of eighty showing the complete evolution of Picasso. The first
introduction of Picasso to America and the first exhibition anywhere of
Picasso held in this sense.
February, 1912, second Hartley exhibition.
February, 1912, first Arthur G. Dove exhibition.
March, 1912, sculptures and latest drawings by Matisse. First
introduction to America of Matisse, the sculptor.
April, 1912, Exhibition of Children’s Work, showing relationship of that
to much of the spirit of so-called “Modern” work, first exhibition of
its kind held in America.
December, 1912, drawings and paintings by A. Walkowitz.
January, 1913, fourth Marin Exhibition--the now famous New York
skyscraper series were shown.
March, 1913, Picabia’s New York work. The first one-man show of Picabia
held in America.
April, 1913, Exhibition of De Zaya’s abstract caricature. Possibly the
most _modern_ expression of the human portrait.
Incidentally, without having had official shows, the work of Eli
Nadelmann (Paris) and Manolo, was introduced to America by examples of
their work being shown.
Outside of all these exhibitions, of course, must be added the
exhibition of color-photography, first in America, in 1907, and numerous
other exhibitions, of important photographic work.
APPENDIX II
TWO COMMENTS
It is only fair to the press to say that here and there, in most
unexpected places, not only articles but editorials appeared admonishing
the public to be cautious about condemning the new art too impulsively.
We have chosen two such expressions from places so different, as London,
and Reno, Nevada.
Apropos the Russian Ballet and its extraordinary music, the London
“Times,” in a leading editorial, July 13, 1913, said:
“We have entered into one of those periods of artistic revolution in
which the public, audience, or spectators become partisans and express
their opinions as if they were at a political meeting. The Russian
Ballet, for instance, produced a conflict of opinion last Friday, which
recalls the conflicts provoked by the plays of Victor Hugo in the
thirties. Post-Impressionism now is what the Romantic movement was then.
To one party it means the end of all beauty; to the other a new birth of
it. People no longer clap or hiss because they think a particular
performance is well or ill done. Even in England, where the arts are not
commonly taken very seriously, they are beginning to clap or hiss on
principle, and to feel that they are making history when they do so.
Partisans on both sides are probably not very clear in their minds why
they like Post-Impressionism or dislike it; but the word, vague and
clumsy as it is, does imply to them a set of tendencies by which all the
arts may be ruined or regenerated. It is not merely a fashion in
painting, but, like Romanticism, a movement of the mind which is trying
to express itself through all means of artistic expression.
“Of this the new turn taken by the Russian Ballet is a striking proof;
for no one can suppose that the artists concerned in that enterprise are
haters of beauty because of their own incompetence to achieve it. They
have every material inducement to continue delighting the world with
Ballets like Carnival or Scheherazade; and, if they attempt a new kind
of art, it must be because they are driven to it by some force in
themselves too powerful to be withstood. Masters like M. Nijinsky do not
try dangerous experiments on the public for the mere pleasure of trying
them; and it is a little presumptuous to assume that they are suddenly
afflicted by sheer perversity of taste. It is more probable that they
are possessed by that ardour of discovery which is common both to great
artists and to great men of science, indeed to all men whose interest in
life is stronger than their desire for their own comfort.
“Most people make the mistake of thinking that the development of an art
consists altogether of what is called invention and not of discovery;
and for that reason they often resent innovations as mere perversities.
If a thing has been well done already they cannot see why it should not
continue to be done. But the artist knows that he cannot invent again
what has been once invented. He knows, too, that these seeming
inventions are also discoveries of the possibilities of his art; and
that when discovery has been carried very far in one direction it cannot
be carried any further. The history of all arts proves this. After
Michel Angelo no one could invent anything fresh in his manner, because
he had discovered all that could be discovered about his method of art.
Renaissance architecture prevailed in Europe because no new discoveries
were possible in Gothic.
“The Romantic movement changed English poetry when there was nothing
more to be said in the manner of Pope. You may prefer the old art to the
new, but even if you are right in preferring it, you are not therefore
right in condemning those who practice the new art. For they have no
alternative. Either they must be mere imitators of the great men of the
past or they must make a new start; and the true artist can no more
content himself with imitation than the true philosopher can content
himself with repeating what other philosophers have said.
