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[[right margin]]THE INDIANAPOLIS NEWS, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1923.[[/right margin]]

FINE EXAMPLES OF FAMOUS MASTERS COME FOR BRIEF STAY AT HERRON ART INSTITUTE

[[image - caption: "CHRISTIAN INSPIRATION," BY PUVIS DE CHAVANNES.]]

A COLLECTION of paintings by old and more recent masters which R. C. Vose has brought for a brief stay at the John Herron Art Institute from the Vose galleries of Boston, is one of rare value and distinction. This unusual exhibition of fine examples of the work of famous artists is to remain only during the next week, including the coming and the following Sunday. It includes pictures by such painters as Millet, the incomparable interpreter of the life of the peasant; Puvis de Chavanness, the greatest French mural painter; Sir Joshua Reynolds, the greatest English portraitist; Israels, the foremost modern Dutch painter; Innes, the father of American landscape; Hunt, our early great portrait painter and teacher, and Blakelock, the most romantic and pathetic figure our art history has yet produced. Wier, Thayer, Corot, Ciyp, Daingerfield, Duveneck and many other eminent names are in the list that it is difficult to choose from among them a few for special mention.

The bringing together of such pictures has been made possible by the efforts of an organization which has operated for almost three generations. The Vose galleries is the oldest picture house in America, having been established in 1841 by the grandfather of Mr Vose. His father, S. M. Vose, for sixty years carried on the work started at that time, and was the first importer of pictures  of the Barbizon school. William Morris Hunt, who had studied with Millet at Barbizon, and who had retained his enthusiasm for the painters there after his return, worked with Mr. Vose to create an interest in their work in this country. He owned the first Millet in America; Vose the first Corot, and the first Daubigny.

Study for Millet's "Gleaners."
Many of these paintings have belonged to well-known collections; many have interesting stories connected with their history and purchase. The Millet, for instance, is the completed study for the standing figure in the famous picture, "The Gleaners," which is now one of the most sought out paintings in the Louvre. It was bought from Millet's estate and has hung for fifty years in the Vose home.

"Meditation" is the title of a canvas by Joseph Israels, representing the figure of a woman half turned away from the spectator, lost in reverie. Quiet in tone, subtle and poetic, it is a beautiful example of the sympathetic understanding with which this artist habitually approached his subjects.

We so often think of the work of Puvis de Chavannes only in such places as the Sorbonne, or the Pantheon, where is murals representing incidents from the life of Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, is one of its chief treasures; or in the vaulted spaces of the Boston Public Library, that we are delightfully surprised when we see a characteristic canvas here in our own gallery. "Christian Inspiration," which is herewith reproduced, shows a group of monks in the cloister of their monastery, occupied in making things of beauty and in contemplating them. At the right one of them, an artist, is absorbed in his composition, and one sees on the wall beside him a fresco already completed. We experience a feeling of rest and peace ourselves as we look on this quiet, harmonious canvas, and we can imagine that we are watching a Cimabue or a Fra Angelico while he quietly and lovingly creates a masterpiece.

Portraits of Court Beauties.
"The Duchess of Portsmouth," by Sir Godfrey Kneller, and "The Princess of Orange," by Sir Peter Lely, are characteristic canvases by these two court painters, whose privilege it was to record the beauty and grandeur and the superficiality of the seventeenth century court. In the exquisite portrait of "Mrs. Chalmers," by Sir Joshua Reynolds, we feel a beauty of a nobler sort. The beautiful simplicity of its handling and composition and the pearly quality of its delicate flesh notes are attributes that can be felt more easily than described.

The "Fete Champetre" exemplifies the work of Thomas Joseph Monticelli, a painter who is at least receiving the recognition he deserves, but about whom little is known beyond a few facts. He was born of Italian parents in Marseilles. A pupil of Diaz, he early developed in his art expression along lines peculiar to himself; and having an inborn passion for color, he evolved a method of using his pigment which utilized it in a way no one else had done. In his hands bits of paint became gems, which he played with and caressed, and made into gorgeous harmonies. It has been said of him that he "painted with crushed jewels."

Monticelli's Manner.
He was sure of his own way in the midst of various schools and traditions with which he had nothing to do. For this reason, perhaps, his work was for a while less well known; but perhaps for this reason also it has emerged in renewed brilliancy. He loved to paint figures bathed in golden or silvery light in a woodland setting, a bit of luminous blue sky relieving the deeper greens of russets of the foliage. The "Fete Champtre" is a composition of this sort. What William Howes Downes said of another of his paintings is applicable to this one: "Never were lovelier visions of the figures of beautiful creatures placed in a lovelier setting." Monticelli is, in fact, considered the greatest colorist of modern times. An excellent color reproduction of this painting has been used as the frontis-piece for the November number of the International Studio.

