Evening Star Newspaper, March 23, 1930, Page 101

- - the Corcoran Gallery of Art there is / now on view an interesting and un- usual group of sculpture by an Italian artist, Fausta Vittoria Mengarini of Rome, who is at present here in ‘Washington. Signora Mengarini and her work were in- troduced to a small group of art lovers by Dounna Antoinette de Martina at the Royal Ttalima Embassy last week. Happily, arrange- ments have been made for & more compre- hensive showing of these unusual works im sculpture through the courtesy of the Corcoran Gailery of Art. The collection as now set forth includes three silver figures, a figure in plaster modeled for a baptismal font, two bronze medallions variously colored and nine bronze busts—por- traits, together with photographs of some of Signora Mengarini’'s monumental works erected under government patronage in Italy. By far, the busts are of most notable inter- est, being modeled with a skill and assurance truly amazing. the great works of other days, the portraits of the Roman Emperors which have come down to us from the time of Caesar. And yet one does not find in them any suggestion of imi- tations. They are superbly strong; they are con=- vincingly accurate. They are profound works of art, in the rendering of which the artist seems never to have tripped or stumbled. And « in spirit they are essentially Roman. The only - portrait busts by an American sculptor which approach these works in realism are those by the late Charles Grafly, a number of which were shown this Winter here in almost identi- cally the same places where ‘these busts are now to be seen. But how different is the man- ner of handling, how essentially individual is the expression which each sculptor found! Signora Mengarini’s technique is broad but exact, her modeling extremely firm and definite. She seems to have been conscious all along _of the medium in which the work was to find hardness, its enduring quality, finish. And how wonderfully these busts have been Bronze bust of Prof. O. Carini, by Fausta Vittoria Mengarini. On view at Corcoran Gallery of Art. : proviso, however, that her symbolic glass is anything but small. “Extremely sensitive to the imposing beauties of classic art, this young artist feels the fas- cinating grandeur of the more realistically ex- pressed thought with which modern art ate tempts and prepares its evolution toward new ideals. And, although she is above all the nar- row conventions of the old style of academic teaching, her natural good taste keeps her from Primarily these works recall ° THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHIN GTON, AL Ala Exhibition of Sculpture'by an Italian Artist. - D. C, MARCH 23, 1930. e e T P R e ST AND AR 7 LELA MECHLIN Decorative Panels at Phillips Gallery. Other Paintings on View. “In the French Alps,” a painting by Hildegarde Hamilton. far-fetched strivings for the bizsarre that has ruin of so many In interesting contrast are the portrait busts of three children—“Ariel,” the artist's son, attains her greatest height. In these she is prac- unsurpassed ‘This exhibition will continue until April 6. AWWMTAOKMMM- missioned to paint a series of decorative panels for the reception room of the Phillips Memorial Gallery. This room, which has been planned but not yet constructed, will have a -vaulted ceiling, the vault to be penetrated on each side with walls providing space for five Studies for these decorations, one-third in size, are now on view in the large lower room at sort as “playgrounds of the imsgination,” ~ * ing ear, we and such they are indeed, recalling the be-- holder’s experience of beauty in many forms and giving such memories new significance, It is an interesting fact that with all of his apparent purpose he never, in these panels, completes or repeats a form, and whereas one may find suggestive shapes in these works of art, as in the clouds or in the fire, none is actual. The two lunettes are perhaps closer in char- acter and style to the earlier works than are the smaller panels. In them one feels the in- fluence of the Oriental Chinése painting. But they, too, are abstractions—the sea or the sky—blue water or blue air flecked with foam or foamlike clouds, seen as looking dewn or looking up, suggestive of limitless space, boundless rapture. The smaller panels ure.;)gore suggestive of figures, of human life experience, and while they allure the eye by their exquisite color harmonies, they puzzle the intellect by approaching so near to actuality but yet evad- ing it. It is difficult to understand how one can be so abstract when purposeful, and one cannot help but query whether, after all, actu=- ality equally well employed would not produce the same and perhaps even more satisfying result. But surely there is no reason why if we can have, as we do, beautiful abstrace tions in music, appealing to the sensitive listen« cannot have equally significant abstractions in painting, appealing to the ob- servant eye. Here, at least, is an artist who is doing something entirely different from what has been done before, and doing it beautifully, opening new vistas in the field of art. AN exhibition of paintings by - Marjorie Phillips (Mrs. Duncan Phillips) is in progress at this time at the Kraushaar Gale leries, 68® Pifth avenue, New . York, which opened March 17 and will continue to March 29, The catalogue of this exhibition, which re- produces on its cover Mrs. Phillips’ painting, “Poppies,” lately shown at the Phillips Me- morial Gallery, enumerates 19 exhibits—flow= ers, still life and landscapes, the latter fre quently with figures. . Mrs. Phillips studied with Kenneth Hayes Miller in New York, and has been much in- fluenced, undoubtedly, by the. works of the modern French masters. But she has a rare and exquisite talent which enables her to intere pret things seen in such herent beauty becomes G Portrait drawing of Mrs. Charles P, Stone, by Caroline van H. Bean. On view at the Yorke Galleries. positions of trees, open flelds and distant hills into & unified whole. An example of Mrs. Phillips’ work, a land- included position at Venice, CAROUN! VAN H. BEAN'S exhibition of paintings and drawings, which opened at the Yorke Gallery March 17, to continue untl March 29, is varied and interesting, consisting of portraits in oil, interiors and garden pic~ Continued on Twenty-first Page 2000-S-Street Exhibition of Paintings y Caroline van H. Bean W\ March 17th to March 29th ]