“Behind all representation in the arts there is the impulse of
expression; and that will make its discoveries wherever there is most to
be discovered, turning naturally to those elements of the art which have
lately been neglected. If we understand this we shall see that a new
artistic movement, such as Post-Impressionism, is not to be judged
merely by a few pictures or to be condemned because those pictures seem
to us very unlike reality. Whatever may come of it, it is something that
is happening in all the arts, because discovery is turning in a new
direction. All the successes of the past are obstacles to new success of
the same kind, and discovery naturally takes a line of least resistance
away from them. For a long time, in every art, artists have been raising
expectations which they found it difficult, if not impossible, to
satisfy. In painting, with its effort at complete illusion, they have
provoked comparisons with Velasquez. In music, with its elaborate forms,
they must do as well as Beethoven if they are to succeed. The dance, as
we are used to it, demands an easy grace in every movement, which M.
Nijinsky himself cannot combine with novelties of expression. He has
found that, if he is to be a discoverer in his art, he must teach his
public not to expect this easy grace, this formal and accustomed beauty,
from the start. And that is the purpose of Post-Impressionism in all
the arts. It is determined not to arouse expectations which it cannot
satisfy.
“The public may begin by thinking it all crude and ugly and childish;
and it will be the more delighted by any beauties which it discovers
afterwards. Hitherto the arts have promised more than they could
possibly perform. Now they shall promise nothing, and so perform at
least more than they promise. It is natural, perhaps, that the public
should resent this as a kind of discourtesy. The artist who makes no
professions seems to them lacking in respect, and they are inclined to
hoot him as an impudent charlatan. But there are very few artists who
wish to be hooted, and the real charlatan usually flatters his public.
Whatever may be said against Post-Impressionists in all the arts, they
are not flatterers.”
* * * * *
It is a far cry from London to Reno, and the differences between the two
places are not measured by the miles between them.
Leading editorial from the “Journal,” Reno, July 11, 1913:
SIMPLE SOLOMON
“When Solomon staked his reputation for wisdom as well as originality on
the assertion that there is nothing new under the sun, he did not think
some day the Cubist painter, the Futurist artist, and the color musician
would rise in the twentieth century and make him ridiculous. There is
something new under the sun even in these departures, and like
everything original since the first sin, the innovations are now roundly
condemned.
“It is the fashion now to condemn the Cubist and the Futurist in art,
even as not long ago it was the fashion to condemn the realist, the
impressionist and the Post-Impressionist; but it is a peculiar tribute
to the authority of an innovation that it requires such a general attack
of condemnation. A trivial thing requires mere neglect; a war of
condemnation implies some strong and virile thing to be subdued.
“These new things have a substantial basis for existence; else they
would not exist. Their novelty has caused some extravagant adherents to
carry them to unreasonable excess. They have abused the discoveries, not
used them. They will pass away but the new principles will survive.
“The cubist takes his cue from the idea of perspective itself--carried
to excess. No one can imagine anything but straight lines as the basis
for ‘vanishing points.’ Curved lines, while apparent and obvious, are
not the scientific representations of actualities. The things we see
strike the eye on the basis of flat images and our imagination brings
out shape and significance. It is but a simple reversal to present flat
art and give the imagination equal play in reconstructing real images in
the eye.
“If we take a half-tone engraving and examine it with a magnifying glass
we find it is a series of holes of uniform size but more or less dense
on the surface according to the requirements of light, shade and line.
Magnify a half-tone 100 times and we have a large grating of black and
white circles or squares. That is cubist art. It requires a slight shift
in the point of view, a little development and stimulation of the
imagination--nothing more.
“When Gulliver visited the Brobdingnagians and viewed the complexions of
their women at close range, it almost made him sick--yet they were noted
beauties. He looked too close. When they looked at him they observed no
complexion--they looked too far. Yet each had a concrete complexion and
the only trouble was the point of view and the shock of comparison.
“The futurists have a very novel and, at this time, an outlandish art.
