Evening Star Newspaper, October 25, 1931, Page 89

Calendar of Exhibitions CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART, Seven- teenth street and New York avenue. Permanent collection. Special exhibi- tion. Paintings by Waliter Elmer Schofleld, October 24 to November 26. Lithographs by Roberto Montenegro, October 18 to November 7. PHILLIPS MEMORIAL GALLERY, 1600 Twenty-first street. Permanent collec- tion with recent acquisitions. NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, Tenth and B (Constitution avenue) sireets northwest. Permanent collection. Paint- ings by Wells M. Sawyer, October 24 to December 1. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, Tenth and B streets southwest. Etchings by George T. Plowman, October 5 to No- vember 1. ARTS AND INDUSTRIES BUILDING, United States National Museum. Bro- moil Transfers by A. W. Hill of Scot- land, October-November. FREER GALLERY OF ART, Twelfth and B streets southwest. Perthanent collection. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, Print Divi- sion, First street betiveen East Capitol and B streets southeast. Contemporary American Prints assembled by the American Federation of Arts for ex- hibition in Italy. ARTS CLUB OF WASHINGTON, 2017 I street northwest. Water colors by Margarete Lent. October 25 to Novem- ber 7. TEXTILE MUSEUM, 2330 S street northwest. Rugs, tapestries 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 northwest. HOWARD UNIVERSITY ART GAL- LERY. Paintings by Little Dutch Masters, lent by College Art Associa- tion, October 19 to November 7. GORDON DUNTHORNE GALLERY, 1143 Connecticut avenue. Prints by contemporary English, French and American artists. SEARS, ROEBUCK & CO., 1106 Con- necticut avenue. Paintings by Theo. J. Morgan, Herbert Hooven, Bessie Crighton and others. Etchings by Auer- bach-Levy, Woodcuts by J. J. Lankes, to November 2. HE special exhibition of paintings by Walter Elmer Schofield which open- ed in the Corcoran Gallery of Art yesterday is uncommonly interesting, both in itself and because of the painter's high standing. There is probably no more distinguished painter of land- scape and the sea in this country than Mr. Schofield, and none, moreover, who 80 success- treads the narrow path between the old the new. In spirit and training Mr. Scho- is undoubtedly a traditionalist, an aca- demican, but in present viewpoint and practice he shows keen sympathy with the tenets of the modern school in so far as simplification of characteristics of the group of paintings Mr. Schofield is exhibiting here at this time. Each one speaks for itself immediately and in no un- certain terms. Walter Elmer Schofield was born in Philadel- phia in 1867; is a pupil of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, as well as of French masters; & member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Academy of Design, the Arts Club of Philadelphia, the fel- lowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Century Association, New York, and certain well known British organizations, such as the Chelsea Arts Club, London, and the Royal Society of British Artists. It has been his habit for some time to spend half or more than half of each year in Eng- land on the Cornish Coast, and most of the paintings included in this exhibition are of that locality—pictures of the sea beyond bold, rocky headlines beneath a gentle green cover- lid; thatched-roof houses set in a dip of the hillspor adjacent to the shore; a quaint old bridge of a single span beside an old mill— subjects which at a glance would seem almost to have been readymade to the artist's hand. but which in reality without doubt have been knowingly composed. For Mr. Schofield has always consciously designed his paintings, and for this very reason they have been peculiarly decorative and satisfying. At the time that Mr. Schofield studied in Paris the French impressionist school was at its height, and doubtless he profited by the contact, but he never employed the French impressionists’ methods, and he always has painted with a full brush, broadly. He did learn, however, either from the French im- pressionists or because the problems of light were uppermost in every one's mind at that time, how to interpret truly effects of sunlight and air with astounding realism. For some years he was chiefly interested in painting Win- ter pictures—snow-clad hills, rivers in ice, pale Winter sunlight shining through frosty air. Two examples of such subjects are in- cluded in this exhibition and show the artist at his best, manifesting his extraordinary knowledge of values in the treatment of snow. ‘The first painting by Mr. Schofield which the Corcoran Gallery owned was a Winter picture which was, however, exchanged a few years ago for ome of his more recent Cornwall sub- Jects, the sea, rocky headlands, grassy downs— AD N\H THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., OCTOBER 25, 1931. AND 7 LEIA MECHLIN Special Exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery. Prints on View at the Library of Congress. Galleries Opened on Connecticut Avenue. “Cottage on the Coast of Cornwall,” a painting by Walter Elmer Schofield. One of the pictures on exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. a