Evening Star Newspaper, January 8, 1933, Page 74

e o B NOIE/ & Calendar of Exhibitions CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART, Secven- teenth street and New York avenue th Biennial Exhibition of C ) American Oil Paintings. I January 15. Permanent NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, Tenth and B (Constitut'on ave sireets northwest. Permanent collection. Spe- cial exhibition pa'ntings by Cesareo Bernaldo de »v0s of Argenline, Jan- uary 13-March 13 TED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, AND INDUSTRIES BUILDING. phic portraits by Ralph Og- w York. To January 31 LLERY OF ART, Twelfth southwest. Permanent FREER GA and B street collcciion LIBRARY sion, First sireet beiween and B streets scuiheast. collecticn ARTS CLUB OF WASHINGTON, 2017 I street. Exhibition of Water Colors by Sewell Johnson, January 4-14. Photo- gravhs by Carroll Frey, January 8 to 21. Posters submitted in Bal Boheme competition, from January 14. PHILLIPS MEMORIAL GALLERY, 1600 Twenty-first street. Open on Saturdays (only), 11 am. lo 6 p.m. TEXTILE MUSEUM OF THE DIS- TRICT OF COLUMBIA, 2300 S street northwest. Rugs, tapestries and other textiles of the Near and Far East. Oper Mondays, Wednesdays and Fri- days, 2 to 5 o’clock. Admission by card obiainable at the office of G. H. Myers, 730 Fifteenth street morthwest. MOUNT PLEASANT BRANCH PUBLIC LIBRARY, Sixteenth and Lamont streets. Etchings by Ellen Day Hale, Gabrielle de V. Clements and Lesley Jackson. January 4 to 21. GORDON DUNTHORNE GALLERY, 1105 Connecticut avenue. English prints of flowers and sporting subjects. Etchings and water colors ART LEAGUE OF WASHINGTON, 2111 Bancroft place. Recent paintings by Benson Moore. Oil paintings and pen- cil drawings by Dorothy Loeb of New York. January 2-16 SEARS, ROEBUCK & CO. ART GAL- LERIES, 1106 Connecticut avenue. Oil paintings, water colors, prints, etc., by American artists. Opening January 7. HILL SCHOOL OF ART, 6 Dupont circle Exhibition of etchings and other prints jfrom the private collection of Bcnson B. Moore. January 7 to 15. OF CONGRESS, print divi- ‘ast Capitol Permanent MOST notable exhibition of paintings by an Argentine artist, Cesareo Ber- naldo de Quiros, will open in the National Gallery of Art on January 13 with a private view at 2:30 in the afternoon. - An exhibition of paint- ings by this artist was held last Fall in the Gallery of the Hispanic Society, New York, attracting very wide and favorable attention. It is a distinct honor and privilege to have him exhibit here and a very suitable courtesy ex- tended on the part of our National Gallery of Art. The exhibition will be on view for two months N extremely interesting and varied collec- tion of prints—engravings, etchings, litho- zraphs and woodblock prints—belonging to Ben- son B. Moore, the well known etcher of this city, was placed on exhibition as a loan in the Hill School of Art, Dupont Circle, yesterday to continue through the present week. ‘There is probably no more delightful hobby than that of collecting prints, and when one is as versed as Benson Moore is in technical processes, the delight is enhanced. Mr. Moore numbers approximately 350 prints in his col- lection, from which the 94 included in the cur- rent exhibition at the Hill School were espe- cially selected for inherent interest and in- trinsic worth. These prints Mr. Moore has picked up here and there during a period of a considerable number of years; some he has bought at auction, others at second-hand book stores, others still at junk shops. Two very charming and quite well preserved etchings by Rembrandt (or after Rembrandt by a close foliower) he found in the bottom of an old trunk. These etchings are of “Rembrandt Lean- ing on a Sill” and of Vuten Bogardus, the for- mer one of Rembrandt's greatest plates. Imagine the excitement of making such a find, leaving out of the question all matters of com- mercial value and regarding the prints solely as treasures of art. Such possibilities are what make print collecting far more exciting than, shall we say, trout fishing. Mr. Moore has shown great catholicity of taste and breadth of interest in assembling his collection. He has not restricted himself to his own field—that of etching—but has reached out for the best in all the different reproductive methods, and he has reached back to the ear- liest centuries when engraving was practiced. He has excellent prints by both Jan and Cor- nelius Visscher; he has an engraving of the “Adoration” by Luca Killian of the sixteenth century, also one by Theodore Galle of the same era; he has a mezzo-tint by Peter Schenk, whose dates were 1645-1715, and an “Adora- tion of the Magi” by Desplaces, 1682-1737. Among eighteenth century prints is an ex- tremely interesting reproduction of a painting by Raphael engraved by Samuel Amsler, a Swiss, who has ornamented, his work with a most nalve THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, B. C, JANUARY 8 1933. AL Al AND AR 7 LEILA MECHLIN Paintings by Argentine Artist to Be Exhibited at National Gallery—RBenson B. Moore’s Collection of Prints Now on View. Charles Bittinger's painting of the room in which Robert E. Lee was married, at Arlington, The picture has been purchased by the Ranger Fund from the Winter exhibiiion at the National Academy of Design. and interesting