Evening Star Newspaper, December 13, 1931, Page 89

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, DF.CF,.\TRFB 13 I9§1. eeenes This picture, by Stuart Davis, is called “Egg Beater, No. One.” Mrs. Whitney says “It is an example of a completely abstract modern pic- ture, and it is important as a tour de force in design and color. When studied by an open- minded observer, I believe it will take on sig- nificance. The title is simply a little jest of the artist.” This picture, by the way, has been printed upside down to prove that it doesn’t matter, “Rortrait,” by Henri Burkhard, is an example modernistic portraiture, “The unusual,” says rs. Whitney, “is explained in the new tech- The face is long, the person is seemingly caricatured, to give balance fi The human face is used as B design. The modernist, when painting people, en chooses some one quality to express and pique of the modernist. the composition. Btress that, leaving out everything else.” VER since the first baffled spectator stood before that famous first mod- ernist picture—“Nude Descending a Staircase”—and shook his head and asked—*"What particular insane asylum is responsible for this?” opinion as to the modern school of art has been divided. Some fairly intelligent citizens agree with the rapt mother who exclaimed effusively, as viewed a product of Charles Demoth: “Why, my little Willie can do as well as t. Next year I shall enter his dear little dergarten drawings in this exhibition.” Again, other p d art lovers have pon- Bered over that exchange between the worried Uittle woman and the grand seigneur, who was 8 distinguished patron of art. They were btanding before that famous modernist picture, ¥Scrambled Eggs in Czechoslovakia,” when the $orried little woman bewailed— “I do want to love art, but—I cannot say pat I like this ‘Scrambled Eggs’!” “¥ “Nefither, ,” roared the great con- foisseur, loes a cannibal like eaviar.” INCE, therefore, this question of the worth and significance of modern art has been a ppoubled one from the time of the Armory Phow in 1913, the question was eagerly asked, When Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney was apout to @pen her museum of American art: “Will this distinguished lady, who is an American sculptor of eminence, and a patron bt the arts as well—will she include in her mu- Beum of American proJductions any of the mod- ern school?” The question was taken to Mrs. Whitney, who replied, with gentle emphasis: “Certainly I will include many paintings of fhe modern school.” After which the inquiring reporter followed th the queries—“What does this modern E;fl mean? At what is it aiming? Aren’t modern painters really very mad—are they, in fact, as mad as their pictures seem?” And when these guestions were put forward, Mye. Whitney replicd: *These modern pictures have deep signifi- This is “Arrangement With Phonograph,” by Jan Matulka. | Says Mrs. W hitney, “It repays @ second and third view. At first only the phono- graph is seen, perhaps. Later study reveals a mandolin, and upon a third inspection the thick, flat lips of the mask of an African witch doctor are revealed to the observer. Therefore, why may we not feel that this picture appeals to the mind and reason?” Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney Tells You How to Appreciate These Modern Paintings, and Why They Get a Place in Her New Museum of American | Art. cance for American life. Undoubtedly, they depict the mood of America bet- ter than any mere story-telling pic- ture. They have utterly departed from tradition, “These moderns are, probably, an acquired taste, like an appreciation for the music of Wagner. But however that may be, the de- sign of them is studied, the thought behind them is dynamic and original. Into them the artist has put forth his spirit; they are his in- terpretation of things felt and seen, and— they deserve their place and attention.” AND so, with patience and clarity, Mrs. Whit- ney explained some of the things which typical modernist paintings in her museum of American art may signify. There is, for instance, a picture called “Chi- nese Restaurant.” To a casual uninitiated ob- server—this painting—a mixture of a little bit of everything—might look as if the restaurant had been sketched just after a violent tornado or earthquake. But Mrs. Whitney explains: “The different elements of the place as they affect the artist are noted down on his canvas. They are, indeed, put together in an artistic chop suey. We can de- tect the pattern of the linoleum on the floor, the border of the oilcloth, the motif of the tablecloth. “This painting was done by one of the most distinguished of