Evening Star Newspaper, May 31, 1931, Page 86

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MAY 31, 1931. Calendar of Exhibitions CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART, Seven- teenth street and New York avenue. Permanent Collections and Special Ezhibition. Cariatures and Prints by Daumier. May 4 to 31. PHILLIPS MEMORIAL GALLERY, 1600 Twenty-first street. Modern Art and Its Sources. Special Exhibitions. Paintings by Marjorie Phillips. May 1 to 31. NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, Tenth and B (Constilution avenue) streets northwest. Permanent collection. JREER GALLERY OF ART, Twelfth and B streets southwest. Permanent collection. Recent Acquisitions. Art oj the Near East and of East India. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, Print Divi- sion, First street between East Capitol and B streets southeast. Drake Col- lection American School Wood En- gravings. ARTS CLUB OF WASHINGTON, 2017 1 sireet morthwest. Annual Summer Exhibition of Members’ Works. May 23 to September. 4 TEXTILE MUSEUM, 2330 S street northwest. Rugs, tap2stries and other textiles of the Near and Far East. Open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fri- days, 2 to 5 o'clock. Admission by card, obtainable at the office of G. H. Myers, 1508 H street morthwest. LITTLE GALLERY, 1725 Nineteenth street. Paintings by a group of young Washinglion Arlists. HOWARD UNIVERSITY. Summer Ezx- hibition. Art Students’ Work. UR National Gallery of Art is still housed in temporary quarters, the United States National Museum providing exhibition rooms for its permanent ccllection, and though, because of these conditions, it has to an extent ceased to expand as it might un- der more favorable circumstzences, it is very much alive and has great hopes for the future. As a part of the National Gallery of Art a national portrait collection is proposed. Dur- ing the past few ‘months William H. Hoimes, director, has been busy preparing a catalogue of such portrzits as may be appropriately in- cluded in such a coll:ction. Already there are a considerable number, including, from the earliest time, the gallery's gifts and bequests. Most notable as the nucleus of such a collec- tion is the group of portraits of those hold- ing prominent positions in the allied countries during the World War, painted by our leading American artists for a special committee, self- organized, in New York, as a gift to the Nation and a memorial to leaders in this great and tregic epoch. This collection, which hangs in the foyer of the National Museum. includes, it will be remembered, portraits of Foch and Clemenceau, Admiral Beatty and Pield Mar- shal Haig, Bratiano, Gen. Diaz, the King and Queen of the Belgians, Cardinal Mercier, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover and others. To this collection has been added Jchn C. Johansen’s studies for his painting of the sign- ing of the Treaty of Peace. Here is a splendid beginning of a great national portrait gallery. ‘To this collection an interesting and ex- cellent addition has recently been made through gift of a portrait of Commodors Decatur, painted by Gilbert Stuart; an excell>nt portrait by Benjamin West of himself is to be num- bered in the_ catalogue, and there are other works of notable importance. Obviously, in assembling paintings for a na- tiongl portrait gallery two considerations have to be kept in mind—subject and the painter’s art. In other words, such a collection should consist of great men and women painted by great painters only, for none other could repre- sent the subjects at their best. How intensely interesting in this respect is the National Por- trait Gallery of England, and what a magnifi- cent memorial to those who have helped to make the nation! T so happens that there is at the present time available for purchase a most notable col- lection of portraits, chiefly of Americans, by early American artists. This is the Thomas B. Clarke collection of 175 portraits by ap- proximately 70 or 75 early American painters. Mr. Clarke, lately deceased, spent many years assembling this collection and succeeded in bringing together works of notable merit, as well as historical interest such as exist today in no one of out public galleries. Included in the collection are portraits of Washington, Adams and other Presidents of the United States; of Henry Clay and John Marshall; of Thornton, the architect of the Capitol and of the Octagon; of #Mathaniel Hawthorne and Clara Barton, and of many others of interest and note. These are by such outstanding painters as Gilbert Stuart, Peale, Copley, Blackburn, Harding, Morse, Trumbull, Pine, Savage, Waldo, Jouett and King, to name only a few. Portions of the collection have been shown from time to time in the Century Club, New York, and have in each instance constituted an event of interest among art conhoisseurs. One hundred and sixty-four of the works included in this col- lection are now on exhibition at the Pennsyl- vania Museum of Art, to which they were lent three years ago upon the opening of the museum. ‘The collection is to be sold as an entity and offers will be received by the City Bank, Farm- ers’ Trust Co. of New York up to 12 o’clock noon on June 15. It will go undoubtedly to the highest bidder, provided the bid approaches its real valuation. Certainly this is a collection which should come to our National Gallery, but unless some public-spirited individual, some so-called “angel” can be found to make the purchase as & gift it will almost certainly pass into the hands of some other museum or a private 7 LELA MECHILIN The Plan for a National Portrait Collection. Valuable Paintings Available— Summer Exhibitions— Other Notes Portrait of Marshal Foch by Edmund C. Tarbell. Presented to the National Portrait Collection by the City of New York. collector, and in the latter instance cease, at his pleasure, to exist as a whole. The breaking up of