A catalogue, paintings by Martin Baer and George Baer. · brothers, Martin and George Baer," was...

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ART 'INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO A RCHIVES A €ATALOGUE OF PAINTINGS BY MARTIN BAER GEORGE BAER SEPTEMBER EIGHT TO OCTOBER FIFTEEN, MDCCCCXXVI

Transcript of A catalogue, paintings by Martin Baer and George Baer. · brothers, Martin and George Baer," was...

ART 'INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

ARCHIVES

A €ATALOGUE OF PAINTINGS BY MARTIN BAER GEORGE BAER

SEPTEMBER EIGHT TO OCTOBER FIFTEEN, MDCCCCXXVI

A CATALOGUE

PAINTINGS BY MARTIN BAER

AND GEORGEBAER

THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO MDCCCCXXVI

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F R E w R D

W ITH a successful show in Paris last spring at Durand-Ruel's to their credit, Martin and George Baer, in

the flush of youth and vital creative energy, have returned to their native Chicago for the first American exhibition of their paintings, at the Art Institute. Their achieve-ments have been made possible by the interest and support of their father, Mr. Leopold Baer, of Chicago.

The brothers, during an extended sojourn at the village of Laghouat, Algeria, developed a style of such distinct flnd vivid originality that the critics of Paris, though accustomed to the sudden flashing out of new genius, were aroused to a pitch of warm enthusiasm.

It was to Laghouat, on the edge of the Sahara, the brothers retired to "find themselves," after years in the schools-first at the Art Institute of Chicago; next, in Munich, where, after saturating themselves with the "Impression-ism" that was still holding sway, they became restless to do things not prescribed in the courses; then, finally, at Paris , where they became associated with the little group who looked to the young Modigliani-the most tragic figure of modern art-as master, rather than the older Matisse and Picasso.

At Laghouat they lived as nearly as possible the lives of the natives, occupying one of the rude huts in the Oasis that skirts the desert sands . Here they watched the camel drivers setting out for long trips across the Sahara; women and old men driving donkeys through the streets, selling water, or carrying burdens of household necessities; shepherds caring for their flocks as did the herders two thousand years ago.

Here they watched dancing girls 1n their weird, oriental

contortions to barbaric music. Women of the higher castes, they persuaded to sit for portraits . Among women of lower castes, they found, after much difficulty, models for bathers in the palm-rimmed pools of the Oasis.

For a year they worked, interpreting the strange life around them-with eyes that had beheld, and brains that had understood the fever of Cranach and El Greco--with brushes that had become adroit and subtle in the severe discipline of the schools.

Their inspiration seemed to run parallel, so that it 1s often difficult to distinguish their work-the work of Martin from that of George. They duplicate in painting, in this respect, the literary twinship of the brothers Goncourt.

Returning to France, they painted for awhile longer, their newly-developed genius finding admirable material in the south. It is readily discerned in these French landscapes and walled towns that the inspiration that came to them in Africa was no mere accident of place, to be transiently erased, but a genuine inner development-a determination of style, in the true mood of modern "expression."

Then came their Parisian show.

"Martin and George Baer," wrote "P. F." in Journal des Debats, "have returned from Algeria with a lovely series of fantastic, almost caricatural, landscapes and composi-tions, showing with a quite personal accent in their expression of the faces and in the myster,y of the attitudes scenes froni Arab life-dances, market-places, etc. Let us not seek here the usual kind of orientalism, but rather the originality of an esthetic conscience and the affirmation of a very curious double personality."

"Their vision is solemn, their harmonies vibrating, con-fined in the scale of olive greens, pale mauves and saffron yellows,'' affirmed ''Pinturrichio'' in Le Carnet de la Semaine. "Some of their settings have a tragic ruggedness."

"Tremeur" devoted a long article to them in the columns of L'Homme Libre:

"Two Americans, two painters. At the Durand-Rue! gallery just a few days ago, we were privileged· to admire about thirty remarkable canvases by them, the fruit of seven years of toil. Recognized artists, besides the critics have expressed the good they think of them-the sculptor Brenner, the painters Sou tine, Michel Kikoine and Kremine, among others . On their return from Laghouat where a flood engulfed their village and their belongings, Paris extended them a welcome which moved them deeply. Unknown, without acquaintances, they are immediately noticed. Artists, little inclined to indulgence in matters of art, encourage them. Connoisseurs are interested in their work . . Paris will not deceive them. And I believe I can truly say that in a few years, these two young men, in full possession of their inherent ability, with the clear vision of their possibilities, will be of the best among the painters."

"Tremeur" finds in their work traces of Giotto, Tintoretto and "the sombre Greco," with " the depths of colors of the great artists of the XVth century," and, admiring "The Arabian Dance," "Views of Laghouat," and a number of other canvasses specifically, he pronounces the nudes in the forest, ''the most . beautiful pieces in the exhibit.''

"They do not need our indulgence," wrote "Charensol" in L'Art Vivant, welcoming them to Paris, "for they have brought back from Africa, and exhibited at Durand-Ruel's some very personal conceptions which reveal a fine mastery and a decided taste for expressive painting." ·

"Two young American painters of great talent, two brothers, Martin and George Baer," was the expression of Le:r Nouvelles Litteraires in an article on "The School of Paris," relating how artists of all countries flock to the art capital of the world.

"A way of painting in which a nightmare softens in an atmosphere of legend, wherein the figures have something

of the German Expressionism,'' is the analysis of Plaisir de Vivre.

"The dual artist feels external influences, rather those of the Museums than our contemporaries,'' comments Louis Vauxcelles in La Volente, considering the brothers as a single artist, ''and I would not be surprised if the fraternal partnership has a partialityfor Greco. The African figures -they have worked quite a while at Laghouat-have a stern aspect; their settings are austere. Here there is in-contestable talent."

In addition to a Greco touch, Georges Bal, writing in the Paris edition of The New York Herald, discovers in the Algerian paintings "certain resemblances to Gauguin's Tahiti pictures ." "If the work of these artists astonishes at first glance by certain rudenesses, somewhat wild," he observes, ·'one is not long in discovering that these pictures possess · serious qualities. "

''Both the Baer brothers are unmistakably modern,'' com-ments the critic of the Paris edition of The Chicago Tribune, "being alive today and not content to be imitators. The influence of Cezanne is apparent in their treatment of form, and although El Greco is not cited in the little sketch by Charles Fegdal on the flyleaf of their catalogue, his vigor-ous spirit is carried on by these young men."

Concluding a glowing tribute to the brothers in an intro-duction to the catalogue he wrote for their exhibition at Durand-Ruel's, Charles Fegdal, author of the well-known "Ateliers d' Artistes," published annually in Paris, remarks:

"Martin and George Baer have their respective talismans. It must be admitted they use them; in fact in these can-vases they show that they have used them to happy ad-vantage. · Of course the talisman is still new-it will gain in force and volume with their growing love of it and in turn, through it, they will be loved."

JOZEF MARISCO. PARIS, FRANCE

LES BERGERS u:;t, . It :l_f· LACHOUAT, AFRIQUE NORD MARTIN BAER

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26 PAYSAGE RECLOSES, FRANCE

The illustrations used in this catalogue were furnished through the courtesy of the Standard Photo Engraving

Company of Chicago.