THE POST IMPRESSIONISTS.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—Your critic in last week's issue remarks that the Post. Impressionist idea of expressing sensation in place of reality is not really a new principle, but only an old idea badly expressed. It seems to be doubtful whether a new principle in art can be discovered at all. The revolutionist merely selects some truth that has been partly neglected and exaggerates it at the expense of other truths. Thus the Impressionists startled the artistic world by their over-emphasis of atmospheric light, at the expense often of tone, colour, form, and composition. The truth was not new, but it gained importance by its isolation. The Pre-Raphaelites again expressed truth of detail at the cost of general effect. Sooner or later, however, the protestant must rejoin the ranks of tradition, or his work will always remain maimed and incom- plete. His protest is never without its effect. The present Post Impressionist movement has yet to show what it will produce in the hands of the competent artists who are to
come.—I am, Sir, &c., A. WARREN Dow. Mayfield, Shepherd's Hill, Highgate, N.
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