Evening Star Newspaper, March 30, 1930, Page 105

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MARCH 30, \© HE eurrent exhibitions at the Arts Club, 2017 1 street, are uncommonly inter- esting. The exhibitors are Frances Hungerford Combs and Bugen Weisz, both lecal artists. Mrs. Combs studied at the Corcoran School of Art and is a mem- ber of the leading local art organizations. Mr. Weisz is practically self-taught, and is an in- structor at the Corcoran School of Art and in the art department of George Washington University. He began his career as a pupil in the former school, but made such rapid progress that he was soon made an assistant, and in a short time promoted to imstructor. Mrs. Combs shows 22 water colors. Mr. Weisz exhibits both oils and water colors— figures, landscape and marine subjects. For the most part Mrs. Combs’ works are of still life, though she does include in this col- lection a few landscapes, such as “On Corby's Farm” and “The Stratton Home, Chevy Chase.” But it is in the painting of flowers and still life that Mrs. Combs makes her largest con- tribution. These are invariably colorful, well composed, beautifully rendered—a delight to the eye, an endless source of enjoyment. Mrs, Combs handles her medium somewhat in the method of the modern Japanese, using clear color in a rather flat but crisp manner. Although flowers are the chief unit in her compositions, her paintings are more than of flowers. Her backgrounds in each instance are extremely interesting, full of incident, an indispensable part of the composition; for ex- ample, “The Kimona Background,” “Japanese Print and Roses,” “Currier Print and Tulips.” No lover of flowers could fail to find delight in these paintings, for in every instance they seem to conserve not only the beauty but the spirit of the fresh blossoms. And better than the majority, these paintings show how lovely flowers may become indoors when given the right environment. Art is by no means the imitation of nature, the representation of things seen. It is for the artist to pick and choose, to arrange and to change, and then to translate beauty which he or she has not only perceived but helped to create. Mrs. Combs’ paintings are uncommonly large for water colors, but not too large. And while they are rendered with apparent ease, they evidence mature skill and painstaking care. Water color is an elusive medium, one which permits no fumbling on the part of the artist, and it is seldom that one sees it used as ‘meticulously and broadly as Mrs. Combs uses it without loss of spontaneity in effect. One could hardly praise too enthusiastically these charming paintings. R. WEISZ'S paintings are to be seen on the walls of the assembly room—oil paintings, chiefly figures, on one side; smaller oils and water colors, principally landscapes and out- door themes, on the opposite side. All are strong, virile in rendering and indicative of original talent; but probably the group of figures and one or two of the landscapes will attract most attention and measure most correctly the artist’s capability. These are all of striking in- terest, painted with a gravity betokening one who reveres art, and with an evident pleasure which manifests sensitiveness to beauty. Most finished, and perhaps engaging, is a double composition, figures of two young women, “The Musicians,” very unusual in its arrange- ment and manner of transcription, recalling some of the great works of tradition but without the objectionable inference of repetition. A portrait study of “Biorn Egeli” is strong and forceful, a genuine characterization—not faultless, but significant, extremely well painted. A portrait of a young boy which hangs between “The Musicians” and the larger portrait is like- wise admirable, subtle in the rendering of per- sonality, a little pensive but persuasive in ex- pression. These are all works of fine caliber. One landscape, for its beauty of color as well as composition, stands out from others shown. It is entitled “Mountain Heights,” and has been painted with a full brush and apparently a keen sense of the loveliness of nature. Among the water colors are one or two done at Gloucester, one of a boat in early morning seen with its dark reflection on the smooth water, another of a group of Gloucester boats, a third of a fish’ wharf. These are quite as strong as the works in oil, but just a little less accomplished. Exhibitions of this sort give Washingtonians an opportunity to gain acquaintance with the works of local painters and help to engender local pride. ASEOONDgroupofnvepunfinuhubeen lent by the Phillips Memorial Gallery to the Public Library in continuation of the policy announced some time ago of extending the privileges of the collection beyond the gallery itself. These five paintings have been placed on the wall in the art division, where they take their place as decorations and at the same time may be studied at leisure. It is an interesting and an unusual group— works by two Americans, one Spaniard, one Russian-American and one Frenchman, but harmonious in color and spirit. The Americans represented are Mahonri Young, perhaps better known as sculptor and etcher than as painter, and Hayley Lever, who, incidentally, is an American only by adoption, having been born in Adelaide, South Australia, studied in Paris and come to this country after attaining to manhood. Mahonri Young, on the other hand, is not only an American, but of interesting descent, being the grandson of Brig- ham Young of Salt” Lake City, the Mormon leader. Mr. Young was born in Salt Lake City in 1877. He studied first in New York at the Art Students’ League, then in Paris at the Julian Academy, and he is now ‘a member of the National Academy of Design. He has re- ecived honorable mention for etching in Paris, AR AND 1930. 