art and archaeology 
must be learned in some way before the 
finest compositions can be produced. 
By “drawing” one refers to the scien¬ 
tific control of the difficulties of form. 
At this point, Dewing achieves a dis¬ 
tinction that characterizes at every 
point the great individuality of his art. 
When drawing and painting in 
France reached a high degree of scien¬ 
tific knowledge, in the late seventies, 
many of the younger Americans, of 
whom Dewing was one of the most 
ardent, sought to benefit by this de¬ 
velopment. In the French schools the 
human figure was studied as possessing 
all the principles which underlie the 
representation of reality, and the teach¬ 
ing enabled this to be passed on as a 
tradition. To this school of science 
came other students: Abbott Thayer, 
Dwight W. Tryon and George De- 
Forest Brush, in whose mature work, 
now aided by traditional science, one 
sees the same poetic and discrimi¬ 
nating temperament which is found in 
the work of the earlier men. 
To this group of painters belongs 
Thomas W. Dewing, whose art de¬ 
velops logically the principles under¬ 
lying the representation of funda¬ 
mental form. So subtly has Dewing 
employed this science that his paint¬ 
ing has unfolded as consistently as a 
flower from bud to blossom. And to 
observe, understand, and love this, is 
to be in the presence of finely working 
forces of great power. The strength of 
restraint is here, which outlasts the 
quickly expended boldness of lesser 
minds. Intellectual and emotional 
traits are so finely balanced in Dewing’s 
temperament that they prove his kin¬ 
ship with all great artists. Here is a 
man who subjected himself to the 
severest discipline to achieve a mastery 
of form, and this knowledge of facts 
moulds reality and converts it into 
Nude Study. By Thomas W. Dewing. In the 
Freer Gaeeery of Art. 
higher and more significant truth. 
Furthermore, Dewing has loved fine¬ 
ness and elegance with intense de¬ 
votion. His spirit is, perhaps, most in 
sympathy with the Oriental creators 
whose works always possess the rare 
quality of refinement. A group of 
women in a simple room, writing or 
talking in a moment of serenity, quiet 
gesture or graceful movement, have 
been woven into a pictorial poem from 
which emanate a grace and harmony 
which have appeared alone to Dewing. 
Finely wrought objects, musical in¬ 
struments, fine fabrics, delicate chairs 
and tables appear in his pictures with 
a sense of fitness and discrimination 
equal to that of the great Dutch 
masters of genre painting. Through¬ 
out his work a consistent purpose, an 
inspired vision, is made real to us by 
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