XnXBXrXON Of ightecn pictures ^ ^ y the Hmcncan JMaater of Landscape painting, the late George Innces, Rt Rcnry Riinbardf 8 0alUrte8 232 Michigan Hvc., Cbicaso, lU. During JilArch, fiincttcn-cUxtn GEORGK INNKSS, N.A. rHIS collection of pictures by the late George Inness, which is for sale^ has been recently acquired by the firm of Henry Reinhardt from the galleries of a well-known New Tork amateur. It is a gathering containing many masterpieces^ repre- sentative to the last degree of the art of the great American genius, March, igii. THE series of pictures which constitute his (Inness's) record of American landscape, and which form the crowning pro- duction of his career, are part of our national chronicles, as well as masterpieces of our national art. In his studio at Montclair, among the Orange Mountains, he is writing history with his brush as surely as a Prescott or a Bancroft ever wrote it with their pens. — Catalogue of the Thomas B. Clarke Collection, Ph Had el phi a, 1 89 1 . ALL his pictures are broadly painted, deeply felt and full- ■ souledsymphonicsof tone. Thehistory of art must welcome him as one of the most varied and hnest landscape painters of the century. — Richard Miilhcr^GcscliicJitcdcr Malcrci im Xckh- zehnten Jahrhundcrt. WWVW tlie time comes — and it will come sooner or later — to do full justice to George Inncss I shall be glad to be one of the first, i)erhaps, who felt an artistic emotion in contem- plating his j)aintings that so clearly show the impression ability of a thorough artist, a lover of nature and an e.xecutor of rare merit. — Benjamin Constant , in Xew ]'ork Times, 1895. [ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/exhibitionofeighOOinne BY WAY OF PREFACE iHE late George Inness was not only the greatest land- scape painter that America has produced, but he was M one of the greatest artists of the modern world, fit to rank with the best of all nations. He may also be said to have come under the head of that much-abused word, genius. He loved his nature and he saturated himself with it, painting best from his memory of the scene, in the quiet of his studio, where, taking his own unconventional way, he might wander into strange paths and experiments, in the end — and this is the secret of the great artist — making himself part and parcel of the per- formance, so that the result was nature seen through an artistic temperament. It is this that gives the lasting value to his work, that distinguishes it from the mass of excellent technical per- formances on all sides. Furthermore, Inness i)ossessed a fine sense of the pictorial, knew to a nicety the value of balance, of light and shade, and he had the anatomy of nature at his linger tips, so that in later years every brush sweep was full of meaning. This was the result of a long and serious ap- ])renticeship before nature, the making of hundreds, even thousands of sketc hes where every branch and leaf were depicted with extraordinary fidelity and for the purpose of study. The road that led to his success was no royal one, tlowcr strewn. He richly[descrved all that came to him, for he had fought the battle and had been in the forefront of the fray from the start. (ieorge Inness, of course, had an extraordinary success toward the end of his life, but in truth he was really never with- out a serious patronage almost from the beginning. He always sold fairly well and had strong admirers, but i)erhaps it was not until the early nineties that there came to be a highly serious demand for his work. Then it was that Thomas B. Clarke, Richard Halstead and otlier prominent collec tors, seeing the large imi)()rt of his elTorts, began to buy all they could get from Inness, and their reputation was such that others followed in their footsteps. Finally, in 1899, at the sale of Mr. Clarke's col- lection, came the staggering sensation of a buyer j)aying $10,150 for Inness's "Gray, Lowcry Day," and the ])ublic sat up and took notice, for never before had such a figure been offered for an American landscaj)e at auction. That s;ime evening another splendid exami)le fetched S6,ioo ! It was his " Clouded Sun." Ha])})ily these sums were not the result of hysteria, ex( itement or the nervousness of ill-advised bidders. George Inness had been publicly recognized and his work stood with the best of all ages. Since that time collectors have vied with each other in their efforts to secure his work, and while naturally the man is better at some times than he is at others — for no artist can be always at concert pitch — the general excellence of Inness is universally admitted. The gods had called him. It is a unique happening that the firm of Henry Reinhardt, of Chicago and New York, has been able to secure the present collection of eighteen pictures, all of which represent the man at his best, while some