Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D Part 3

Although no important changes occur without some preparation, this may be so gradual and un.o.btrusive in its work that the result appears to have a Minerva-like birth. Doubtless there were influences leading up to the remarkable landscape painting of this century. The "Norwich School,"

which took shape in 1805, was founded by Crome, among whose a.s.sociates were Cotman, Stark, and Vincent. Crome exhibited his works at the Royal Academy in 1806, and the twelve following years, and died in 1821 when the pictures of Constable were attracting unusual attention; indeed, it may be said that by his exhibitions at the Royal Academy, Constable inaugurated modern landscape painting, which is a most important feature of art in this century.

Not forgetting the splendid landscapes of the Dutch masters, of the early Italians, of Claude and Wilson, the claim that landscape painting was perfected only in the nineteenth century, and then largely as the result of the works of English artists, seems to me to be well founded. To this excellence Turner, contemporary with Constable, David c.o.x, De Wint, Bonington, and numerous others gloriously contributed.

The English landscapes exhibited at the French Salon in the third decade of the century produced a remarkable effect, and emphasized the interest in landscape painting already growing in France, and later so splendidly developed by Rousseau, Corot, Millet, and their celebrated contemporaries. In Germany the Achenbachs, Lessing, and many other artists were active in this movement, while in America, Innes, A. H.

Wyant, and Homer Martin, with numerous followers, were raising landscape art to an eminence before unknown.

Formerly landscapes had been used as backgrounds, oftentimes attractive and beautiful, while the real purpose of the pictures centred in the human figures. The distinctive feature of nineteenth-century landscape is the representation of Nature alone, and the variety of method used and the differing aims of the artists cover the entire gamut between absolute Realism and the most p.r.o.nounced Impressionism.

About the middle of the century there emerged from the older schools two others which may be called the Realist and Idealist, and indeed there were those to whom both these terms could be applied, both methods being united in their remarkable works. Of the Realists Corot and Courbet are distinguished, as were Puvis de Chavannes and Gustave Moreau among the Idealists.

Millet, with his marvellous power of observation, painted his landscapes with the fidelity of his school in that art, and so keenly realized the religious element in the peasant life about him--the poetry of these people--that he portrayed his figures in a manner quite his own--at the same time realistic and full of idealism. MacColl in his "Nineteenth-Century Art" called Millet "the most religious figure in modern art after Rembrandt," and adds that "he discovered a patience of beauty, a reconciling, in the concert of landscape mystery with labor."

Shall we call Bastien Lepage a follower of Millet, or say that in these men there was a unity of spirit; that while they realized the poetry of their subjects intensely, they fully estimated the reality as well?

The "Joan of Arc" is a phenomenal example of this art. The landscape is carefully realistic, and like that in which a French peasant girl of any period would live. But here realism ceases and the peasant girl becomes a supremely exalted being, entranced by a vision of herself in full armor.

This art, at once realistic and idealistic, is an achievement of the nineteenth century--so clear and straightforward in its methods as to explain itself far better than words can explain it.

Contemporary with these last-named artists were the Pre-raphaelites. The centre of this school was called the Brotherhood, which was founded by J.

E. Millais, W. Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and William Michael Rossetti. To these were added Thomas Woolner the sculptor, James Collins, and F. G. Stephens. Other important artists known as Pre-raphaelites, not belonging to the Brotherhood, are Ford Madox Brown and Burne Jones, as well as the water-color painters, Mason, Walker, Boyce, and Goodwin.

The aim of these artists was to represent with sincerity what they saw, and the simple sincerity of painters who preceded Raphael led them to choose a name which Ruskin called unfortunate, "because the principles on which its members are working are neither pre- nor post-Raphaelite, but everlasting. They are endeavoring to paint with the highest possible degree of completion what they see in nature, without reference to conventional established rules; but by no means to imitate the style of any past epoch. To paint Nature--Nature as it was around them, by the help of modern science, was the aim of the Brotherhood."