One of them has a full page picture used as an advertisement of the
peculiar sound of a horn. It is a picture of a sound that saws its way
through other sounds. There is a straight, fan-like picture for a
constant, augmenting note, rising in scale. It is gray. There is a black
ellipse for a loud varying noise of fairly regular variation of note,
and so on. The foreign noise of the horn is shown as utterly unlike in
form, intensity, regularity or harmony, any other sound.
“If one has a diagram one can understand the futurist art and, when one
understands, he approves. The new arts are simply aids to comparison,
discrimination and inspiration. They have all the delights of
wine-tasting or salad-judging--and some salads are vile.
“The color musician has developed only another exercise in
discrimination. If we were to make mathematics of music we would find
that there is an exact relation between the number of vibrations of
notes an octave apart; a constant relation between the vibrations in the
natural and the sharp; a direct ratio between the vibrations of the
notes in a chord; a formula for harmony and another for discord. It is
an interesting mathematical study, a science as well as an art, and it
proves that our appreciation through the senses is based on natural
mathematical sequences and on well understood ratios, seasoned for
variety’s sake by divergences from type.
“Now the color musician has taken the spectrum and made notes out of it
like the notes on the gamut. He has a color-scale and can do as much on
it for the delight of the eye as a musician can with the musical scale
for the ear. He merely brings out an extra way of enjoying distinctions
and of enjoying that most restful of enjoyable things--conventionality.
The certainty and the satisfaction of the conventional is about the most
assuring thing in all experience. There is no more steadying feeling in
all the world than to know that two and two make four, and that c-a-t
spells cat. The more ways by which we can be assured of the belief we
hold by faith, that there is an uniform, unchanging, all-pervading rule
in the world, arguing an individual, mastering central consciousness and
direction, the happier we are.
“The cubists and the futurists and the color musicians may be faddists,
but they help to drive out old Solomon’s pessimism. They help us to
understand by purely human experience how it is that there may be some
things which even humans cannot understand--but which are.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ENGLISH
In attempting this bibliography of the modern movement in art, the
search in periodical literature in England, France, and Germany has
been carried back no farther than 1908.
IS ART A FAILURE? by Robert Fowler. Nineteenth Century, July, 1912.
ART, A NEW VENTURE IN. _Exhibition at the Omega Workshops._ Times,
July 9, 1913.
BAKST, LEON. _Art Exhibitions. A Great Designer._ Times, June 17,
1912. Morning Post, June 18, 1912.
BAKST, LEON. _Exhibition._ Athenaeum, July 6, 1912.
BERLIN SECESSION. For short notices on see “Studio”: LI, p. 241;
LI, p. 328; LII, p. 68; LII, p. 153; LII, p. 240; LIII, p. 324;
LIV, p. 84; LV, p. 59; LV, p. 249; LVI, p. 241.
CÉZANNE. _Article by Maurice Denis._ Burlington Magazine, XVI Part
I, p. 207; Part II, p. 275.
_Cézanne_. _Manet and the French Impressionists. Pissaro--Claude
Monet--Sisley--Rénoir--Berthe Morisot--Cézanne--Guillaume._
Translated by J. E. Crawford Flitch. Illustrated with 34 etchings,
4 wood engravings, and 32 reproductions in half-tone No. 9 by
Theodore Duret. J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 1910.
CÉZANNE. _Cézanne and Gauguin._ Athenaeum, Dec. 2, 1911.
CÉZANNE. _Cézanne and Gauguin._ London Times, Nov. 28, 1911.
COURBET. _Exhibition._ Times, March 8, 1911.
CUBISTS. _Cubism._ Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger. Translated
from the French, with illustrations. T. Fisher Unwin, 1912.
DRAMA AND ART, THE NEW SPIRIT IN. Huntley Carter. London, Frank
Palmer, 1912.
FUTURISTS. Athenaeum, March 9, 1912.
FUTURISTS. Spectator, March 16, 1912.
FUTURISTS. _The Initial Manifesto of Futurism._ F. T. Marinetti.
Printed in the Catalogue of Exhibition in the Sackville Gallery,
London, of works by the Italian Futurist painters, March, 1912.