7 LELA MECHLIN Two Exhibitions at the Arts Club—Paintings Loaned by Phillips Gallery— Interesting Exhibit at Freer Gallery. “Biorn Egeli,” a portrait study by Eugen Weisz. On exhibition at the Arts Club. a silver medal for sculpture at the Panama- Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, in 1915, and other awards at the hands of his colleagues for works in these mediums. He is represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, by etchings; in the American Museum of Natural History by sculptures of Indians and by small bronzes of Western subjects or subjects of laborers in some of the leading museums of this country. His painting of “Girl and Goat,” now on view at the Public Library, is a colorful work broadly rendered, a little suggestive of his etched subjects, but in a manner quite his own. The painting by Hayley Lever in this littie group is a picture of Rockport Harbor. Mr. Hayley Lever spent a number of Summers on Cape Ann, and some of his best works are of the sea and harbors on this picturesque bit of the New England coast. Years ago he was re- garded as extremely revolutionary in his man- ner and methods, but today, strangely enough, his work appears quite conservative. Hayley Lever is represented in practically all of the American art museums and many private coi- lections. ‘The Spaniard represented here is Cittadini, and his painting sets forth a realistic transcrio- tion of the opening of a grotto—rich colored rock, deep blue sea—a picture of utmost interest because of its color and pattern. A comprehen- sive exhibition of Cittadini's paintings was held some years ago in this city at the Van Dyck Galleries, conducted by Col. French and Mr. Cunningham. Cittadini at that time had a studio on the Island of Mallorca, where, it will be remembered, the great Anglada- paints. ‘The Russian-American, John Graham, is rep- resented by a still life subject—flowers in a vase—very modern both in technique and choice of theme, arrangement of composition; the Frenchman, Jacques Villon, by a painting of the interior of a machine shop, in which the artist has found and manifested an interesting play of color. Curiously enough, the complaint made by some of the Hungarian critics when an ex- hibition of American art was recently shown in Budapest was that none of the artists had taken machinery as a theme, whereas America was a great manufacturing country. The ma- ‘chine shop which M. Villon presents is essen- tially that of his own country, where many of the factories are small and privately owned. The visitor to the Public Library desiring to see these exhibits is quite naturally led in the right direction. to the door of the art room, by an interesting display on a well placed bulletin board of colored prints or rare objec's d'art lately issued by the Metropolitan Museum of Art—reproductions of an amazing accuracy, conserving and setting forth almost as it were in facsimile, the beauty of the originals. Fine reproductions in color of paintings by yVhistler and by a later-day painter are also on’ display. And none could pass in and out of this building without observing and pausing to enjoy paint- ings by Lucien Powell of Venice and of mid- ocean which hang en the staircase platforms, to right and left, ascending to the upper floor. Tfll Freer Gallery of Art has placed on ex- hibition this week to continue for a con- siderable time a ecollection comprising recent acquisitions not heretofore shown. These have been placed in the two galleries to the right of the entrance in which formerly have been ex- hibited etehings and lithographs. The first of these rooms is given over en- tirely to one piece of sculpture and leaves from ancient volumes, mostly Persian, showing ex- quisite miniatures. The bronse was produced in South India during the twelfth century and represents, it is thought, the Hindu goddess Parvati. It is in perfect state of preservation and is a most remarkable work of art. Special reference was made to this bronze and to its importance in the history of art by Prof. Coomaraswamy in bis lecture on East Indian Art given in February before the Washington Society of the Fine Arts. : In the second gallery are more pages from manuseripts with miniatures and one superb panel, a votive offering found in the tomb of the “One Thousand Buddhas,” in West China, pro- duced toward the last of the tenth century. In this gallery is to be seen a superb piece of mortuary pottery of the T'ang dynasty (A. D. 618-907), with a rich green patina and rosette- like ornaments. Here, too, is a ceremonial bronze vessel described as of “type vii,” of the fifth century B. C. These objects, being large, are placed on pedestals, while in adjacent cases are to be seen the smaller objects, such as mirror backs of the Sui and T'ang dynasties, silver beauti- fully embossed in lovely design. Here, too, are a jade necklace, comb and other ornaments of the Han dynasty (206 B. C.