At the time when the Pre-raphaelite School came into being the art of other lands as well as that of England was in need of an awakening impulse, and the Pre-raphaelite revolt against conventionality and the machine-like art of the period roused such interest, criticism, and opposition as to stimulate English art to new effort, and much of its progress in the last half-century is doubtless due to the discussions of the theories of this movement as well as of the works it produced.

Pre-raphaelitism, scorned and ridiculed in its beginning, came to be appreciated in a degree that at first seemed impossible, and though its apostles were few, its influence was important. The words of Burne Jones, in which he gave his own ideal, appeal to many artists and lovers of art: "I mean by a picture a beautiful, romantic dream of something that never was, never will be--in a light better than any light that ever shone--in a land no one can define or remember, only desire--and the forms divinely beautiful."

Rossetti's "Girlhood of Virgin Mary," Holman Hunt's "Light of the World,"

and Millais' "Christ in the House of His Parents" have been called the Trilogy of Pre-raphaelite Art.

Millais did not long remain a strict disciple of this school, but soon adopted the fuller freedom of his later work, which may be called that of modern naturalism. Rossetti remained a Pre-raphaelite through his short life, but his works could not be other than individual, and their distinct personality almost forbade his being considered a disciple of any school.

Holman Hunt may be called the one persistent follower of this cult. He has consistently embodied his convictions in his pictures, the value of which to English art cannot yet be determined. This is also true of the marvellous work of Burne Jones; but although they have but few faithful followers, Pre-raphaelite art no longer needs defence nor apology.

Its secondary effect is far-reaching. To it may be largely attributed the more earnest study of Nature as well as the simplicity of treatment and lack of conventionality which now characterizes English art to an extent before unknown.

Impressionism is the most distinctive feature of nineteenth-century art, and is too large a subject to be treated in an introduction--any proper consideration of it demands a volume.

The entire execution of a picture out-of-doors was sometimes practised by Constable, more frequently by Turner, and some of the peculiarities of the French impressionist artists were shared by the English landscape painters of the early part of the century. While no one could dream of calling Constable an impressionist, it is interesting to recall the reception of his "Opening of Waterloo Bridge." Ridiculed in London, it was accepted in Paris, and is now honored at the Royal Academy.

This picture was covered with pure white, in impasto, a method dear to impressionists. Was Constable in advance of his critics? is a question that comes involuntarily to mind as we read the life of this artist, and recall the excitement which the exhibition of his works caused at the Salon of 1824, and the interest they aroused in Delacroix and other French painters.

The word Impressionism calls to mind the names of Manet, Monet, p.i.s.saro, Mme. Berthe Morisot, Paul Cezanne, Whistler, Sargent, Ha.s.sam, and many others. Impressionists exhibited their pictures in Paris as early as 1874; not until 1878 were they seen to advantage in London, when Whistler exhibited in the Grosvenor Gallery; and the New English Art Club, founded in 1885, was the outcome of the need of this school to be better represented in its special exhibitions than was possible in other galleries.

In a comprehensive sense Impressionism includes all artists who represent their subjects with breadth and collectiveness rather than in detail--in the way in which we see a view at the first glance, before we have time to apprehend its minor parts. The advocates of impressionism now claim that it is the most reformatory movement in modern painting; it is undeniably in full accord with the spirit of the time in putting aside older methods and conventions and introducing a new manner of seeing and representing Nature.

The differing phases of Painting in the nineteenth century have had their effect upon that art as a whole. Each one has been important, not only in the country of its special development, but in other lands, each distinctive quality being modified by individual and national characteristics.

In the early decades of the past century Sculpture was "cla.s.sic" and conventional rather than natural and sincere. A revolt against these conditions produced such artists as Rodin, St. Gaudens, MacMonnies, and many less famous men who have put life, spirit, and nature into their art.

In Sculpture as in Painting many more subjects are treated than were formerly thought suited to representation in marble and bronze, and a large proportion of these recent _motifs_ demand a broad method of treatment--a manner often called "unfinished" by those who approve only the smooth polish of an antique Venus, and would limit sculpture to the narrow cla.s.s of subjects with which this smoothness harmonizes.

