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VAN DEARING PERRINE— "THE MOST ORIGINAL FIGURE IN AMERICAN LANDSCAPE 



ART TO-DAY"— Richard Watson Gilder. 



Great rocks, great trees, great rivers of them- 

 selves mean very little to me, except as symbols 

 of a great Universal Power, and Eternal Vital Princi- 

 ple which makes and shapes tree and rock and 

 river equally with myself. It is thus that I feel in 

 this great Power — call it Eternal Motion, if you like 

 — something linking me to all the universe, even to 

 the remotest star, and linking all to myself. When 



I feel that I am awed and reverent. The whole 

 world appears to me as one vast miracle, and I am 

 part of the whole. It is this stupendous miracle 

 of creation which takes possession of my thoughts 

 and compells me to seek some form of expression, 

 as men have sought in all ages. Some have found 

 their means of expression in poetry, others in ph: 

 losophy; I find mine in painting. 



