Shadowland (Mar-Aug 1923)

Charles Sheeler Who has brought to painting a highly specialized technical equipment peculiarly his own By Thomas Craven IT is now many years since PostImpressionism shocked the world of art. This movement was a revolt against the inanities of naturalistic imitation, and, as originally conceived, undertook to restore form to painting. In a measure it has fulfilled its intention, hut there is abundant evidence, not only in America but also in France, the home of the movement, of a declining purpose. In this respect the modern uprising has its parallel in past rebellions : within a given period, il seems the trend of all art is toward mechanical perfection. First, we have the primary creative impulse, a complex activity arising, on the one hand, from man's dissatisfaction with standardized utterance, and, on the other, from his desire to summarize his spiritual adventures thru pictorial mediation : second, the experimental stage — the struggle with materials ; third, the triumph over processes — the culmination ; fourth and last, exhausted inspiration — the interest in purely technical problems. Charles Sheeler is a curious example of the overlapping of tendencies. Unquestionably an artist, and as sensitive to nature as any American I know of, he has, at the same time, brought to painting a highly specialized technical equipment peculiarly hi"s own. Mr. Sheeler was born in Philadelphia. ^ For three years he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and was known at this institution as one of the most promising pupils of the late William Chase. After his academic training came the disillusion, the sense of wasted endeavor which claims every genuine painter on the realization that he has been taught methods and not art. He went to Europe, visiting England and Spain, saw the canvases of El Greco, and returned to Philadelphia in better spirits. He became interested in Robert Henri — then in his prime both as a teacher and an artist — and tried the experiment of constructive" visualization without direct reference to models. About 1910, at the instigation of Morton Schamberg, he (^JiLjvdU* took up the camera, and his success with this instrument has been so pronounced that he is today recognized as one of the foremost living photographers. The great liberating agent in Mr. Sheeler's development occurred in 1909; he went to Europe again at an auspicious moment and came in contact with the pictures of Cezanne and the Post-Impressionists. It may be said that his maturity has been determined largely by two factors — the stimulus of Modernism and the influence of the camera. Mr. Sheeler advances the theory that photography, while different from painting in many of its aspects, is equally as important and beautiful. An expert in both departments, he speaks with authority. In his exhibition at the Daniel Gallery in the spring of 1922, he gave us the opportunity to test his theory. Here, hung side by side, were productions of the brush and prints from the negative. So -far as I am concerned, the prints were not emotionally exciting. As photographs, they were undoubtedly superior and distinguished; as works of art, they were practically devoid of plastic beauty. One cannot overlook the fact that the instantaneous action of the lens is a far different thing from the human vision. The lens deals with the physically beautiful, with surfaces, textures and the nat*ural play of light and shade, and in spite of. all human intervention seizes what is before it; the human vision is a constant growth, the retina plus accumulated experiences — once an image enters the brain by way of the eye, it is modified by every impression of the past. In short, the camera is an impersonal instrument ; the vision an act of imagination. It is undeniable that Mr. Sheeler's painting has been affected by the camera, but it is not because of these essentially photographic elements that his work is artistic. He would. I think, be the last person to maintain that the dextrous manipulation of natural values is of a piece with (Continued on page 7\) &~ J Page Eleven