of them are among his undisputed master- pieces — and the word is used with full realization of its signifi- cance. The display and sale of the pictures is a chance that this generation will never live to see again. That this exhibi- tion should be offered to the general public is the citizen's great opportunity, for the show is a liberal education in itself, while in all probability there will never again be such an occasion for the collector to augment his possessions with such representative American examples. Happily, too, the collector is beginning to fully appreciate the advantages of an investment in the best of native art. It is no longer a hazard but an admitted fact that our own men are worthy to stand with the best in the world. It is not necessary to recall such names as Homer Martin, Alexander H. Wyant, Winslow Homer and others to note the increase in values which in a decade have gone up by leaps and bounds. Already the advance in prices is almost unbelievable, and the men being dead and gone, no longer capable of repro- duction, is a factor that adds materially to the values. This collection, which the firm of Henry Reinhardt is enabled to offer for inspection and sale, is singularly representa- tive of the great artist under many varying moods and manners, and it contains pictures now famous among such as follow art happenings in this country. Such a work, for example, as "Threatening," enjoys a large reputation among collectors, while the marvelously beautiful "Mill Pond," shown at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900, created a sensation and in- stantly placed Mr. Inness in a high position in his profession. But, after all, it is a matter of individual choice largely, so ad- mirable is this aggregation of works, and the dispersal of the col- lection is a distinct art event, the like of which will, it is safe to predict, never occur again in the present generation. Arthur Hoeber. THE REINHARDT COLLECTION HE collection of pictures by the late George Inness, which the firm of Henry Reinhardt is here catalogu- ing, is most com])rehensive, and especially interesting. More than almost any other modern master Inness may be traced in his devclojjment with great certainty by his technical methods, in his color and in that transition which progressed from the firm and orderly objective renderings of his youth to the subtle, suave and wholly synthetic works of the last year or two, and again there are those of us still alive who have a personal knowledge of most of these particular canvases, and who are able to say that a given work was executed at a particu- lar time and under certain conditions. This group of works is quite comi)letc, running, as it does, from very early examples, through the later i)eriods, to the heights when he ])ainted with fullest power, and then on to the sweet singing which is ])ro- phetic of the final effort — even as a wave seen far away is urged onward, with ever-increasing j^ower, lifts itself into fullest crested height, to break and lose itself in the infinity of the sands. The i)oet, the scientist and the technical master are all here, and the colorist. What more can be said to make one know the value of these works as a group, except it be to exj)ress the wish that lea|)s into being — has lea|)ed l)efore when other groups have been disj)ersed — that the entire collection might be placed in one great museum where the American j)eoi)le could look upon them, live with them, love them and come to know that wc, too, have j)roduced a world master, that there has lived with us, worked beside us the i)eer of those of other lands whose names long since became familiar, even household words, and no one of whom combined such versatility or commanded a virility with a sweetness so great as this man, our own (ieorge Inness. As I write of him — and it has been my good fortune to do so often — I call upon my memory and see the active, ener- getic figure, the clean-cut face with its Hashing eyes, the head to])i)ed with long, even shaggy locks ; I see the swift attack u|)on the canvas, the sjjread of great waves of color and the magical transformations taking place under the touch that was unlike that of any painter who ever lived. His was a i)rocess of evolu- tion in ])aint (I speak of his later years), not the creation by ])aint- ing on of objects. Somewhere I have seen it said — i)crhaps I said it myself — that Whistler's tlowers seemed to bloom from his brush — and so with Inness; his forms seemed, nay, the idea did flow from the brush as one watched. What a moment ago was but a spread of cadmium now became broad sunlight, filling meadow and hillside, or, again, the strange swabble — the word is a good one — of black, apparently hopeless in its confusion, be- came in an incredibly small space of time a splendidly