Show STUDENT LIFE 38 portrait painted by him of Sarsasate the violinist and 'through the treatment the arrangement and manipulation of color he has brought out the spirit of his subject The delicolor cate subtle vibrative tones of pasthe exquisite sages suggest to one those particular qualities which we always associate with violin music His landscapes are views of visions of the mind dreamland etherealized and encompassed with mysteries One of the most beautiful of these Nocturne-Bogno- r represents the silent slumber of the sea and sky The shadowy forms of trawlers loom out of the misty atmosphere and two figures standing in the surf suggest dusky phantoms Everything coarse and material has been extracted leaving only the essence of form A silvery luminosity pervades the scene it is filled with mystery and tender melancholy the artist being so absorbed with the spiritual presence of the summer night that its pulsations arc echoed by his own soul Whistler never ignored form but it was the effect of form its relation to abstract beauty its relation to the character of the subject that seemed alone worthy to be interpreted Xor in his works despite their mystery and spirituality do we ever find any lack of power or virility In every one there is a dignity of line mass and tone behind all there lies a strong foundation His brush work never seeks to dazzle or bewilder there is lehind his technique something more than the skilled clever gently-modulat- ed ness of the brilliant painter for cleverness brilliancy is a superficial quality Beside one of his works the work of the brilliant brushman looks vulgar and commonplace Whistler’s means are inseparable from the end the message he gives us his technique was developed especially in order that he might fulIn the ly deliver that message portraits he has left us are expressed all of his finest qualities and there is one in particular now hanging in the Luxembourg which It is probably is brought to mind the greatest thing he ever did and is entitled “The Portrait of My Mother” She sits before us in profile dressed entirely in black but for the white lace cap delicately silhouetted against the gray wall Her feet are placed upon a footstool her hands laid peacefully and elegantly upon her lap and as she sits there so serenely there comes to us the suggestion that she is looking back through the present along the vista of the past a path leading back through maternity to memories of a beautiful youth lie has pictured her as she was known to the heart of her son in the spiritual communion of their mutual love So the picture becomes one of the most beautiful and noblest tributes to motherhood that art can show In the beautiful portrait called “The White Girl” you will find an almost reverential conception lie has aimed here to interpret the poetry of maidenhood A young girl stands before us clothed all in |