The best sculptors of the present treat the minor details of their subjects in a sketchy, or, as some critics contend, in a rough imperfect manner, while others find that this treatment of detail, combined with a careful, comprehensive treatment of the important parts, emphasizes the meaning and imparts strength to the whole, as no smoothness can do.

Although the highest possibilities in sculpture may not yet be reached, it is animated with new spirit of life and nature. Nineteenth-century aims and modes of expression have greatly enlarged its province. Like Painting, Sculpture has become democratic. It glorifies Labor and all that is comprised in the term "common, every-day life," while it also commemorates n.o.ble and useful deeds with genuine sympathy and an intelligent appreciation of the best to which humanity attains; at the same time poetical fancies, myths, and legends are not neglected, but are rendered with all possible delicacy and tenderness.

At present a great number of women are sculptors. The important commissions which are given them in connection with the great expositions of the time--the execution of memorial statues and monuments, fountains, and various other works which is confided to them, testifies to their excellence in their art with an emphasis beyond that of words.

Want of s.p.a.ce forbids any special mention of etching, metal work, enamelling, designing, and decorative work in many directions in which women in great numbers are engaged; indeed, in what direction can we look in which women are not employed--I believe I may say by thousands--in all the minor arts? Between the mult.i.tude that pursue the Fine Arts and kindred branches for a maintenance--and are rarely heard of--and those fortunate ones who are commissioned to execute important works, there is an enormous middle cla.s.s. Paris is their Mecca, but they are known in all art centres, and it is by no means unusual for an artist to study under Dutch, German, and Italian masters, as well as French.

The present method of study in Paris--in such academies as that of Julian and the Colarossi--secures to the student the criticism and advice of the best artists of the day, while in summer--in the country and by the sea--there are artistic colonies in which students lead a delightful life, still profiting by the instruction of eminent masters.

Year by year the opportunities for art-study by women have been increased until they are welcome in the schools of the world, with rare exceptions.

The highest goal seems to have been reached by their admission to the compet.i.tion for the _Grand prix de Rome_ conferred by _l'ecole des Beaux Arts_.

I regret that the advantages of the American Art Academy in Rome are not open to women. The fact that for centuries women have been members and professors in the Academy of St. Luke, and in view of the recent action of _l'ecole des Beaux Arts_, this narrowness of the American Academy in the Eternal City is especially p.r.o.nounced.

One can but approve the encouragement afforded women artists in France, by the generosity with which their excellence is recognized.

To be an officer in the French Academy is an honor surpa.s.sed in France by that of the Legion of Honor only. Within a twelvemonth two hundred and seventy-five women have been thus distinguished, twenty-eight of them being painters and designers. From this famous Academy down, through the International Expositions, the Salons, and the numberless exhibitions in various countries, a large proportion of medals and other honors are conferred on women, who, having now been accorded all privileges necessary for the pursuit of art and for its recompense, will surely prove that they richly merit every good that can be shared with them.

AARESTRUP, MARIE HELENE. Born at Flekkefjord, Norway, 1829. She made her studies in Bergen, under Reusch; under Tessier in Paris; and Vautier in Dusseldorf. She excelled in genre and portrait painting. Her "Playing Child" and "Shepherd Boy" are in the Art Union in Christiania; the "Interior of Hotel Cluny" and a "Flower Girl" are in the Museum at Gottenburg.

ABBATT, AGNES DEAN. Bronze medal, Cooper Union; silver medal, Ma.s.sachusetts Charitable Mechanics' a.s.sociation. Member of American Water Color Society.

[_No reply to circular_.]

ABBEMA, MME. LOUISE. Officer of the Merite des Arts; honorable mention, Salon of 1881; bronze medal, Paris Exposition, 1900; Hors Concours, 1903, at Exposition of Limoges. Born at etampes, 1858. Pupil of Chaplin, Henner, and Carolus-Duran. She exhibited a "Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt," 1876; "The Seasons," 1883; "Portrait of M. Abbema," 1887; "Among the Flowers," 1893; "An April Morning," 1894; "Winter," 1895, etc.