rolling sky, filled with a wealth of billowy form and tender cloudlets — all magic, if you will, but ordered — and his very own, himself the master and the brush and pigments merely the instruments with which he created. It is interesting to follow some of these thoughts in the particular canvases here shown. For its clear objectivity and directness of vision let us take the No. 15, "Delaware Valley" (he painted many pictures with this title). How direct the vision and how sure yet simple is the drawing, where the few well-chosen lines give all the compositional flow that is necessary, and the darker trees, stretching out from the sloping, near hillside, sustain the sense of horizontal and impose a consciousness of perfect balance. Consider, also, this hillside with its two little fruit trees, and mark the unerring accuracy with which he has placed the little forms of haystack and house gables, so that the observer passes down the far slope of the hfll to the nestling farm in the valley — the river flows safely in its bed and the far hills reach a sky line at once elusive and alluring. This is art, and when we consider that this is an early picture, are we not already in the presence of a master ? And much of this sort of analysis, with equal truth, can be said of the other early works here shown. Let us progress a few years and examine the No. 9, " In the Valley," where much the same problem presented itself ; that is, the vision of a valley seen from a gentle near-by hillside. The little figure is there, a note to hold by, so to speak, tying shadow and light together ; the beautiful placement of trees, with their graceful, drooping branches, the further trees partly hiding the houses, luring one on to the broad valley lying still under the shadow of a stormy sky. The storm clouds stoop low, and the upper stratum is wet with the wealth of rain which makes the fertile valleys glad. Some day some one is going to write of Inness's truth of skies, his knowledge of cloud forms, his perfect choice of idea in the sky represented in a given theme. We shall then see more of beauty than now when we merely say, "a good sky." Usually it is more with Inness — it is a right sky. The thoughts suggested in regard to "In the Vafley" may be employed with equal interest and truth in the picture called "Twilight." The two richly colored canvases, "Sunset in the Valley" and ''Landscape — Sunset," are highly important works and very significant. Turner alone would have presumed to use such color, and in them the problem being similar and the inter- est exactly in the same place — the splendor of the sunset sky — Inness has dared to reach into the very heart's blood of the pal- ette, and balances the western glory with a wealth of broken tone that is superb and masterly. I saw him working upon these pictures and know precisely what his puzzles were — to go down into the little valleys and up the far slope, keeping at all times the fulness of color in the sky. In the one case he uses a lovely green meadow, through which moves a stream vivid with the blood of the sky; and in the other a still pool gives the op- ])ort unity to catch the eye with the promised glory of the sky. Of all other objects he has sacrificed just enough — synthecized — to bring out fully the beauty of the sunset. We come now to two pictures which seem to stand as treas- ures — pictures which for their own beauty and for their method technically are without fault or hitch. They seem to have breathed themselves into being from the master's brush in swift, subtle flowings of color. In both cases they are almost if not altogether in transparent color. Drawn and painted with a con- summate knowledge of theme and form, of value and mass, and executed with a love that gives them rare im])ortance, "The Autumn Woods" and the "Home of the Heron," both master- pieces — it is not necessary to say that either is the finer — they are equally rei)resentative of those rare j)eriods in the great painter's life when he painted without strain the thing he felt, sj)eaking to us in the language of line, form and color of the beauty his own soul felt, and bequeathing to all who came after him his love of the woods, the grace of trees and the charm of solitude. If we have doubted this, is it not dispelled by the sight of such a form as the noble tree in "The Slill Pond"? How gracefully its branches dra])e toward the earth and how subtle and dramatic is the contrast in the gnarled and broken stumj) or log on the ground. Old tree, old tree, you, too, shall ])ut off all that royal show of crimson robes and lie stripped, naked and l)roken; you, too, shall be but a log u])on a damj) shore I Ah, but meanwhile its autumn splendor glorifies the ])ond and the dimly seen mill lures us across the mirroring water to other trees and other colors, noble