Monticelli was and is an influence in American painting. Hunt, Ryder, Blakelock, Fuller and others were attracted by him. Hunt, as has been said before, became interested in Millet at Barbizon. Returning to America in 1855 he opened an art school in Boston, where he exerted a powerful influence. His is one of the really great names in the history of American painting. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is rich in his work, which was not numerous. A fine portrait of a woman is along the Vose pictures. Near it hangs another portrait head, by Duveneck, done in the early Munich days. It is strong and powerfful, laid in by strokes that are simple, but inevitably right.

A Portrait by Sully.
The earliest American portrait is one by Sully. A Beautiful Spanish woman of an unusual blond type, with a black mantilla falling over head and shoulders, and a guitar in her hand, made a most romantic and fascinating model. Sully carrying on the traditions of his master, Gilbert Stuart, painted in such a way that the color is so fresh and clear that it is hard to believe he lived so long ago. It makes the student long to investigate a method which attains such results. A spirited still life of flowers spontaneously painted adds additional interest to this charming canvas. It is all singularly modern in spirit.

Blakelock is one of the most interesting as well as the most pathetic figures in American art. His concern was to interpret the mystery of twilight and night. In his "Golden Nocturn," the golden light of the moon radiates over the sleeping landscape, disclosing the forms of trees, making luminous shadows, and pervading everything with its mystery. For several years in the early part of his life Blakelock traveled alone through the mountains of the west, becoming so interested in and fascinated by the American Indians that he lived among them for a while. He adopted the arrow-head as a sort of trade0mark and his pictures are signed not only with his name but also with the arrow-head inclosing it. "Golden Nocturn" was painted while he was at the hight of his power of his power, before he was aware of the approach of the malady from which he never recovered.

Landscape by Inness.
George Inness reflects an entirely different mood of nature. "The Valley on a Gray Day" is a superb example of this great painter. A slight haze enveloping sky, field and trees softens the contours of the forms, but in no way obscures them. This was executed just two yearsr before his death in 1894.

Abbott Thayer, whose death several years ago removed one of the most prominent figures from contemporary Amerian art, is represented by a three-quarter-length portrait. Paul Daugherty, regarded by many the greatest living painter of the sea, has two powerful canvases. There are also two magnificent landscapes by J. Alden Wier, "The Border of the Farm," and "Autumn Rain." The former, Mr. Vose has brought from the wall of his own home.

Reception to New Art Director.
Invitations h ave been issued by the president and board of directors of the Art Association to members and to the friends of American art for a reception the evening of February 6 at the institute, in honor of J. Arthur MacLean, the new director of Herron Art Institute, and Mrs. MacLean.

Indiana Artists' Club Affairs.
A reception will be held at the Indiana Artists' Club, on the fourth floor of the When building, Sunday from 3 to 6 in honor of the new officers of the club. Tea ill be served by Miss Emma B. King. Twenty etchings by Frederick Polley are displayed in the clubroom. These include some o the first plates ever done by Mr. Polley, as well as some of his latest, executed during the Christmas vacation. These last four plates belong to his Pittsburg series, and were composed from sketches which he contained while in Pittsburg about a year ago, and which were reproduced in Scribner's Magazine. One of these, "The Volcano," showing a towering chimney belching forth its cloud of smoke, is in the current exhibition of the Chicago Society of Etchers. A series of lithographic drawings of Chicago which Mr. Polley made during the last summer will appear in Scribner's soon. Another wall at the clubroom is devoted to five landscapes by Carl Graf, painted on last summer's excursion to Brown county.

Beginning February 111 Randolph Coats will have a one-man exhibition of paintings at the clubroom. The group of canvases will include many painted during his recent stay in Europe.

A number of members have organized a sketch club, which will meet each Thursday evening from 7:30 to 9:30 to work from the model. If sufficient interest is show, a second class on Wednesday evenings will be formed These groups will meet at the clubroom and are for members of the club only.

Art School Notes.
Clifton Wheeler is again to be a member of the faculty of the Herron Art School. He will have charge of classes in drawing from the antique, and from the costume model. Opportunity will be given those who desire to emphasize the decorative quality of figure composition to work along this line. Mr. Wheeler will be at the school two days each week, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Another class is one in water color inc charge of Paul Hadley. There has been a demand for a class of this nature for some time. It will meet on Monday afternoons.

Raymond Gregg, a former pupil of the art school, is director of the Little Theatre Society, of Rushville. Its second program of the season given on January 29 comprised two one-act plays and a ballet, for which Mr. Gregg designed the sets and costumes.

Transcription Notes:
"powerfful", "hight", and "Pittsburg" are both written as it's typed, not mispelled.