ART
The reader may obtain most of the data on the history of American art from Samuel Isham’s “History of American Painting,” and Charles H. Caffin’s “Story of American Painting.” Very little writing of an analytical nature has been devoted to American art, and nearly all of it is devoid of a sense of perspective and of anything approaching a realization of the position that American work holds in relation to that of Europe. Outside of the writing that is only incompetent, there are the books and articles by men whose purpose is to “boost” the home product for nationalistic or commercial reasons. In contrast with all this is Mr. Roger E. Fry’s essay on Ryder, in the Burlington Magazine for April, 1908—a masterful appreciation of the artist.
W. P.