Evening Star Newspaper, November 29, 1931, Page 96

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., NOVEMBER 29, Calendar of Exhibitions CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART, Seven- teenth sireet and New York avenue. Permanent collection. First annual ex- hibition, Min.ature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers' Society, December 1 to 31. Thirty-sixth annual exi:ibition, Wash~ ington Water Color Club, December 3 to 27. PHILLIPS MEMORIAL GALLERY, 1600 Twenty-first strcet. Permanent collec- tion with recent acquisilions and group of paintings by Washington artists. NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, Tenth and B (Constitution avenue) streets northwest. Permanen! collection. Paint- ings by Wells M. Sawyer, October 24 to December 1. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, Tenth and B streets southwest. Block Prints and Lithographs by C..A. Seward, No- vember 1 to 30. Block Prints by Ernest W. Watson, November 30 to Decem- ber 31. ARTS AND INDUSTRIES BUILDING, United States Nationa! Museum. Bro- moil Transfers by A. W. Hill of Scot- land, October-November. FREER GALLERY OF ART, Tuwelfth and B streets southwest, Permanent collection. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, Print Divi- sion, First street between East Capitol and B streets southeast. Contemporary American Prints asscmbled by the American Federation of Arts for ex=- hibition in Italy. ARTS CLUB OF WASHINGTON, 2017 1 street northwest. Oil Painiings by Gar= net W. Jex: Drawings and Water Col= ors by Mathilde M. Leisenring, Novem= ber 22 to Decemnber 4. TEXTILE MUSEUM, 2330 S street northwest. Rugs, tapestries and other textiles of the Near and Far East. Open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 2 to 5 o'clock. Admission by card, ob- tainable at the office of G. H. Myers, 730 Fifteenth street northwest. GORDON DUNTHORNE GALLERY, Connecticut avenue and De Sales street. Recent Portraits by Margaret Fitzhugh Browne, November 16 to 39. Prints by contemporary Englich, Fremch and American art.sts. SEARS, ROEBUCK & CO., 1106 Con- necticut avenue. Paintings by Mr. and Mrs. Albert Herter and W. Lester Stevens and Harry Roseland. Pen- and-ink Drawings by Thornton Oakley. Etchings by Andre Smith and Eliza- beth Norton. Silver Points by Dewing Woodward. Small Bronzes, November 4 to 30. Paintings by Charles C. Curran, Mary Butler and Walt Dehrer; Paint- ings and Lithogiraphs by William Schwartz; Etchings by Thomas Hand- forth; Woodblock Prints, in color, by W. S. Rice, December 4 to 31. JANE BARTLETT’S, 1347 Connecticut avenue. Handwrought jewelry and enamels by Frank Gardner Hale of Boston. CRITCHER SCHOOL OF PAINTING AND APPLIED ARTS, 1726 Comnect- icut avenue. Painting: by Harriet Fitz- gerald of Danville, Va., and Isabel Hamilton of New York, November 28 to December 10. E Corcoran Gallety of Art has just acquired through purchase a painting by George Bellows, entitled “Forty- two Kids"” This is one of the most important purchases the Corcoran Gallery of Art has made in many gears. It is both a great and a famous paint- ing, and that it should come to the Corcoran Gallery of Art is great good luck, not only for the Corcoran Gallery but for Washington. The painting represents a group of boys, pre- sumably wharf rats, on a float on the East River front, New York, engagad in the healthy sport of swimming. One or two are in the water; one is about to leap in; others are standing on the edge of the ‘float, others still in groups talking or resting. It was painted from a high viewpoint looking down, therefore there is practically no horizon, and the dark- colored water scrves as background for the group. It was painted about 25 years ago, when George Bellows first came into prominence, but it is one of his best works, and so conceded by practically all critics. It is enormously vital and alive, an amazing piece of painting, and in the years tbat have passed since the work was executed it has to an extent ripened and ma- tured. There is nothing raw about it. The bare, sun-browned skin of the naked boys glows against the gray brown of the wharf and the blue-green cf the water. The color is superb, the composition faultless. But it is not because of the subject or of any one factor that this picture may be called great, but on account of the consummate art that has gone into its creation. Writing of CGeo:ge Bellows in the American Mageazine of Art nearly 20 years ago, Robert G. Mciniyre, through whose efforts a splendid col- lection cof Amcrican paintings has been as- semkbled at Phillips Andover Academy, said: “Bellows is a pagan, reveling in life, and in the joy of living, worshiping at the shrine of a god called Nature.” Adding, “If ycu do not believe it. look at the ‘Forty-iwo Kids,” that picture which first attracted attention to his work, and see for yourself if the very joy of pure existence is not its central idea.. The theme is simple enough and unaffected —-youngsters frolicking in the water and out of it, carcless that such things as bathing suits exist, conscious only of the moment and the sure it Wrings—yet he has made it significs Bold yet dignified simplicity is the chief characteristic of his printing. and never will be alter his opinion Corcoran Gallery of Art Acquires Important Bellows Painting—Number of Interesting Exhibitions Attract Art Lovers. “Forty-Two Kids,” e painting by George Bellows which has been purchased by the Corcoran Gallery of Art. that the simplest art is the most worth while.” Royal Cortissoz, in a tribute published in Scribner’s shortly after Mr. Bellows’' death, re- ferred to this picture as typical of Bellows’ in- dividuality and genuine Americanism: “The fascinating ‘Forty-two