File:Matthijs Maris - The Ox Cart.jpg

Identifier: landscapefigurepai00sher (find matches)
Title: Landscape and figure painters of America
Year: 1917 (1910s)
Authors: Sherman, Frederic Fairchild, 1874-1940
Subjects: Landscape painting Figure painting
Publisher: New York : Privately printed
Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute
Digitizing Sponsor: Getty Research Institute

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nish away into the mys-terious realm from which they have beendrawn out by the genius of the artist. Forthis is his period of painting the dream-landin which he lives; but it has grown more andmore difficult for him to satisfy himself withhis work, and his over-sensitiveness about thishas resulted in his producing almost nothingin recent years. Matthew Maris is an etcher of great ability,and he has made some very characteristicoriginal plates with imaginative subjects, thatare very quaint and attractive. His achieve-ment in this line is not great in volume, buthe has etched one superb plate after J. F.Millets painting of The Sower, and theimpressions printed from it are among themost beautiful examples of the art. It is notetching in its purest form, that is, the use ofthe fewest possible lines to suggest the sub-ject, as is the custom of painter-etchers suchas Rembrandt, Whistler, and Seymour Haden.The object in this case is to reproduce theeffect of the picture. To do this more than
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MATTHEW MARIS 169 the line is necessary, and so Matthew Mariscovers nearly the whole of the plate to securerich, soft tones, similar to those found in amezzotint engraving. Into this work he hasput a strong personal feeling, giving his ownconception of Millets grand figure, stridingacross the field as the day wanes, and castingthe seeds of living grain into the furrows ofthe dark vitalizing earth. His interpretationof this great picture into black and white is avery remarkable one, deepening the mysteri-ousness even of the original, and it is the finestreproductive etching that we know of. The striking originality of Matthew Marisspaintings makes them worthy of very carefulstudy, and we should try to approach themin a feeling of sympathy with the artist, striv-ing to realize as far as we can the scenes hewished to paint, and the ideas and suggestionshe wanted to convey to us. This is the onlyway. If we require more solid, substantialsubjects, or more practical ideas, or moreobtrusivel

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