-220 A. D.),-and a silver ladle not unlike those in use today, made during the T"ang dynasty. Another case is given almost entirely to a group of beautiful Egyptian bookbindings with tooled and gilded decorations, produced during the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. And A AK here is a beautifui little piece of Syrian glass- ware of the thirteenth or fourteenth ecentury. Across the room, in a case all to itself, is a group of imperial poreelain which came frem the Ku Yuch Hsien studie between 1727 and 1736—dainty bowls decorated with naturalistic floral designs, which set a standard for the judgment of werks of this sert. To be thoroughly understood and appreciated these works must all be very carefully studied and with a background ef previous knowledge. At a first glance on entrance the galleries in which these works are displayed give the vis- itor the impression of being scantily filled, but as the importance of the works asserts itself this impression vanishes and a sense of dignity and significance takes its place. The charm of the Freer Gallery is to an extent the fact that it is not overcrowded, and does, therefore, en- courage quiet observation and contemplation. The court of the gallery, with its grass plots dotted with blosseming erocuses and shrubs in fresh leafage, delightfully brings nature imto association with art and gives to the visitor a pleasing welcome. . ’l‘}m photographic division of the National Museum, located in the Arts and Indus- tries Building, has received a generous be- quest from Rudolph Eickemeyer of Yonkers, N. Y., consisting of 83 framed prints, excel- lent examples of pietorial photography, and $15,000 as an endowment for the care and up- building of the collection. Mr. Eickemeyer made a name for himself 25 or more years ago as a pictorial photo- grapher. He was associated with Steiglitz and Steichen, Gertrude Kasebier and others, who demonstrated patiently to an unbelieving world the possibilities of the camera as a medivm of artistic expression. It was this group, supple- mented by others, which first -induced the art museums to recognize photography as an art. ‘The 83 framed prints which Mr. Eickemeyer has given to the National Museum are his own work, and they cover a great variety of subjects—portraits, figures, still life, landscapes, outdoor subjects of all kinds. Among the best of these perhaps are his snow scenes and his interpretations of the ocean, but in many in- stances he has succeeded in recording un- usual effect of light and atmosphere. Mr. Eickemeyer has made a profession of portrait photography, but having lately retired, has turned again to pictorial photography, of which he has made a vecation. The exhibition of Mr. Eickemeyer’s pictorial photographs opens formally April 1. SEVERAL prints have been sold from the collection of etchings by Arthur W, Hall and woodblock prints by his wife, Norma B. Hall, which has been on view in the Smith- sonian Building during the past month, evidenc- ing tangible appreciation en the part of in- dividuals and presumably the presence of print collectors in this city. Those who have ac- quireg these prints are indeed to be con- gratulated, for they are excellent. Mr. Hall is one of our best American etchers, and some of his plates are of extraordinary merit. Mrs, Hall has also attained great skill in the mak- ing of woodblock prints, and her interpreta- tions of Western landscape through this medium are both meritorious and charming, It is interesting to note how many of the prints shown can no longer be duplicated, meaning that their editions have been entirely exhausted. It is also interesting to note at" what modest prices these prints sell, being marked in some instances as low as $5 and $10, and in no instance at more than $30. "THE National Academy of Design, founded in 1825, is holding its 105th annual exhibitionel, in New York, opening March 20 and continuing to April 6, in the Fine Arts Galleries, 215 West Fifty-seventh street. Only two Washington artists are represemted in this exhibition—Charles Bittinger, who shows a painting of “A Library in Boston,” and Miss Lucia Hollerith, who is represented by her painting, “Fishing Boats, Concarneau,” ex- hibited here recently at the Arts Club. The first Altman prize of $1,000 for a land- scape painted by an American-born citizen was awarded in this exhibition this year to Theodore Van Soelen of Santa Fe, N. Mex., for a paint- ing entitled “Snow.” The second Altman prige of $500 went to Vamr Dearing Perrine of Maple- . wood, N. J, for a landscape, “A Woodland Pool.” The Thomas B. Clarke prize of $300 for the best American figure composition by an American citisen was awarded to Ermest 8. Trubach of New York for his painting entitled “The Student.” Mr. Trubach recently won an academy scholarship, enabling him to go al for additional study. g TH! exhibition of paintings by Canadian artists, which has attracted so much favor- able attention in the Corcoran Gallery of Art since its opening on the 8th, closes today and will be shipped immediately to Providemes. Continued on Twenty-first Page Yorke Gallery 2000 S St. Exhibition of Water Colors by Fred Pye March 31st to April 12th \