Page:The Dial (Volume 76).djvu/142

102 passes by rights of its own. For my own part I was only slightly concerned in the doings in the panels, but took my joy in the immense splashes of brilliant red. These quite filled the room with splendour. The screen, as must be apparent even in this description, is King Ludwiggy. In Paris that would be no objection. A Ludwig, or a Paul Poiret would be sure to appear there willing to build an entire castle to house it properly.

Whether the old-time fury will be unleashed for these new Picassos is uncertain, but probably it is too late for that sort of thing. The very respectful attitudes of the rival dealers who flock to the exhibition, offsets it. It is hard for Americans to vituperate anything two years in succession and it is doubly difficult for them to see immorality in a good investment. It appears that Picassos are going up. They are now quite out of the reach of some of the earlier investors who sit about hungrily in the beautiful Wildenstein Galleries somewhat on a par with the dusty but worshipful students.

These students would eat the Picassos if they were not watched. These are the "reactionary," "back-to-Ingres" Picassos that have been so much heralded and the students wish to see how it is done. About February, therefore, we may expect to see a lot of local reactionary work, which however need not necessarily be more boresome than the former imitations of Picasso cubism. As a matter of fact, all of Picasso's qualities seem present in the new paintings. It seems idle to label them since saying they are Picasso says all. He is first and foremost a stylist, as concerned with simplifications and purities of expression as ever he was; and it is also possible to believe that he shares in a humorous appreciation of the vogue that permits him to give many of his admirers the impression that they have been carried back to Ingres. Like Ingres he is the foremost draughtsman of his period—but otherwise there is no use dragging Ingres in. If there is any realism in the new pictures it certainly eludes me. But there is again the old power that used to make a piece of flat blue in a composition forceful to the point of intoxication. Picasso indeed weights one down. Intellectually all the other painters of the day pale beside him. But a reformed Picasso? Academicians, don't you believe it.