American modernists, not in the heat or im=- patience of youth. It is a seasoned work by a seasoned artist who has studied life. He has gone through the old forms and felt their futility. And this picture, again, is half- way between the pice- torial representation of a subject and the ute terly abstract concep- tion of it.” Again, the amazed and wondering man in In Stuart Davis’ “Two Trees,” W hitney points out, “we again meet the semi-abstract, where nature is reduced to a design and water is expressed in a series of dotted lines, as was done, first of all, by old Egyptian painters.” that old “My Egypt,” by Charles Demuth, is “neithes entirely abstract nor frankly expository” . . o “It depicts,” says Mrs. W hitney, “an industrial phase of American life on a huge scale. In cer« tain curves, we get a suggestion of a gas tank, the street has probably never in his maddest moment felt that any pain- ing of the modern school could be sen= timental or romantic. But Mrs. Whit= ney and her aides at the new mu- seum assure that the heart’s passion and the heart’s yearning and love and romance may well go into a modernist painting, and have, many a time. Mrs. Whitney selects two as examples of this. First is a painting called “Skunk Cabbage.” VITHIS is done by Georgia O'Keefe, a woman who distorts nature in her utter feel« ing for it,” she says. “Looking at ‘Skunk Cab- bage’ you feel as if you could put your face down into its damp green vitality, and draw back some of the rankness, some of the wild swampiness of the object. “Again, in ‘Last Evening of the Year’ the artist, Oscar Bluemer, has dealt with what to him was a most romantic subject. He sees na=- ture as a musician, and transposes life into terms of art. ? “Those who may question the accuracy with which such’ a picture depicts a portion of time should consider the manner in which the mu- sician depicts, for instance, the sounds of a country morning in Midsummer, Out on those sunny hills he hears the tinkle of cowbells, the splash of a foun- tain, the babble of a running broox. “But when he trans- poses these country sounds, he does not stop, in his music, to ring a cowbell, or to manipulate water to get the perfect replica of country sounds. In= stead he receives all these vocal impres- sions, contemplates them and gives them out mixed with some- thing of himself in his music.” Such picture, says Mrs, Whitney, stimu- late the observer to further study and are more challenging than favorite— Mrs. Yet few Americans have discovered beauty here, This, I believe, may present light to blind eyes All photographs on this page reproduced by courtesy of #he Whitney Museum of American Art, “Age of Innocence.” Which, surely, is explana« tion sweet and reasonable. But when the student turns from these representations of still life, tq modernist portraiture, he thinks things in his heart. For the modernist portrait usually shows & person with a hopelessly distorted face and enlarged or twisted features. But Mrs. Whitney, explains that all of this is done to “give bale ance to the composition,” and that the artist usually finds one quality in the face and seeks to emphasize it. The result is a picture that Is truly significant to the modernistic painter and critic, but that looks like something euf of a nightmare to the ordinary observer. THERE is a story of a woman who was sudw denly removed to Dr. Soothem’s sanitari um, gesticulating with her hands in geomet= rical pattern, emitting from her lips sounds that combined the steam whistle and the whin of an egg beater, When Dr. Soothem diag« nosed her case, he pronounced it nervous prose tration from too much modernist art. Some years ago Stuart Davis, a well known modernist, sent a painting to an exhibit of modernist art. Later, when he called to view his work, the curator noticed that he looked at it critically, stepped off, shook his head and then remarked, brightly: “Yes, I think it looks better hung this way.” “Why,” asked the curator, “isn't that the usual way to hang it?” “Ah, my dear lady,” he said, “this, as it happens, is hung upside down, but no picture is really well done unless it can be hung upw side down or sideways or topsy-turvy. A really good picture should look well from any angle.” AS a result, Mrs. Whitney believes that mode ernist art must be, for some time yet, perw haps always, caviar to the multitude. She be« lieves that those who have fixed their stande ards of art by the Sistine Madonna will be disappointed by the moderns. .The modern artist must be a dissecter, an eliminator, and all his works, Iike a high-born lady, must be viewed again and again bofore all their sube tleties are revealed. o