The Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler (1853– 1918) is known to American audiences primarily as a precursor of twentieth-century Expressionism. Combining Symbolist imagery and Post-Impressionist facture, Hodler’s signature paintings have been compared to those of Munch, Klimt, and Gauguin, all of whom were his contemporaries. In Switzerland he is something of a national treasure, although in his own day the Swiss often found him to be a source of scandal and a target of ridicule. Few things, however, are more forgiving than historical perspective coupled with national chauvinism. Organized by the Swiss Institute for Art Research, in cooperation with the Arts Council of Switzerland, the Hodler retrospective currently touring the United States is an attempt at gaining critical credibility for the work outside of his native country. Are the paintings of such quality that he should be considered a figure of international import? Unless a contrived hocus-pocus becomes the standard by which we judge art, one would be hesitant to bet on it.

“Ferdinand Hodler: Views & Visions” is the first retrospective of the artist’s work to be seen in the United States since 1972. (An exhibition of Hodler’s landscapes toured the States in 1987.) It brings together fifty-six paintings encompassing his career as an artist, ranging from student work to Lake Geneva with Montblanc at Dawn, painted in the final year of his life. As installed at the National Academy of Design in New York, “Views & Visions” is simply presented and briskly paced. It never feels