and beautiful ! From first to last I saw this canvas painted and know how it was valued by Mr. Thomas B. Clarke, into whose hands it passed at once. And if further example be needed both of his love and his knowledge of tree forms, shall we not be satisfied by the great canvas, " The Florida Pines " ? We who know them best as turpentine pines, or long- leaf pines, know, also, the extreme difficulty of managing the straight, slender trunks, which lift themselves to great heights ere a limb leaves the stem. How skilfully has the artist massed them and how perfectly has he indicated the character in the slender near-by trees, the monotony of straight lines broken by the play of sun and shadow. Such canvases are too precious to be estimated. They are of the nation's treasure, to be loved of the people. We have also but to look at the great canvas, "After a Sum- mer Shower, with Rainbow," to see him in one of those intense, dramatic moods which draw him so close to nature, and to have revealed again his power over the strange, weird light that is the accompaniment of the drama of breaking storm. No man knew storm better, and in this picture that knowledge is fully ex- pressed. The one moonlight is superb. It was originally planned tobecome a part of the Potter Palmer collection, and through some change of plan it remained in the painter's studio, to be dwelt upon, changed and brought to its final perfection. It is so easy to do the pretty, sentimental moonlight — the thing that pleases. No such mood was upon Inness in creating this picture. It was the majesty of the night, its mystery and its color, that he essayed, and as the canvas grew day by day, losing under his touch all needless detail, it became a veritable poem — a moon- light sonata, indeed, and in my view one of his great successes. It was almost his last work, and for this and for its own beauty is very precious ; truly its name if not its title should be " Inness's Swan Song." Those who love Inness will dwell long with these pictures ; those who would know him may learn the lesson quite perfectly among them, and those who have felt in- clined to harsher criticism may well be silenced in their pres- ence. Elliott Daingerfield. 1— AFTER A SUMMER SHOWER (THE RAINBOW) SELECTING essentially an American theme Mr. Inness chose in this canvas a field near a village. A ^^rouj) of trees to the left are of rich, summer greens and to the right a bare tree trunk catches the glow of the afternoon sun filtering through a stormy sky, out of which emerges a rainbow. It is evidently a record of the country near Montclair. The light illuminates some houses to the right and the distant hills are tenderly indi- cated, the foreground being in shadow. Through the field runs a roadway and by it a cow grazes. White clouds are ])iled uj) in the sky to the left, and the canvas ])resents a charming .scheme of diffused light and shade, admirable in arrangement. The Thomas B. Clarke Collection, 1S99. Signed at the right, dated 1894. Height 32, width 42 inches. 2-MlLL FOND AV'KRITABLE j)oem of the American autumn, we have in this rarely beautiful canvas a brilliant red mai)le to tiie left, standing against a rich sky of deep blue streaked with white clouds, full of light. In the center of the composition lies a lake, the quiet waters of which retlect the shadows of the trees beyond, while a boatman is crossing in his small craft. To the right the felled trunk of a large tree lies on the ground. The work was shown in Paris, at the Exposition Universelle of 1900, where it attracted enormous attention. Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1900. The Thomas B. Clarke Collection, 1899. Signed at the right, dated 1889. Height 3 7 J, width 29 inches. 3-THE HOME OF THE HERON (THE SUN'S LAST REFLECTIONS) A STREAM makes its wiiy through the left center of this picture, reflecting the warm light of the declining sun. Settled on its surface is a black, heron, its dark tones intensifying the brilliancy of the twilight glow. Slender trees rise uj) on all sides and their somber foliage comes strong against the sky, which is of luminous warmth. A line of blue distance and the silhouette of a house add interest, while the painting has been executed with engaging simplicity and straightforwardness, the artist permeating his entire canvas with light and air. It is a true impression of nature which Mr. Inness obviously painted with great enthusiasm, for it shows little traces of labor. Signed at the right, diiled jSyj. Height JO, width 45 inches. 4— PATH THROUGH THE FLORIDA PINES TAI.L i)iiK' trcL's in this ui)riglu raiiviis rise up againsl a sky of gray, l»luc and wliitc, whik' llic li^lit of the afternoon sun illumines their trunks \vith a warm <;lo\v. Under these stately trees runs a i)ath alonjj; whic li wander a woman and c liild. The red and white roofs of some dwellings are seen in the middle distance and in the ft)reground a wooden foot bridge crosses a gully, by the side of which is some luxuriant vegetation in vivid greens, with here and there a note of red. 