Kids,’ with its tangle of nude boyish forms moving in and about the water,” and said that Bellows did some of his best and most unforgettable things in the period of this picture. “Forty-two Kids” passed into private owner- ship shortly after it made its first round of ex- hibitions, but it has come out now and then by way of loan to grace some important exhibi- tion. The Corcoran Gallery had the good for- tune to acquire this painting at an exceedingly modest price. Bellows’ paintings today of this caliber are listed at from $25,000 to $30,000. “Porty-two Kids” came to the Corcoran Gallcry at what must have been little more, if as auch, as the original owner p2id for it when it was fresh from the artist’s studio, and he a young man. George Bellows went to New York from Ohio when he was about 20 years of age, “a tall, somewhat shambling and ungainly figure,” it is said. He was fortunate encugh to meet Robert Henri and to become not only his pupil but his friend, and he literally strode into prominence. He was modern so far as spirit went, but his work had traditional sirength and beauty. He was equally popular with both schools. One of the first to recognize his exceptional ability and to appraise his potentialities was John W. Alex- ander, at that time president of the National Academy of Design. Utterly cpposite in tem- perament and training, they understood one another, and a warm fricndship was formed. Bellows died when he was only 42 and at the zenith of his power, but some of the leading museums had already acquired his works, and but a few months after his death European mu- seums were sccking to possess them. A me- morial exhibition was held of his work both in painting and lithography at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His is one of the great names in American art, and his paintings are almost all today in public collections. It is the acquisition of paintings of this caliber and kind that will place the Corcoran Gallery of Art in the front rank of American museums dedicated to American art—a most valuable posse#sion. HE second ¢f the series of monthly exhibi- tions in the galleries of the Home Con- struction Division of Sears, Roebuck & Co., 11068 Connecticut avenue, will open with a private view on the evening of Thursday, December 3, invitations to which have been issued by the director, Theo. J. Morgan. This exhibition will consist of seven one-man shows, each of which should be a delight in itself. Heading the list of exhibitors is Charles C. Curran of New Yoik, secretary of the National Academy of Design, one of the best known and perhaps most beloved of the academy group, always concerred with the advance- ment cf art, invariably keenly conscious of beauty both in art and in nature. Mr. Curran has a studio at West Sixiy-szventh street, New York, but his Summer home is at Cragsmoor, N. Y, and it is by his pictures of Cragsmoor scenes—rugged, rocky promontories seen against Summer skies, compositions which invariably include figures of young girls with garments fluttering in the wind, frash, colorful, enchant- ing themes—that he is best kncwn. Mr. Curran is a ¥eniu-kian by birth; stud- died first at the Cincinnati S-hool of Design, later at the Art Stucdents’ Ieogue and the Na- tional Academy of D-=sign, New York, then went to Paris and studied under Constant, Lefebvre and Doucet. He is net only a mem- ber of the National Academy, but of the New York Water Color Club, the Salmcgundi and Lotos Clubs, a life member of the National Arts Club, the Ma:Docwell Association and other professional orgenizations. He has won many awards—honorable mention in the Paris Salon, the Clark and Hallgarten prizes at the National Academy of Design, medals in the Paris Exposition and in expcsitions in this country, also, in 1905, the first Corcoran prize in the Society of Washington Artists’ exhibi- tion. He is represented in many of the lead- ing museums. NOTHER well known exhibitor-in this com- pany is Mary Butler of Philadelphia, for many years secretary of the fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, one of the strongest of our woman painters and, like Mr. Curran, a devoted worker in the field of art, giving herself and her time without stint to the advancement of understanding and increase of appreciation, interested in every forward-looking movement with this end in view. She will show in the approaching ex- hibition only water colors, but she is equally well kncwn for her works in oil. Miss Butler has made a specialty of paintings of moun- tains, working in the Canadian Rockies, the mountains in the eastern portions of the United States and in Scotland and Ireland. Her work has virile quaiity and great sincerity, besides which it is distinctly individual. N interesting contrast to the -vorks by Mr. Curran and Miss Butler will be those of Wil wvartz—paintings and lithographs be simultaneously shown. Mr. Schwartz is a Russian by birth, American by adoption. He paints in a strong, individualistic manner, pleasing to scme, dispieasing to oth- ers—works whkich once seen are not easily forgotten because of their dominant strength. A different note will also be given by the water colors of Walt Dekrer, art director of the University ,of Porto Rico, and by etchings and wocdbleck prints in color, the former by Thomas Handforih, an orginal genius; the latter by W. S. Rice. Both Mr. Handforth and Mr. Rice come from the We't Coast, Mr. Handforth from the State of Weashington, Mr. Rice from Co:lifornia, but their works are known all over the United States and in art centers abroad. Both have w-n enviable repu- tations. From Friday morning, December 4, to Thursday, Dz:cember 31, inclusive, these ex- hibitions will be open to the public. HE