superb rendition of a big and beautiful theme. In Mr. Schofield’s earlier work there was more tone and greater reserve—what might be termed a gentle reticence—which in these later days seems to have disappeared utterly from his paintings. This disappearance is undoubt- edly accounted for by the increase in strength and directness, the acquisition of skill which permits masterly expression. And to some exient is not this indeed a distinguishing mark of contemporary painting, that mark which sets it apart from the art of the past, pro- duced before the world moved quite so rapidly and leisure was not rare? But it is right that one should produce in the spirit of his own time and for his own day. Mr. Schofield’s paintings will be found to possess great charm and to reflect to a large extent the artist's personality—his bigness, physically and men- tally; his straightforward simplicity and sin- cerity, and, withal, a keen appreciation of beauty and a persistent urge to paint. Already Mr. Schofield has received almost every available prize offered in the leading exhibitions in this country, beginning with an honorable mention at the Arts Club in Phila- delphia in 1893 and including such notable awards as the Sesnan Gold Medal of the Penn- sylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Gold Medal of Honor, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; silver medal, St. Louis Exposition; the Temple Gold Medal, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, etc. He is represented in the perma- nent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cincinnati Museum, the Carnegie In- stitute, Pittsburgh; the Albright Gallery, Buffa- lo; the John Herron Art Institute, Indianap- olis; the Art Institute of Chicago, and other museums all the way out to the Pacific Coast. To have the opportunity of seeing so com- prehensive a collection of Mr. Schofield’s paint- ings is a real privilege. T the Library of Congress there is at present on view under the auspices of the depart- ment of fine arts, an exhibition of 250 prints —etchings, lithographs, woodblock prints—by American print makers, which has been as- sembled by the American Federation of Arts to be shown in Rome, Florence and Milan this Winter at the invitation of the Italian govern- ment. In exchange a collection of Italian prints by contemporary artists will be shown in this country in various art museums under the charge of the American Federation of Arts. These 250 prints were selected by a jury of representative artists of high standing from more than a thousand submitted, and they give a comprehensive survey of the field of graphic arts in America today. Here are both conservatives and radicals, those who find their best material in Europe and those who render almost exclusively American themes. There are exquisite etchings, from the stand- point of draftsmanship and technique, by such well known men as John Taylor Arms, Ernest David Roth, Arthur Heintzelman, Louis Resen- burg and Abbo Ostrowsky. There are vigorous, dramatic presentations, such as Gifford Beal's “Loading Hay,” “Fisherman’s Daughter,” “Pol- ing the Seine Boat” and Martin Lewis’ “Glow of the City,” the figure of a girl silhouetted against the roof-tops of New York as seen by night. There are exquisite little snow pic- tures by Chauncey Ryder and Arthur Hall; wood engravings by that master, Timothy Cole, who died shortly after the collection was as- sembled; wood cuts by Rockwell Kent, and typical American themes by Andrew R. Butler, such as “Kansas” and “The Siding"—stark reality. Prank Benson is admirably repre- sented; s0, also, is Sears Gallagher, the latter by two etchings of the sea, one entitled “Sound- ing,” the other “Early Morning.” Hopper and Hornby, Horter and Hutty all make notable contributions. There is a delightful group of Southern Negro subjects, lithographs, by Way- Adams, and two interesting wood cuts, scenes, by Charles W. Smith, Here is an exceptional opportunity to have a complete survey of contemporary work in this field and to become acquainted with an exhibi- tion which is to represent American art abroad. The exhibition, which has been most effectively arranged under the charge of Dr. Holland, in cases in the main case gallery, will remain on view until November 1. From this exhibition the Library of Congress has purchased 21 prints for its permanent col- lection. HE Sears, Roebuck Galleries, in advance of their formal opening on November 3, are showing the works of a half a dozen or more capable artists which collectively constitute a generous feast, a foretaste, presumably, of what is to come. In the -main gallery, because of the postpone- ment of the Herter exhibition to November, Theo J. Morgan, the director of these gal- leries, has placed on view 47 of his own works, testifying both to his industry and capability. Mr. Morgan is to a large extent self-taught, and has developed a technique quite his own, but extremely effective for his purposes. His renditions of landscape are broadly conceived and give one the impression of phantasy—the mingling of things seen and things dreamed. He has also a good color sense, which qualities go far to compensate for shortcomings which might otherwise be obvious. In the