beyond the vas. Still is a visible one and is at the mercy of the spec- amount of therefore in and carefully painted as to technique; or, thoughts secondly, if endowed with the capacity to do visible proof so, the same view, but after passing through of the can- and being influenced by his own personality, the medium the accuracy of detail and the carefulness of the drawing subordinated to matters of more importance. The observer, similarly, may stand aloof and criticize the painting's merits or faults from the technical or realistic standpoint, finding out the difficulties that have been overcome, and generally looking as it were from the outside. Or he may endeavour to enter into the spirit of the artist, and try to feel the way in which he was affected by the scene and the message he sought to give on his canvas, looking from the inside, and in sympathetic union with the artist. These are the two points of view, the objective and the subjective. It is the subjective that is of vital importance, and that has the lasting and impressive effect. We can all see the correctness of details and the technical skill of the worker for ourselves. We want great artists to show us deeper and more hidden truths. "Nature is apparent on the surface of things. To find the man requires deeper sight," as H. R. Poore,* A. N. A., a very interesting writer on art, well puts it. "The landscape painter becomes an interpreter of moods, his own as well as nature's, and in his selection of these he reveals himself. What he takes from nature he puts back out of himself. Does he make you listen with him to the soft, low music when nature is kindly and tender and lovable, or is his stuff of that robust fibre which makes her companionable to him in her ruggedness and strength? "Back of the canvas that throbs the painter is hinted and hidden, Into the statue that breathes the soul of the sculptor is bidden."" We therefore must come to the conclusion that when an artist is able to make us feel the * "Pictorial Composition and the Critical Judgment of Pictures." Henry R. Poore, A. N. A. New York: The Baker & Taylor Company. In this book Mr. Poore draws special attention to the great importance of composition in pictures. "Without good composition there can be no great picture." After giving the different forms of composition which have gradually, and probably unconsciously, been evolved by the masters of painting, Mr. Poore continues with chapters on different subjects of great interest to "students and lovers of art," for whom the book is written, "Indi rection." Richard Realf. ture is to give lasting pleasure, it has to sat isfy more than the eye." James Maris. "If a pic- loveliness or mystery of a scene, and to communicate through his work the emotions that stir him, he shows the possession of a rare power. It is difficult enough for the figure painter, who has the assistance given by the expression of the features, to move us by the emotion he feels. It is very much more difficult to do this by means of pure landscape. When this is realized, we know that paintings of landscape that have this power of moving us* are different from all others, not only in degree but in kind. They belong to a different and a higher order of art. The ability to see and realize this comes only with time, as undoubtedly the first feeling of the student or observer is to look for mere likeness. He cannot, indeed, understand any other view of pictures, until he feels the effect of imagination and idealism as shown in them. Then all is changed. He has learned what to look for, *"SUBJECTIVITY IN ART." "If, in the Work, must needs stand manifest W. Watson. he feels the new influence, and lives in a different world. The subjective view of art must not be confounded with the theory of "literature" in painting, which is so denounced by Whistler, Manet, and many other artists: the painting of historical and literary subjects which are not self-explanatory, and about which we require to be told, by the name attached to them or in some other way, who the people are that are represented, what they are gathered together for, etc., etc. It is held that these are not properly speaking pictorial subjects, and should be treated in literature; that they should not be used in painting except for their decorative quality, without regard to the subject; and that we should not ask from any picture more than the artist intends to give, and is able to express by the use of form and colour on his canvas. For instance, some one paints Othello telling his adventures by sea and land to Desdemona. This is a subject for literature, for the picture cannot tell that it is the Moor of Venice, but only that two people are having a conversation; so that the picture, if it be a work of art, must be of value for other reasons than the subject. Many artists hold very extreme views about this, but it is certainly a matter that may be argued from both sides. It is the great struggle in which Ruskin and Whistler were engaged, and both seem to have been in part wrong; Ruskin, in not looking sufficiently at the painter quality, and Whistler in trying to banish literary ideas altogether. When Whistler paints "An Arrangement in Grey and Black" (Portrait of the Painter's Mother) are we only to consider it as a piece of beautiful decoration, with values and tones perfect, and not to look at it as the loving rendering of the resigned figure, sitting in her room in the twilight of life, by one who owed so much to her and wished to express his affection and gratitude by portraying her gentle character as he could so well do? The artist-critic may say, "Yes, its decorative quality, its dexterous workmanship, and the expression of thoughtfulness on the face, this is all the picture tells and should tell." But most people will doubt this and will feel strongly that the knowledge of the |