little auditorium at the Arts Club, 2017 I strect, is colorfully gay at the present time with paintings by Garnet Jex of this city. These arc practically all landscapes, and the majority have besn painted in the vicinity of Washington, but the exhibition does not lack variety. Such a showing brings to mind the beauty of our outlying country, a beauty of rolling hills. river valley, woods and fields which is rarely excelled. Mr. Jex is a good draftsman and all of his compositions are well constructed. He has an excellent sense of form and is a strong painter. For this very reason and because of his use of strong color his works do not gain by aggregotion. His canvases should not be shown, as in this irstance, stoulder to shoul- der, but with ample space between, in order that they should not cry each other down. But one shkculd not grumble at too generous a feast. It is quite possible to concentrate on a single canvas and find enjorymen®, thus, by one. Most en-aging of the worls which Mr. Jex exhibits at this time are Lis piciures of the gorge of the Potomac, beautiful renditins of rocks and rushing water, rec-grown shores. Other interesting and outst g exhibils are of Harpers Ferry, the town itsclf, the moun- tain rising abruptly on the far side of the river. But Mr. Jex chooses his subjects well, and in almost every instance scts forth pleasing composiiions. In many resnects this is a no- table display. HE walls of the drawing room and dining room at the Arts Club are given over at the present time to the .display of a group of sensitive and significant portrait drawings by Mathilde M. Leisenring, works which cannot fail to find appreciation. Mrs. Leisenring has always had a knack for getting likeness, prompted, doubtless, by a sympathetic insight, and has drawn well. Her little portraits have an intimacy which larger portraits must lack, and even in their repro- duction through the medium of photography this intimacy is retained. Though utterly dif- ferent, these portrait drawings cannot fail to bring to mind the drawings of some of the French masters and of that master of por- traiture, St. Memin, who visited this country in the early days of the Republic and handed down to us likenesses cf the great and near great of that notable period in our history. Why the portrait drawing is not more univer- sally popular today it is hard to say, for certainly it deserves pcpularity. Both Mr. Jex's and Mrs. Leisenring’s exhi- bitions continue for another w:ek. 2 NUM.EROUS exhibitions are opening this week. At the Corccran Galiery of Art on December 1 the newly formed Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers’ Society will open its inaugural showing, occupying the cases in the atrium on the second floor. - On Thursday, December 3, the Washington Water Color Club will open its thirty-sixth annual exhibition in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, occupying one or more rooms on the second floor. That the opening day should be Thursday instcad of Saturday is an inno- vation, but there will b2 no private view, and the exhibition will continue throvgh Decem- ber 27. RANK GARDNER HALL of Boston, who is holding an exhibition of handwrought jewelry and enamels at Jane Bartlett’s at the present time, has added a novel note to his showing this year by combining enamel with metal and jewels in his designs most effece tively. Fifty or more years ago it was quite customary to find a tcuch on a brooch, or even the case of a watch, but for some reason the custcm went out of style, possibly be- cause of the lack of sufficiently skillful enam- elers. But Mr. Hale is both a metal worker and an enameler, and he uses his accents with consummate skill. He is showing this year several very elaborate pieces—necklaces and pendants so intrinsically beautiful that they . would seem to require beauty on tre part of the wearer, demanding appropriate sctting while affording adornment. Craft of this sort transcends mere craftsmanship and becomes an art comparable with those called fine. UCH interest has been shown in the ex- hibiticn of portraits and other paintings by Margaret Fitzhugh Browne of Boston, which opened at Gordon Dunthorne’s in the Mayflower a week ago and will continue through December 5. It has been said that the most interesting exhibit to man is man, and it is undoubtedly this element of perscnality which creates spe- cial interest in portraits. It has always been so. Some of the greatest works of art that have come down to us from past centuries are portraits, preserving for all time the person- ality of the sitters. Miss Browne’s portraits are quite universally liked, and reasonably so, for they are genuinely artistic, simple, sincere and good likenesses. DODGSON SMART, formerly of England, « now of Los Angeles, Calif., is in Wash- ington painting a number of portraits, among them one of William H. Holmes, director of the National Gallery of Art. Mr. Smart vise ited Washington some years ago, painting at that time a pcrtrait of President Harding, which is owned by the National Gallery of Art. He has also painted portraits of Marshal Foch, Gen. Pershing and Admiral Sims. N November 30 an exhibition of block prints by Ernest W. Watson cf Brooklyn will open in the Smithsonian Institution under the auspices of the Depariment of Graphic Arts, United States National Museum, Mr. Watson is an instructor at Pratt Institute, a pupil of the Massachusetts Art School and one of the founders and directors of the Berk=- Continued on Fifteenth Pcge. o@_\ iflWfle AC DEMY— Professioral Commercial Art 1333 F St. NNW. ME. 2883 * ABBOTT SCHOOL FINE AND COMMERCIAL 1624 HSt. N.W. A RT. = 'V‘ = = —_— 3 — e e e R Felix Mahony’s National Art School 1747 R. 1. Ave. Noririlr 1114