360 
THE CENTURY MAGAZINE 
of his faithful little model, or “Resting,” 
or, indeed, the lovely “Annabel Lee,” 
mere fragments, perhaps, but yet delight¬ 
ful in color and more than convincing 
in effect. 
Add to all these the etchings, which 
include those collected by Sir Seymour 
Haden and the majority of those enum¬ 
erated in the Wedmore and Grolier cata¬ 
logues ; add to them the drawings and 
sketches, with which are comprehended 
studies for the portrait of Carlyle in 
Glasgow, for the pastel “Morning Glo¬ 
ries,” and for a portrait of Mr. Leyland 
and his daughter; and to these the litho¬ 
graphs, all save five described in Way’s 
catalogue and several undescribed, and 
some faint conception can be had of the 
wealth of the collection in this one regard. 
There is probably no single artist who 
has provoked more controversy than 
Whistler; none who has been by turns 
more maligned and honored. Many have 
tried to explain him, to analyze his work, 
but none has succeeded. It is an im¬ 
possible task. He could not do it him¬ 
self. Art, as he once said, simply “hap¬ 
pens.” His art assuredly did. But his 
work, on the other hand, testifies not only 
to his genius, but to his industry, and its 
spirit cannot fail to inspire the sincere 
students of / future time. Herein, as a 
national possession, lies its value. 
The small gallery which Mr. Freer 
has built in connection with his home 
in Detroit partakes somewhat of the na¬ 
ture of an experiment, being primarily 
an effort to discover the best methods of 
lighting and decorating the exhibition 
rooms in the permanent building which 
by-and-by will be erected in close prox¬ 
imity to the Smithsonian Institution at 
Washington. It is a rectangular room of 
fair size, lighted by a long, narrow win¬ 
dow—three connected sashes set hori¬ 
zontally in the north wall equidistant 
from the east and west ends—and by 
top lights, shielded and ornamentally 
glazed. The ceiling is moderately low, 
the walls are gray in tint and without 
covering, and the wood-work, while 
simple in device and inconspicuous, has 
been made an important factor in the 
architectural design. Beneath the window 
there is a long, cushioned seat, and on the 
opposite wall alone are exhibits placed. 
Here it is that Mr. Freer shows his 
screens, kakemonos and other Oriental 
paintings; and nowhere could they be 
seen to better advantage. Excepting the 
collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, 
Boston, there is none known outside of 
Japan which rivals this in size or intrin¬ 
sic value. Beginning as far back as 
the eighth century, and ending with the 
nineteenth, the masters of tne Sung, 
Ming, Kose, Takuma, Buddhist, Tosa, 
Kano, Shijo, Koyetsu, and Ukioye 
schools are represented, and thus event¬ 
ually students will be furnished origi¬ 
nal data for the study of Oriental paint¬ 
ing which will probably be elsewhere al¬ 
most unobtainable. 
Little that is. authentic has been writ¬ 
ten in English concerning the works of 
these master-painters. They were dis¬ 
covered by the Occident less than a 
quarter of a century ago, and they are 
still only imperfectly known or appreci¬ 
ated. While the Japanese prints have 
been brought to this country in large 
quantities, the early paintings, owing to 
their greater esteem at home, have been 
rarely imported, and the real significance 
of Oriental art has, therefore, in large 
measure, escaped our people. The 
prints are without doubt both meritori¬ 
ous and instructive, and they have un¬ 
questionably exerted upon Western art 
a potent and beneficent influence; but 
they are, when all is said, as widely sepa¬ 
rated from the works of the great paint¬ 
ers as our modern magazine illustra¬ 
tions are from our exhibition pictures or 
from our great mural decorations. 
To go fully into a description of this 
division of Mr. Freer’s collection would 
require not only unlimited space, but ex¬ 
pert knowledge, as it would embrace 
literally the entire history of Chinese and 
Japanese painting. Fortunately, how¬ 
ever, it is not necessary to pursue a sub¬ 
ject through all its ramifications to find 
it delightful, or to be all-wise to appreci¬ 
ate and find genuine pleasure in the beau¬ 
tiful. The Eastern painters were pri¬ 
marily masters of the art of decoration 
—that art which appeals first to the eye 
and later to the intelligence. An under¬ 
standing of the conditions which sur¬ 
rounded them, and the traditions which 
they followed, increases the interest of 
their works, but adds little to their merit 
and nothing to their charm. 