'I^vo large lairds hover in the sky to the upper left. The Thomas B. Clarke Collection, 1899. Sigfinl at the lejt, dated 1894. Height 42. u-idth 32 inches. 5-TH R KATENING A SPLENDIDLY jKiintcd sky, full of ominous clouds, with a l)urst of light to the left, dominates this dramatic comjx)- sition and, with its dark masses, brings out the peculiar tender- ness of a line of hushes and trees that divide the i)i( ture through the center. Mr. Inness had a remarkable talent for obtaining the delicacy of these green tones, which are here full of retlec ted light. To the left is a sheepfold with a straw roof, and, standing by it, a farmer gazes at the weather. It is a simple, rural Ameri- ( an scene, eminently ( harac teristic , yet full of dramatic j)ower. A tall fa( tory chimney in the middle distance emits smoke and to the right a mass of white buildings stand luminously out against the dark sky. The work is symi)athetically rendered, with the master's engaging directness, and the fleeting effect is caught in an impressive manner. The Thomas K. Clarke Collection, 1899. Signed at the lejt, dated 1891. HeigtU 30, undth 45 inches. 6-AUTUMN WOODS A HOUSE, standing lonely at the edge of a heavy woodland, is illumined by tlie late afternoon sun and glows brilliantly white. Immediately in front is a sj)arse growth of trees, under whic h, in the tangle, a cow grazes. It is the fall season and the foliage lakes on a ric h yellow against a warm sky. The work is sui)erl)ly felt and rendered with delightful simplic ity, while there is admirable drawing to all the tree forms, the interlacing branches making a handsome pictorial j)attcrn. It is evident the theme ai)pealed strongly to Mr. Inness, for there is a feeling of the work being done copt aniore, and there is suggcstivcness in every brush stroke. Signed at the right. Height ay, uidth 44 J inches. 7-LAN DSCAPK-SUNSET Till] (litViculty of sccurinf^ l)rilliiin(y with reds has always been a stumbling block with the painter. In this remark- al)le t anvas Mr. Inness achieved the seemingly impossible, get- ting a luminosity few men have ever obtained with j)igmcnt on canvas, for the j)icture gives the impression of being artificially lit. A grou|) of trees to the left rise from the edge of a i)ond and near by is a marsh, while i)eaceful meadows stretch back to the line of distance, interspersed here and there with tree grt)Wth. Into the i)ond is retlected the brilliant reds of the sunset sky, which itself fairly exudes light, and through the tangle of the undergrowth one may see glimpses of the water. It is all a line achievement, full of poetry, and is admirably rendered with rare technical distinction. Above all, the canvas is ai)|)ealing in its suggestiveness, for the spectator is permitted to enter with the artist into the scene and particii)ate, as it were, in the creation. Signed at the right, dated i88y. Height 2 2i, width 36 inches. 8-AT NIC 11 1 Till! scene represents a I'leld at nii^lu in whic li, to the ri^^ht, near a liouse, is some l)urnin}^ l)rush, tlie smoke arising therefrom mingling with the dark c louds of the sky. Silhouet- ted against the sky is the stately trunk of a tree, and back of this is the moon, of great brilliancy. .\ man's figure stands watch- ing the fire and lights glow in the habitation, while to the left a mass of trees come im|)ressive against the heavens. I)esi)ite the low tones of this midnight effei t the painter gives a sense of diffused light and tlie sentiment of the mysterious hour, with all its j)()etry and suggest iveness. Signed at the Irjt, dated i8yo. Height 23, width 26} inches. 9-SUNLIT VALLEY FILMY clouds arc scattered over the distant l)luc hills, hall ohscurinf; them, while (oming direc tly toward the s|)ec- tator is a sunlit valley, with lines of trees and the roofs of a dis- tant village, now c ati hing the sunlight, now in deej) shadow, making a most interesting variety of agreeable tones. Some farm hands arc in the fields in the immediate foreground and the contrast of warm and ( ool tones is well thought out. Fleeting effects of this kind a|)i)ealed strongly to Inness and he was singu- larly able in recalling them when in the (juiet of his studio. This work is eminently ( harac teristic and shows the man in one of his most attnictive moods. Signed at the right, dated iSqj. Height 24, width 36 inches. i <1 . r 10-SUNSET IN THE VALLEY SI'INDING fortli ;i brilliant orange glow the sun sets over the horizon to the left ( enter of this eomi)()siti<)n, and from a hill in the foreground the spectator looks over a valley half in shadow. Dark clouds in the sky c ati h a red glow here and there from the sinking sun, and scattered about through the fields are trees. The my.stery and the poetry of the hour are admirably e.