gallery adjacent to that in which the Morgan pictures are hung is & group of 50 etchings by William Auerbach-Levy, one of the foremost etchers of figures in this country today, perhaps one of the greatest in modern times. Mr. Auerbach-Levy was born in Russia in 1889. He came to this country in early youth and studied at the National Academy of Design and later at the Julien Academy in Paris. He has held a traveling scholarship of the Na- tional Academy of Design and also one of the Guggenheim fellowships and has won many prizes and awards, the best of which, perhaps, are the purchases made of his works for great public collections. He is one of those who sprang almost full-fledged, in the matter of ability, into distinction, and he has never pro- duced a more brilliant piece of work than his early print of a bearded man in long cloak, a portrait study very much in the Rembrandt manner. But as Mr. Auerbach-Levy has gained in facility and enriched his experience his work has taken on new significance, until now what- ever comes from his hand is fine. He has lately returned from a trip in Eu- rope and has brought back and included in this showing several superb portrait studies of peasant types. It is the humbler, simple peo- ple that he has found most interest in por- traying—Jewish rabbis, great representatives of his own Hebrew race, bearded men who resemble the patriarchs; foreign-born lads, women weary with toil—all intensely human. Occasionally he does a subject picture, such as “Doorway, Notre Dame” “Street in Etable,” but it is the human interest which to him makes chief appeal. His great admiration for Timothy Cole is manifested in two superb por- trait etchings, Nos. 1 and 2, excellent like- nesses, sympathetic renditions of a great artist whom all who knew honored. Mr. Auerbach-Levy teaches at the National Academy of Design, also in the School of Bdu- cational Alliance, a school on the East Side, New York, which gives opportunity to those of . little means. He came to Washington himself and superintended the hanging of his eol- lection. Another group of prints is to be found in a i third gallery in this present series, and here one discovers with pleasure a collection of wood blocks by J. J. Lankes, one of the fore- most in this branch of graphic art today. These prints include several subjects of local inter- est, such as “Street in Georgetown” and “March Day, Georgetown.” There are also souvenirs of Virginia, at Willlamsburg dad Hampton, and of New England and other parts of the country. So large a collection of Mr, Lankes’ work is not often to be seen. Bessie Crighton and Herbert Hooven are the two leading water colorists in this showing, each contributing a generous, varied and on the whole, pleasing group. These exhibitions will continue throughout the week. HE charm of pictures in the home is admire aily demonstrated by Mrs. Margaret New- hauser in co-operation with W. B. Moses & Sons in the demonstration exhibit on the sixth floor of the Moses establishment. Primarily these sample rooms are purposed to show furr- ture, but the showing is enhanced by the pic- tures on the walls, selected and arranged by and under Mrs. Newhauser's advice. And how skillfully this selection and arrangement have been made only those who have had experience can realize, for in every instance the picture . has been placed just right and just where it seems to belong, enhancing effect and appear= ing to the best advantage. Included among the artists whose works are serving this end are Jessie Baker, Tom Brown, Hattie E. Burdette, Catherine C. Critcher, Hugo Inden, Benson B. Moore, Margaret New- hauser and A. H. O. Rolle. That works of such quality and adaptability are by local arte ists and moderately priced should be reason fog great local pride and satisfaction. o It is only right and fair, too, perhaps, in this connection to say a word in appreciation of the other factor in these room exhibits, the furniture, for furniture making, after all, is essentially an art, and the pleces included in this collection come well within this category, both because of workmanship and design. Such exhibits go far toward improving taste and creating a demand for that which is really good. HE Washington Society of the Fine Arts nounced last week its for season of 1931-32, which includes a by t by title and other controversal articles the American Mercury, the Form, Dial, the New Republic, etc. February 10—“Stained illustrated with colored slides, Charles J. Connick, master craftsman, one the leading makers of stained glass in thig country, who has lately been commissioned tg make the great west rose window for the Cae thed.nlol’sLJohntheD!vlnelnNe'Yfl March 16—*“Sculpture,” illustrated with moving films, by Carl Milles of Sweden, considered by many to be the greatest living sculptor of At the invitation of George G. Booth ‘of Carl Milles has consented to spend three months each year at the Booth educational center at Cranbrook, Mich. A comprehensive Continued on Eighteenth Page AC EMY— Professional Commercial Art 1333 F St. N.W. ME. 2883 1. 0. 0.9.0.0.¢ Felix Mahony’s National Art School 1747R.I.Ave. North1114 Abbott Art School Day and Evening Classes. Children’s tntu:’ay Class. 1624 H St. N.W., Crrner 17th