Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/ernestfieneOOmurr J YOUNGER ARTISTS SERIES NUMBER 1 ERNEST FIENE PRINTED By ERNST WASMUTH A.-G., BERLIN YOUNGER ARTISTS SERIES NUMBER 1 ERNEST PIENE BY WILLIAM MURRELL WITH FRONTISPIECE IN COLOR AND 30 REPRODUCTIONS IN BLACK AND WHITE WITH A GENERAL INTRODUCTION By HAROLD WARD WOODSTOCK N. Y. 1922 PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM M. TISHER YOUNGER ARTISTS SERIES Already Published Nr. 1 Ernest Fiene Nr. 2 Alexander Brook Nr. 3 Peggy Bacon Nr. 4 Yasuo Kuniyoshi In Preparation Nr. 5 Henry Lee Mac Fee Nr. 6 Ben Benn Nr. 7 Edward Fisk Nr. 8 Henry Mattson A General Introduction The artists who receive consideration in the various monographs or this series represent ten-= dencies as diverse as the poles. Most of them are young, many of them are quite unknown save to a very few interested spectators, but none of them finds either his youth or his obscurity any bar to the one motive that inspires his efforts. This motive, which is also the sole criterion whereby the editor has sought to estimate the value of their work, may he summed up in the words, » A vivid and dynamic expression of an individuality in terms of a plastic medium. « As corollary to the above formula, although rather implied than anywhere definitely stated, there is throughout an attitude of entire indifference to the traditional values of truth or beauty or sincerity. This indifference arises, not from host= ility, or bravade, but simply from a conviction that such values tend ever to a static or moral interpretation of the things upon which they are called to sit in judgment. And any interpretation of the work produced through the efficient func= tioning of a powerful intelligence or a highly sensitive temperament becomes vicious and ste- rile at the moment it ceases to ragrd every in= dividual as not only profoundly different from all others, but as changing, subtly and incalculably, within himself. For this reason the brief sketch prefacing the reproductions of each artist's work is devoid of even the intention of aesthetic criticism. The man is introduced quietly, emphasis being placed upon sudh traits of character as made him noticeable to the writer, who, as ancaserver, was as much interested in the human being as in the artist that struggles with idiosyncrasies and limitations. This done, it is the artist's turn, in the pages that follow, to state in his own language what he has disco- vered about himself and the world which this intangible self perceives. In time he may achieve a more lucid, unique and definite statement: or since those who would create are always the favorites of tragedy, — he may be retired into the silence and shadow of the inadequate. It does not matter, inasmuch as his work, as it now stands, is of enduring value to those who are patient to seek and swift to appreciate the brilliant jewel of an authentic utterance. Harold Ward. ERNEST FIENE Ernest Fiene nesses of twilight tones. These are all clear, forces ful, weII=conceived, and ably ^painted canvases, but Fiene has somehow enriched them in the pain- ting by something from himself. That something is not without analogy in music: it is the effect (occasionally a little »beyond the range of the instruments «> demanded of orchestras by some composers and actually produced by some con^ ductors. It is the forcing of a recalcitrant medium not only to do the will of the artist but to take on the color of his personality in moods of sustained intensity. In these landscape, portrait, and still-life can= vases of Fiene’s there is evident a great love of tactile quality,- the treatment throughout is sensu= ous, and it is all but indisputable that the subtle forms of radiant flesh will claim increasingly more of his attention and allegiance. ERNEST FIENE REPRODUCTIONS Frontispiece in Color — Still-Life Paintings and Water^Colors: 1. November Landscape 2. Autumn 3. Harlem River 4. Maine Landscape 5. Water^Fall 6. Zinnias and Apples 7. Sea in Recoil 8. Farmer 9. Landscape before Rain 10. Apple^Blossoms 11. WoodMnterior 12. Landscape 13. Woodstock Landscape 14. Gypsy 15. Study in Color 16. Plowed Field 17. Woman in Pink 18. Nudes 19. Willow Trees 20. Fifth Avenue in Rain 21. Bathers 22. Zinnias 23. Portrait of Paul Arndt 24. Autumn Hillside 25. Winter 26. Still-Life on Stone Mantel 27. Summer Landscape 28. Valley in the Catskills 29. Sun-shower 30. Portrait of Christine Chaplin NOVEMBER LANDSCAPE Oil 1918 mm AUTUMN Oil 1920 HARLEM RIVER Oil 1920 MAINE LANDSCAPE Oil 192 L WATER-FALL Oil 19-21 FARMER Oil 1920 LANDSCAPE BEFORE RAIN Oil lb2i WOOD-INTERIOI WOODSTOCK. LANDSCAPE GYPSY Watercolor 1920 STUDY IN COLOR Oil 1921 PLOWED FIELD Oil 1921 WOMAN IN PINK Oil 1921 NUDES Oil 1919 WILLOW TREES Oil 1921 FIFTH: AYENUEJNRAIN (Owned^y: Alfred M. Schaffer) Watercolor 1919 BATHERS Watercolor 1918 ZINNIAS Watercolor 1919 PORTRAIT OR PAUL ARNDT Oil 1921 HHjjSKgPi . • WINTER 011 1922 STI LL-LIEF, ON STONE MANTLE Oil 1921 SUMMER LANDSCAPE Oil 11-21 (Owned by Paul Fiene) THE VALLEY IN THE CATSKILLS (Owned by Miss R. Jones) PORTRAIT OF CHRISTINE CHAPLIN Oil 1921 GETTY RESEARCH INSTITUTE 3 3125 01500 3938 t