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remained to the end British subjects, and the long line of
American
students who passed through the studio of West returned home with
English methods and English ideals.
The intellectual dependence on the mother country
naturally
lasted long after the political ties were broken; but separation,
the
social changes resulting from the change of government and the
ruder, more isolated life incident to the development of the
interior
of the country, weakened the influence of English art until it
slowly
disappeared. In its place came all manner of strivings of native
talent to satisfy the aesthetic cravings of native taste, crude at
first
but gradually improving under the influence of Duisseldorf, Rome,
and later of Paris. One interesting result of the movement was the
development of a native landscape school, and it finally
culminated
in a few men whose original talent, strengthened by adverse sur-
roundings, has not been surpassed since.
With the conclusion of the Civil War came another
change.
The succeeding generation of artists departed for Europe almost in
a
body. They studied in the best ateliers of the Old World, side by
side with the men who are now the leaders of European art; they
contended with them for the school prizes and later showed
pictures
alongside of theirs in the exhibitions; they accepted European
stand-
ards of workmanship and also to a great extent European tastes and
interests. They no longer reflected the culture, the likes and
dislikes
of their compatriots as, in spite of foreign travel or training,
the
elder generation had done. They appeared almost as aliens. Even
after their return, when they had begun half unconsciously to
reflect
native ideas in their work, they still tested it by comparison
with
what was being done elsewhere. In fact, American painting had
become an integral part of the painting of the world. The methods,
the ideals, the achievements of Europe were all open to the Ameri-
can artist who, according to his temperament and ability, chose or
rejected what he would. The old period of isolation was passed.
It is along these latter lines that our painting is
developing,
adapting itself to native needs and to a new-found native taste
with
a rapidity that precludes any adequate record. The amount of
space devoted to men like West or Chester Harding in the present
volume may seem entirely disproportionate when compared with
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