\i)ressed, and the work po.s.sesscs much subtlety. Particularly successful has the painter been in obtaining luminosity. 77/f Thomns fi. Clarke Collection, 1899. Signeil al the lejl, dated 1890. Height 22 J, width 36 inches. 11-MOON RISK AGRKAT red moon, enormously brilliant, dominates the center of this upright canvas and is set in a sky of warm tones. To the left is a young tree rising from a field and to the right a clumj) of trees is massed in a vague, suggestive way against the sky. In tlie left c enter is a field hand. Very poetic is the conception and full of cliarm, the suggestive landscape, bathed as it is in a mellow, mysterious light, essentially of the hour. A picture full of the personality of the artist and indica- tive of one of his many moods. Signed at the right, imdalcd. Height 30, width 25 inches. 12— NEAR MONTCLAIR, N. J. ONE of the most joyous of the Inness canvases, this excjuisile little landscape is full of the tender colors of autumn and shows a i)()ol of water in the forej^round, with, back of it, an opening through the trees that discloses distant fields and hal)i- tations. To the right the gable of a house catches tlie glint of the warm light which illumines the tree tops as well, in their fall t oloring of reds and yellows, while the sky is tenderly ex|)ressed in warm violets, blue and orange tones. The work is a veritable little i)()em of the waning year, a glimpse of the "Summer of Saint Martin" that this artist loved so dearly to i)Ut on canvas, and it must l)e ranked among his highly successful performances. Sigtud at the lejl, undated. Height IS, width 26 inches. 13— LATE AFTERNOON 'HROUGII an ()i)t'nin<^ in the woodland is seen a mass of J- (lark, rich tones of the forest, all under a sky running from deep i)urj)les to warm whites, whic h l)ring out the vivid greens uf the foreground. The liglit trunksof tlie near-by trees are thus accentuated, arc admiral)ly drawn and constructed, and the ])ic- ture is a gem in a color way, painted with contagious enthusiasm into which the spectator enters in si)ite of himself. Signed at the right, undated. Height IS, "width 12 inches. 14-EVENING LANDSCAPE BROAD meadow hinds, caught by the orange glow of the afternoon sun, stretch down to the sea and are dotted here and there hy lines of tree forms. The immediate foreground shows a clump of great trees shading a house, all being in deep shadow. A figure threads its way through these fields, and over all is a fine, dignified sky, with streaks of cool l)lue, warm i louds going into rich darks. The branches of the trees are illumin- ated by the setting sun and some sheep are scattered about, grazing. Unusually successful in his rendering of greens, Mr. Inness in this work obtained a high achievement, composing his canvas with rare discretion. Signed at the right, dated i8yo. Height 20, width 30 inches. 15-D EL AWARE VALLEY FRC)>T an cminenre in the foreground, a field of yellow, there stretc lies out a j^reat expanse of smiling, fertile country, through which winds a stream. Houses are dotted here and there in the landscai)e and there is a sky of brilliant turcjuoise, with many dark clouds all full of atmosphere. The light and shade are interestingly arranged, the whole heing a genuine im- pression of an ai)i)ealing l)it of nature. Signed at the It-jt, undaird. Height width 24 inches. 16-T\\ I I-lCill 1 IN l l ALV LA'I' marslu's strcli liin^ out to the sea catc li tlic glow of the ^ late afternoon. The foreground is a dark strip of green from which some dead tree trunks are «>utlined against a ric h Ijlue sky, l)r()ken l)y clouds of white. The distanc e is tender and elTective and, sc attered over the datlands, are some habita- tions, a house and a fence l)eing in the immediate foreground. The smoke of a vessel on tlie sea (omes against the sky, tiie ( anvas having fine (juaiities of light antl atmosphere . Signed at right, dated 1S74. Height rf)i. 'u-idUi 2, si imhes. 17-SUMMER IN THE CATSKILl.S OUTLINED iigainsl a midsummer sky a tall, stately hill lakes on the l)lue of distance, while, at its hase, smiling' meadows, rich with tree j^rowth. stret* h away under sunlight and shadow. Cattle graze in the foreground and tlie hanks of a stream are seen in the tenter of the i ompositiim, where stands an unpretentious house. A road winds into the picture, whit h is full of i)astoral simplicity antl trantjuil i harm. It is an early e.\ami)le l)y the master of an .\merican theme antl is worthily rei)resentative of that epoch in his career. Here as el.sewhere Mr. Inness tlemonstrated his absolute t ontrol t>f greens, whit h are expre.ssed with sj)arkle and luminosity. Thf WHliatn T. E\'*ins i'oUt