FUTURISTS. _Severini (Gino)._ Introduction to catalogue of his
pictures on view at the Marlborough Galleries, Duke street, London,
1913.
GAUGUIN. _Cézanne and Gauguin._ London Times, Nov. 28, 1911.
HARRISON, FREDERIC. _Aischro Latreia--The Cult of the Foul._
Nineteenth Century, February, 1912.
HIND, C. LEWIS. _The Consolations of a Critic._ London, A. and C.
Black, 1911.
HOURTICG, LOUIS. _Art in France._ London, Heinemann, 1911.
HUNEKER, JAMES. _Promenades of an Impressionist._
IMPRESSIONISTS. _The Post Impressionists._ Article by Clutton-Brock
(A), Burlington Magazine, XVIII, p. 216.
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY. _Exhibitions._ Times, April 8, 1911;
Spectator, April 15, 1911.
LONDON SALON. See Times July 8, 1911; July 30, 1912, _Effects of
Artistic Freedom_; July 7, 1913.
MACCOLL, D. S. _Ugliness, Beauty and Mr. Frederic Harrison._
Nineteenth Century, March, 1912.
MAILLOL. _The Sculpture of Maillol._ Roger Fry. Burlington
Magazine, XVII, p. 26.
MEIER-GRAEFE, ALFRED JULIUS. _Modern Art, Being a Contribution to a
New System of Aesthetics._ Translated from the German by Florence
Simmons and George W. Chrystal. 2 vols. London, 1908.
MUNICH NEUE VEREINIGUNG. Studio, LIII, p. 320.
NEW ENGLISH ART CLUB EXHIBITION. Spectator, Nov. 30, 1912.
POST IMPRESSIONISTS. _The Post Impressionists._ C. Lewis Hind.
London, Methuen & Co., 1911.
POST IMPRESSIONISTS. _Review of Mr. Hind’s Book._ Athenaeum, July
8, 1911.
POST IMPRESSIONISTS. _Notes on the Post Impressionist Painters at
the Grafton Galleries._ C. J. Holmes. 1910-1911.
POST IMPRESSIONISTS. _On Post Impressionism._ Sir William Richmond.
Times, Jan. 10, 1911.
POST IMPRESSIONISTS. _Pages on Art._ Charles Ricketts. Containing
article on _Post-Impressionism at the Grafton Gallery_. London,
Constable & Co., 1913.
POST IMPRESSIONISTS. _French Artists of Today._ London, Heinemann,
1912.
POST IMPRESSIONISTS. _From Impressionism to the Spectral Palette._
H. P. H. Friswell. Saturday Review, Feb. 23, 1901.
POST IMPRESSIONISTS. Foreword to catalogue of exhibition by Frank
Rutter. Doré Galleries, London.
POST IMPRESSIONISTS. Letter on _The Post Impressionists at the
Grafton Gallery_. A. Warren Dow. Spectator, Oct. 12, 1912.
POST IMPRESSIONISTS. Athenaeum, Jan. 7, 1911; December, 1911.
POST IMPRESSIONISTS. _A Year of Post-Impressionism._ D. S. MacColl.
Nineteenth Century, February, 1912; “The Spectral Palette,”
Saturday Review, Feb. 9, 1901.
POST IMPRESSIONISTS. _The Post Impressionist and Others._ Yoshio
Markino. Nineteenth Century, February, 1913.
REVOLUTION IN ART. Athenaeum, Feb. 4, 1911.
RODIN, AUGUSTE. _Art._ From the French of Paul Gsell. London,
Hodder & Stoughton.
SCULPTURE. _Gills, Eric._ Times, Jan. 27, 1911.
SCULPTURE. _Post Impressionist Sculptures._ Athenaeum, Jan. 28,
1911.
SCULPTURE. _The Sculpture of Maillol._ Roger Fry. Burlington
Magazine, XVII, p. 26.
VAN GOGH. _The Letters of a Post Impressionist, Being the Familiar
Correspondence of Vincent Van Gogh._ Translated from the German by
Anthony M. Ludovici. London, Constable & Co., 1912.
