement in a denominational paper, was given by a generous patron a home in one of the suburbs of Chicago and an opportunity to go to the Art Institute...

...But the writer was reminded in looking at the paintings that there are other ways or befriending art than by purchasing pictures and giving prizes...

...This exhibition has made a strong and wide appeal to laymen also, who find it full of the richest human interest with little that is startling or mysterious in technical methods...

...He finds himself looking behind the canvasses and seeing struggles, victories, disappointments, longings for self-expression, divine discontent, joy, sorrow,— all the round of human experiences coming to natures peculiarly sensitive and peculiarly unfit to battle with the practical problems of life...

...Many of the best canvasses were brought from the exhibition which was held in Chicago in October...

...Many have either been purchased by the Chicago Art Institute or have been awarded its prizes...

...the third to Childe Hassam for "Springtime...

...Among the items of social interest which the writer picked up during the exhibition was the fact that "The Friends of American Art" in Chicago have organized themselves and that they had this year $30,000 with which to purchase works of art, by Americans, of course, for the Chicago Art Institute...

...An Art Exhibition at the National Capital Impressions of the Third Exhibition of Oil Paintings by Contemporary American Artists By A LAYMAN TO ONE who is neither artist nor art critic, the interest in an art exhibition must of necessity be chiefly, if not exclusively, human and social...

...Now it seems as if American artists, having rejected that which was merely sensational and adopted that which was good in the newer methods, have become less self-conscious and are speaking more directly with greater sincerity to the hearts of the people...

...Almost inevitably the social insignificance of the exhibit impresses itself upon him...