such a coliection,- which is undoubtedly Mr. Clarke’s heirs desire to avoid, would be a real calamity; to have it come to our National Gallery of Art would be a great national benefit. PROPOS of portraits of distinguished Amer- icans nationally owned, it is interesting to note a resolution presented and unanimously adopted at the recent meeting of the American Federation of Arts héeld at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, which is as follows: “Whereas it has become the custom for a retiring officer of the President's cabinet to leave in his department a portrait of himself, and whereas these portraits are not uniform as to size, framing, medium or merit, and whereas these portraits are scattered about the rooms and corridors of the department buildings, so that no historical continuity can be traced, and whereas the new department buildings now under construction afford opportunity for assembling a chronological series of portraits of past secretaries suitably displayed, also call for an attempt by reframing to create some degree of order and system in such display, and, further, show the necessity for a definite policy “In Gloucester Harbor,” by John J. Dull. Exhibited in the annual exhibition of the fellowship of Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. It may be noted that many Washington artists spend their Summers at Gloucester, a favorite “paint- ing ground.” ARLAND AR in regard to future acquisitions, therefore be it resolved that the American Federation of Arts, in convention assembled, recommends that hereafter all portraits designed for display im a department building in Washington shall be painted by American artists of recognized standing; that such portraits shall be executed in oil, of a suitable size, and shall be framed in'a simple frame of good design. Also that in each building suitable wall spaces shall be.set apart for the display of such portraits, and that means be taken to bring existing portraits into as much order as may be possible, with regard to size and framing, to the end that the require- ments of history, of good order and of good taste shall be promoted, and be it resolved that a copy of these resolutions be sent to the Cabinet officer in charge of each of the departments, and be it further resolved that a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to the President of the United States, so that, should he deem ad- visable, he may issue an executive order on the subject.” The extent to which the Government is a patron of art in this particular is not generally known, and the fact that some of these por- traits in the past have been obtained as any other commodity, through the medium of ad- vertised bids, is perhaps best forgotten. In early days and in recent years these portraits have been commissioned from painters of high standing and distinction, and in this way some notable works of art have come into the pos- session of the various departments. The purpose’ of the resolution quoted is obviously to safe- guard the selection of painters in the future, and to make these portraits an appropriate part of the decoration of the buildings in which they are given prominent placement, as well as historical sequence. Its presentation and adop- tion at the convention of our national art organization evidences a widespread interest throughout the country in such matters. Tflz Summer exhibition at the Arts Club of Washington, consisting of paintings by members is exceedingly interesting. In the drawing room and dining room are water colors, 26 in number, while in the auditorium are hung 28 paintings in oils. Possibly because of more congenial setting, the water colors in this instance seem the more meritorious and attractive. Pictures undoubtedly appear to better advantage when not too much on parade. Over the mantel in the drawing room is hung, in the place of honor, a very colorful and ex- ceedingly well painted still life, “The Brass Tea- kettle,” by Margaret D. Dawson, who, it will be remembered, some time ago held a one-man exhibition at the club which at the time evidenced her skill and adaptability. L. M. Leisenring shows two paintings in this collec- tion, one of “Rocks and Pines,” the other of a “River, East Kennebunkport,” Maine, both well composed and broadly rendered. There is a characteristic painting by Elizabeth Sawtelle of a boat, “Off Martinique,” and a charming ren- dition of a thatched cottage in Dorset by Edith ‘Hoyt. From Susan B. Chase comes a flower study, “Decoration”; from Ruth P. Safford a study of lilacs, and from Mary Lukens a color= ful painting of tulips, while Emma Duer Rice shows a study of asters. Alice M. Addison shows two portraits, one of a young girl, “Ann,” strongly modeled and individualistic. Of unusual interest is a group of five water colors, humorous and delightful, by Hugo Inden, in the modern mode, but full of origi- nality and wit. Among the oil paintings portraits by Mathilde. M. Leisenring, “The Shell” and “Young. Pianist,” stand out because of colorful charm and subtle significance. Catherine Critcher makes notable contribution in her study of Indians and of a still-life group. Alice L. L. Ferguson’s ‘“Buffalo Mountain” has great charm, that of simplicity in composition and of subtie color, both expressive, however, of bulk and strength in formation. Anne Fuller Abbott shows a portrait study in costume entitled “Bal Boheme,” direct in rendering. From Lillian Giffen has come “The Continued on Eighteenth Page ART SCHOOLS. THILL SCHOOL of ART 6 DUPONT CIRCLE Sketching out of doors Saturday afternoens i EXHIBITION THE ABBOTT SCHOOL of FINE and COMMERCIAL ART Summer Session 1624 H St. N.W. Nat. 8054 Art Exhibition Students’ Work 9 AM. to 9 P.M. Daily Mpingdlone 1333 F.ST. N.W. ME. 2883 e T EXHIBITION STUDENTS’ WORK May 23-29, Inclusive Felix Mahony’s National Art School (nterior Decoration, Costume Design, Commercial Art, Color. 1747 R. 1. Ave. North 1114