VAN GOGH. _Review of V. Van Gogh’s Letters._ Athenaeum, Dec. 21,
1912.
VAN GOGH. _Riefstahl_, R. Meyer. Part I, _Vincent Van Gogh_,
Burlington Magazine, XVIII, p. 91; Part II, _Van Gogh’s Style in
Relation to Nature_, Burlington Magazine, XVIII, p. 155.
VAN GOGH. _The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh._ F. Melian Stawell
(review) Burlington Magazine, XVIX, p. 152.
FRENCH
APOLLINAIRE, GUILLAUME. _Meditations esthétiques. Les peintres
cubistes._ 1ère série: Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Jean
Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Juan Gris, Mlle. Marie Laurencin,
Fernand Léger, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, Duchamp Villon.
Paris, Eug. Figuière, 1913. In-40, 84 p. et 46 planches,
reproductions.
BERNARD, EMILE. _Souvenirs sur P. Cézanne._ Paris, office central
de librairie, 5 rue Palatine, 1908. In-12.
BUZZI, PAOLO. _Aeroplani._ Canti alati di Paolo Buzzi. Col. IIe
Proclama futurista di F. T. Marinetti. Milano, edizione di
_Poesia_, 1909. In-16, 282 p.
DENIS, MAURICE. _Théories 1890-1910._ _Du symbolisme et de Gauguin
vers un nouvel ordre classique._ Paris, Bibliothèque de l’occident,
17 rue Eble, 1912. In-80, 272 p.
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Figuière, 1913. In-120, 382 p.
GLEIZES, ALBERT ET METZINGER, JEAN. _Du cubisme._ Paris, Eug.
Figuière, 1912. In-40, 80, 44 p., et 30 pl., reproductions.
GUY, MICHEL. _Le dernier état de la peinture._ Paris, Union
française d’édition, Le Feu, 1911. In-16, plaquette.
LETALLE, ABEL. _Idées et figurations d’art._ Paris, E. Sansot,
1911. In-160.
MARINETTI, F. T. _Le futurisme._ Paris, E. Sansot, 1911. In-12, 240
p. La Iere édition italienne est de.
MARINETTI, F. T. _Coupées électriques._ Drama en trois actes avec
une préface sur le futurisme. Paris, E. Sansot, 1909. In-12, 194 p.
MARINETTI, F. T. _Le monoplan du pape, roman politique en vers
libres._ Paris, E. Sansot, 1913. In-16, 349 p.
_Les peintres futuristes italiens._ Exposition du Lundi 5, au Mardi
24 Février 1912. Paris, Bernheim, Jeune, 1912. Oct. In-16, 32 p., 8
fig. ou reproductions.
_Catalogues des peintres futuristes et sculpteurs_. Paris,
Bernheim-Jeune, 1912. In-16. Même opuscule que le précédent à peu
de chose près 3 éditions: en français, en anglais, en italien.
MELLERIO, ANDRÉ. _Le mouvement idéaliste en peinture._ Paris, H.
Floury, 1896. In-80, 75 p.
MELLERIO, ANDRÉ. _L’Exposition de 1900 et l’impressionnisme._
Paris, H. Floury, 1900. In-80, 48 p.
NOCQ, HENRY. _Tendances nouvelles. Enquête sur l’évolution des
industries d’art._ Paris, H. Floury, 1896. In-80, 204 p.
SALMON, ANDRÉ. _La jeune peinture française._ Paris, Société des
Trente. Albert Messein, 1910. In-80, 124 p.
Lors paraître prochainement du même auteur:
SALMON, ANDRÉ. _La jeune sculpture française._ Paris, Société des
Trente. Albert Messein, 1912. In-80.
SIGNAC, PAUL. _D’Eugène Delacroix au néo-impressionnisme._ Paris,
Floury, 1911. In-80, 120 p. (nouvelle édition) La Iere édition en
1899.
UHDE, J. B. _Henri Rousseau_, (dit Rousseau le Douanier) Paris,
Eug. Figuière, 1913. In-40, avec reproductions.
EN PRÉPARATION.
MORISSE, CHARLES. _Gauguin._ In-80. Chez l’éditeur H. Floury,
Boulevard des Capucines, Paris.
