SECTION C MODERN PAINTING 



(Hall 4, September 24, 3 p. m.) 



SPEAKERS: PROFESSOR RICHARD MUTHER, University of Breslau. 

 MR. OKAKURA KAKUZO, Tokio, Japan. 



PROBLEMS OF THE STUDY OF MODERN PAINTING 



BY RICHARD MUTHER 



(Translated from the German by Dr. George Kriehn, New York) 



[Richard Muther, Professor of History of Art, University of Breslau, since 1895. 

 b. Ohrduff, Germany, February 25, 1860. Studied at Heidelberg and Leipzig. 

 Privat-docent, University of Munich, 1883-95; Conservator of the Cabinet of 

 Engravings, 1885-95. Author of Anton Graff; Gothic and Early Renaissance 

 Illustrations of German Books; The History of Modern Painting; Geschichte der 

 englischen Malerei.] 



OF the several works treating the painting of the century just 

 passed which have recently appeared, we shall first consider the 

 Geschichte der modernen Malerei, by Richard Muther (1893). This 

 work for the first time attempted to give a general view of the entire 

 activity in Europe during the nineteenth century. All painters were 

 treated who had created works of real artistic value in France, 

 England, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, and Spain. If, in spite of 

 such wealth of detail, the book has not quite solved the problem of 

 presenting a clear picture of the artistic development of the century, 

 this is to be attributed to the circumstance that it endeavored to 

 unite incompatible things, and to be, at the same time, an historical 

 and a controversial work. In the years in which it was written, 

 modern art was fighting for its very existence. The author was en- 

 thusiastic and wished to take part in the struggle. The new ideals 

 appeared to him so victorious, that a misguided enthusiasm for 

 them led him to consider the earlier ideas more or less false. In 

 reading the book one has the feeling of having climbed a high moun- 

 tain, from which classicism, romanticism, and historical painting 

 seemed gloomy ravines, through which it was necessary to pass in 

 order to ascend. Only after reaching the summit one could breathe 

 freely; for here all is bright, illumined by the rays of the sun of 

 impressionism.. 



An artist defending his principles is, indeed, justified in such 

 partiality, but not an historian. For he whose ideals we no longer 

 accept is not, therefore, to be dismissed as antiquated and worthless. 

 The actual is not necessarily the eternal, nor are present tendencies 



