Evening Star Newspaper, December 28, 1930, Page 87

Calendar of Exhibitions CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART, Seventeenth street aad New . York avenue. Tuw-lfth Biennial Ezxhibition Contemporary Amer- . ican Oil Paintings. November 30 to January 11. PHILLIPS MEMORIAL GALLERY, 1600 Twenty-first street mnorth- west. Modern Art and Its Sources. Inaugural Exhibition, New Build- ing. October 5 to Jonuary 5. NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, Tenth and B strcets northwest. Permanent Collection. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, - Tenth and B streets southwest. Book Plates from Collection of Mrs. William S. Corby. Decem- ber 1 to January 4. FREER GALLERY OF ART, Twelfth and B streets southwest. Perma- nent Collection. Recent Acqui- sitions. ARTS CLUB OF WASHINGTON, 2017 1 street. Water colors by Giles Francklyn of Paris; sculp- ture by Louise Kidder Sparsow, aintings by _Edith Hoyt of ashington. December 28 to January 10. TEXTILE MUSEUM, 2330 S street northwest. Rugs, Tapestries and other textiles of the Near and Far East. Admission by card obtainable at the office of G. H. Myers, 1508 H street morthwest. GORDON DUNTHORNE GALLERY, 1726 Connecticut avenue north- west. Special exhibition Eich- ings by Alfred Hutty; Water Col- ors by Rockwell Kent and others. Illuminated Books and Manu- scripts from the Society . of Scribes and Illuminators of Eng- land. PUBLIC LIBRARY, Eighth and K sireets morthwest. Art Depart- ment. Group of paintings lent by the Phillips Memorial Gallery. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, First and East Capitol streets south- east. Exhibition of Historical Prints from the Mabel Brady Garvan Institute of American Arts, Yale University. UNITED STATES NATIONAL MU- SEUM, ARTS AND INDUSTRIES BUILDING, Ninth and B streets southwest. Pictorial photographs by Julius Achauer of Vienna, Austria. December 1 to 31. MOUNT PLEASANT BRANCH, PUBLIC LIBRARY, Sirteenth and Lamont streets northwest. Ezhibition of Paintings by Mem- bers of the Landscape Club. De- cember 1 to 31. ture in the Corcéran Gallery’s Twelfth To the picture receiving the greatest number of votes @ popular prize of $200 will be awarded. To some extent the public, in judging these works of art, will pronounce self-judgment, for Bienntal Exhibition. HIS is the week when the public is in- ‘ Z vited to signify by vote the best pic- art judges us as truly as we judge it. Willlam M. Chase used to tell how his first purchase of a picture, made as a young man, was a chromo, and every one knows how William M. Chase in time became not only one of the Jeading artists in America, but noted as an art connoisseur and collector. As his taste improved he “retired” the picture that he had outgrown; the chromo gave place to an orig- inal, a picture in which subject dominated to @ picture in which the subtler elements of art made esthetic appeal. The picture one likes is not always the best picture, but it is far better to follow one’s lik- ing than to pretend to a knowledge which one does not possess. A fruit grower in Washington State once acquired a color print of two Jersey heifers to hapg above the mantle in his living room, and from the interest that this picture awakened developed so genuine an interest in art that through his instrumentality fine col- Jections of original paintings were brought to his city and a small art gallery erected, Royal Cortissoz, well known art critie, once said in a public address that if one liked to see a blossoming fruit tree painted to look like a chiffonier, no one should object; but that if any cne purchased a picture of a fruit tree so represented because he or she was told it was admirable, then it was all wrong. There are a gre:t many people today who endeavor to ad- mire what they are told is good rather than what they instinctively are drawn toward or intellectually understand. The art of painting has in modern times passed through numerous phases, but there are certain fundamental principles underlying the art which are unchanging and which in them- selves create a continuous and continuing tradi- tion. Painting as an art has always been some- thing more than imitation, even when given almost cocmpletely to representation. Its pur- pose has never been to deceive the eye, but to manifest more than the eye commonly sees. In recent times the art has become less repre- sentative and more interpretive, more ab- stract. In some respects the art of portrait painting has experienced least change during the centuries, possibly because the portrait painter’s ideal has invariably been to interpret not merely aspect, but spiritual quality, per- sonality. Landscape painting has passed through numerous from imitative realism to subtle impressionism and abstract interpreta- tion; but primarily the object has been, in every instance, to manifest beauty. THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, DECEMBER 28, 19%0. AR AND AR by LEILA MECHLIN Public Votes on Corcoran Pictures—Generous Loans of Phillips Gallery—=Several Local Exhibitions. “Little Dutch Girl,” by Robert Henri. @aned by the Phillips Memorial Gallary to the PubYc Library. Kenyon Cox once said that the reason that -telling pictures had come into disfaver ominate their art. This is as true today as the day he made the utterance. Rembrandt painted story-telling pictures which are still regarded among the masterpieces of art. Robert Henri in his class teaching said many things, among them these: “A thing is tiful when it is strong in its kind.” “The good things grow better. There is always a new each time you see them.” “It is not easy to know what you like.” “The principles of developed judgment, power of essay, -power of intense feeling, intense respect—these are .needed to understand art.” “Rembrandt’s beg- 3 . He did not pass them ‘They are vulgar fel- ‘To know what one likes is the part of wisdom, but to know why one likes it is wiser still. ’I’gl Phillips Memorial Gallery is doing a great service, not only in opening its doors to the public and providing expert guidanece, but through generous loans from its collection to other institutions, both in Washington and