A noter pour paraître prochainement sous la direction de Guillaume
Apollinaire, à la librairie Eugène Figuière à Paris, 7 rue Corneille;
Une volume sur Cézanne, sur Seurat, sur Dégas, sur Rénois, par des
auteurs différents. Une volume également sur _Les peintres orphiques_
par Guillaume Apollinaire lui-même.
À noter aussi l’ouvrage suivant:
RÉNOIR. _Album de quarante reproductions dont 4 fac-similés en
couleur et 36 phototypes._ Préface d’Octave Mirebeau. Texte des
plus notoires écrivains de tous les pays. Paris, chez
Bernheim-Jeune, 28 boulevard de la Madeleine, 1913. In folio.
ARTICLES.
ALEXANDRE, ARSÈNE. _Maurice Denis._ Signé: Arsène Alexandre. In-40,
6 pages, 5 reproductions. L’art et les artistes. Tome VIII,
Janvier, 1909.
APOLLINAIRE, GUILLAUME. _Henri Matisse._ Signé: Guillaume
Apollinaire. In-80, 5 pages, et 3 reproductions. La Phalange. No.
du 15 Décembre, 1907.
AUREL. _L’Ensiegnement d’Emile-Antoine Bourdelle._ Signé: Aurel.
In-80, 14 p. La Phalange. No. du 20 Mars, 1912.
BERTAUX, EMILE. _Notes sur le Gréco._ I. _Les Portraits_. II.
_L’Italienne_. III. _Le Byzantisme_. 3 articles dans de _revue de
l’art ancien et moderne_, Années: 1911, Juin; 1912, Décembre et
1913, Janvier. Nombreuses reproductions et planches hors texte.
BESSON, GEORGES. _Le grand palais aux bestiaux._ Signé: Georges
Besson. In-80, 5 pages. La Phalange. No. du 20 Décembre, 1912.
BRICAUT, JEAN. _Essai sur la couleur._ Signé: Jean Bricaut. In-80,
5 pages. La Phalange. No. du 20 Avril, 1913.
CORNU, PAUL. _Bernard Naudin, dessinateur et graveur._ Signé: Paul
Cornu. Les Cahiers du Centre. 40 Série, Mars, 1913.
A noter dans cette même revue; La Phalange--Léon Werth puis Georges
Besson rédigent le mois du peintre donnet à propos des différentes
expositions à la galerie Bernheim-Jeune, à la Galerie Volard et autres,
des aperçus et des considerations souvent fort intéressants sur le
cubisme et le néo-impressionisme et sur de nombreux artistes tels que
Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Rénois, Cissaro, Seurat, etc.
Dans de Mercure de France, Charles Morisse, puis Gustave Kahn, font le
même sous la rubrique _Art et art moderne_.
COUSTURIER, LUCIE. _Georges Seurat._ (1889-1891.) Signé: Lucie
Cousturier. In-40, 16 pages, 15 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue
de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 174, 20 Juin,
1912.
COUSTURIER, LUCIE. _Pierre Bonnard._ Signé: Lucie Cousturier.
In-40, 16 pages, 16 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art
ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 186, 20 Décembre, 1912.
COUSTURIER, LUCIE. _Henri-Edmond Cross._ Signé: Lucie Cousturier.
In-40, 16 pages, 15 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art
ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 189, Mars, 1913.
COUSTURIER, LUCIE. _Maurice Denis._ Signé: Lucie Cousturier. In-40,
16 pages, 16 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et
de la vie artistique moderne. No. 191, Mai, 1913.
DENIS, MAURICE. _Maillol._ (Aristide.) Signé: Maurice Denis. In-40,
6 p., 5 reproductions. L’art et les artistes. Tome VIII, Janvier,
1909.
DEVERIN, EDOUARD. _Paul-Emile Colin._ Signé: Edouard Deverin.
In-40, 8 pages, 7 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art
ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 190, Avril, 1913.
FAURE, ELIE. _Paul Cézanne._ Signé: Elie Faure. In-40, 16 pages, 17
reproductions dont 1 en couleur. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art
ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 157, Octobre, 1911.