Now tho newer artists are the hope
of the future, yet in this country here
tofore almost nothing has been done
for them. They have had to shift for
themselves, and almost in proportion
as they have had merit have they been
frowned upon by official societies and
official patronage. Sometimes in con
sidering the stories of Albert P. Ryder,
Thomas Eakins, George Puller and
WJnslow Homer, it has seemed as
1 hough this compulsory Isolation was
not a bad tiling for the development
of a personality, but upon the whole
intelligent opinion agrees that the
greatest good all around springs from
a developed senso of what is art In the
community. When numbers of people
have tho Instinct for stylo It stands to
reason that quicker recognitions will
he meted out to artists and that less
men of talent will wilt by the wayside.
The obvious advantages of the new
society are so many that it is scarcely
, worth while recounting them here,
?hut one at least may bo mentioned?
1 he test of Judgment that comes from
comparing one's choice with the choice
of others. Most people who collect
collect In tho dark, as it were?and
particularly has this been noticeable
among those who collect the newer
artisth. In studying the handicaps of
the "modernists" in America I came
to the conclusion long ago that the
connoisseurs who recognized merits
among these new people were singu
larly shy, and once a modernist plc
_ turo sold It seemed to be burled?one
."?"?.scarcely know where.