elsewhere. To the exhibition of American art in Venice during the past Summer the Phillips Memorial Gallery lent a number of notable works, which are but now on their way home. The American Pederation of Arts is eircuiting at the present time two important collections lent exclusively by the Phillips Memorial Gal- lery. Onme of these collections is being sent to colleces and wuniversities, the other to art museums. Mention was made in these columns some weeks ago of a group of seven modern paintings lent by the Phillips Memorial Gallery to fhe Public Library of Washington, where, in the art reading yoom, they can be seen by fre- quenters of the Library, not as an exhibit, but as a picture in the home—intimate, becoming familiar. Among these seven paintings are three representing thres entirely different phases of art, all admirable and interesting, and in their way, representative. One is a por- trait of “A Little Dutch Girl,” by Robert Henri; one a landscape, by Edward Bruce; the third is a painting entitled, “Horses on a Mesa,” by Olive Rush. Robert Henrl is quoted as having said upon one occasion that he would rather see a won- derful little child than the Grand Canyon, and among the finest works that he left to posterity are his paintings ef little children—this little Dutch girl, a number of little Irish children painted in Ireland, and some American chil- dren. Henri was born in 1865 and died in 1929, He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Pine Arts, the Julian Academy and the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris. He taught at one time at the National Academy of Design and later established his own school in New York. His works are owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy and almost all the leading American art muscums. He was un- doubtedly influenced strongly by the works of “Huisseau sur Cosson,” by Edward Bruce. A painting loaned by the Phillips Memorial Gallery to the Public Library. Velasquez and Manet. His painting invariably had breadth and solidity, strength and style. Into his paintings of children crept not a sophistication, but an of char- acter, the power of interpretation and insight beyond the grasp of many. He often chose to paint what would ordinarily be called homely chixdiren, children with irregular features, but he never painted a child that did not possess distinet persomality. It was this that imterested him, and his paintings of children were in- variably real werks of art. EDWABD BRUCE is a younger man and still . Born in 1879, he followed until middle life a business carcer. Recently he has given up business to devote himself entirely to painting. It is especially interesting for those who have visited the Corcoran Gallery's Bie ennial Exhibition to know that Edwar ce was partially turned to this career through con- tact with Maurice Sterne, met on & business trip to Italy. Chancing to show some painting that he had done to Stern2, the latter, im- pressed by his talent and originality, advised him to give his whole time to it, and, as a re= sult, he and his wife stayed for three ycars at Anticoli, where S’erne was living at that time, But Edward Bruce does not show in his work the influence of any master. His paintings are paradoxically archaic and modern; his composi- tions are as simple as those of a child, but his renditicns have every evidence of mature un- derstanding. For the most part he has chosen to paint bread, panoramic views of Italian land- scapes. There is in all of his transcriptions of landscape, however, a reticent and elusive note, Primarily they are decorative compositions, sece ondarily they are imaginative paintings, into which the observer may read whatever intere pre:ation he will. Among th: most charming of his paintings have been semi-conventionalized pictures of blessoming fruit trees. He has also painted still life pleasingly. In his paintings to a great extent simplicity is mingled with scphistication in such wise that it seems es- sentially new, yet of all time. OLIVE RUSH, even more than Edward Bruce, suggests in her works Occidental influence, Whether she has studied Chinese painting or has been influenced by the art of the Indians it is hard to say, but her work is raninfient of both. It has design and motion; it is tle and abstract. But she can at pleasure be ex- tremely realistic, painting precisely what she sees, as for instance, one of the great Indian festivals. But as in “Horses on a Mesa” and her decorations in the La Fonda Hotel, Santa Pe, she has to render subjects as filmy dreams, suggesting rather than imitating things seen. She is one of the few who have found a new path in the fleld of art and pursued it sucs cessfully. ATtheAmcmbthenwmopmde_Y.vltb a tea from 4:30 to 6 p.m., exhibitions of paintings by Giles Prancklyn, sculpture by Louise Kidder Sparrow and paintings by Miss Edith Hoyt. Mrs. Sparrow and Miss Hoyt are both Jocal artists and well known. Mrs. Sparrow has in recent years attained considerable distinction through her portrait busts and statues, among them her bust of Capt. Gilliss, which has lately been presented to the navy of Chile as a gift from our Navy. Miss Hoyt through her land- scapes and studies made generally during the Summer in Canada, near Murray Bay. Miss Hoyt is represented in the permanent collec~ tion of the Manoir Richelieu and in the Quebec Museum. Giles Prancklyn is a newcomer, but one whose work has been highly commended and will undcubtedly prove of much interest. Corcoran Gallery of Art has lately added as a temporary loan to its collectign of small bronzes five works by Brenda Putnam, daughter of the librarian of Congress. These Continued on Twenty-second Page ART SCHOOLS. HILL SCHOOL of ART Classes in Under le-nm 6 Dupont Circle. = No. 1271. EMY—~— ME. 2883. Abbett Art School Day and Evening Classes. Children’s Saturday Class. 1624 H St. N.W. Corner 17th csaaal A 1333 F St. NW. has s s X2 Felix Mahony’ National Art School Interior Decoration, Costume Design, Commercial Art, Color. 1747 R 1. Ave. North 1114 ‘eeeees 000000000 e e Dec. 28th Through Jan. 4th Public Invited 10 to 5 Daily, 3 to 6 Sunday Abbott Art School, 1624 H St. NW. Cor. 17th ..