border across showing a design of cherubs. Engraving, it will be remembered, was always employed primarily as a reproductive method. While there was no photography, if a painting were reproduced it must be through the medium of engraving—Iline, stipple, mezzo-tint. Looking at this collection one is reminded afresh of the marvelous ckill of the early engravers who utilized unwieldy tools and materials to render interpretations of subtle values and exquisitely. Here are two remarkable portraits by Raffael Morghen, by whom, it will be remembered, the most famous engraving of da Vinci’s “Last Sup- per” was made. These portraits are of Petrarch and of Lorenzo di Medici. Comparable with them, but in quite a different manner, are a por- trait in mezzo-tint by John Sartain of Phila- delphia of a Dr. F. A. Fickardt and a portrait of Rubens after a painting by himself; the work of a line-engraver whose name is not known, the print being unsigned. There is a remark- able stipple engraving, a portrait of the Duke of Wellington, full length, by W. Jackman, from a painting by Sir John Lilley, which was en- graved for the New York Albion March 1, 1341. In those days it was no uncommon thing for a publisher to commission an engraver to make reproductions of paintings in high favor, by great artists, and to sell them through sub- scriptions in portfolios. When the old Art Union was formed in New York, proposing to improve the taste of the American people, part of the plan was to issue one such engraving to members yearly. Among the other rarities of Mr. Moore’s collection is a print of Durer’s famous plate, “The Knight, Death and the Devil”"—possibly an original, more likely not, but charming. It should not be thought, however, that Mr. Moore has limited himself to the great masters of the past. To the contrary, he has included in his collection works by some of the best contem- porary etchers and, most interestingly, practically all of his local colleagues—Washington etchers. For example, he has, and has included in this showing, an etching produced by Miss Ga- brielle deV. Clements in the 80:—a stone juarry, and still one of her best—a much sought plate. He has an etching by Mr. Tolman and one by Mr. Claghorn. Both pictures are land- scapes and he has an imimitable figure study of a laughing soldier boy by Glenn Madison Brown.' He has an excellent small plate by Charles Platt, a color etching by Helen Hyde, a large, fine lithograph by Brangwyn, one of his war series; an etching by Mrs. Jaques, for many years the secretary of the Chicago Society of Etchers, who has done a vast amount to in- crease the knowledge and appreciation of fine etching. He has also an early print by Eric Scott, an Australian sheep herder who came to this country, took up etching, attracted the at- tention of Mrs. Jaques, was encouraged to go on, and has in recent years won a great name the lower edge for himself in Paris. Quite reasonably Paul Branson, who makes a specialty of drawing and etching animals, has a large place in his col- lection, Mr. Moore himself being attracted to such subjects and interpreting them excep- tionally well. It is interesting to find here also, however, a woodblock by the Czechoslovakian print maker, Alax, and an interesting woodcut by a Russian artist, Reautchsco. Etching as a rule is an original process, one not used for reproductive purposes at its best. However, one sees here a very skillfully etched interpretation of a typical portrait by Hals, the work of Leopold Flameng. The opportunity of seeing a private collection of this sort, assembled by an artist and etcher, is an exceptional one. The exhibition will be open to the public every afternoon from, 2 until 6 o'clock. Mr. Moore is one of the instructors in the Hill School, conducting a class there in etching. GAIN by invitation Seward Rathbun is sending a group of his water colors to the California coast to be shown at Leland Stanford University and possibly elsewhere. The first collection that he sent out was made up of water colors of the old Spanish missions painted during a Summer in California and in the Southwest. The collection that he is sending out at this time consists chiefly of paintings made last Summer in Quebec and its vicinity, with one or two subjects found elsewhere lending variety. Mr. Rathbun is a trained architect, teacher and an accurate draftsman, but he paints broadly and with a full brush, keying his color to the tone of his paper. Several of his Quebec subjects are of old houses, one of which, be- cause of its picturesque quality, he had to pay 3 fee to the owner for the privilege of transcrib- ing. Here, again, one may be permitted to sug- gest, is proof of the contention that art pays. What land owner ever received a fee from an artist to paint his house if it were ugly—just plain ugly? Omne of the houses Mr. Rathbun painted was as old as any in Canada, with a sloping roof so high that it accommodated a double row of dormers. This and the other houses to which reference has been made are both in rural setting, but other of his water colors show the houses in Quebec, the narrow streets, and, incongruously, towering above them, the one mocdern skyscraper. Perhaps most dramatic of all these Canadian paintings is the one that Mr. Rathbun made of a wayside shrine—a wooden, painted crucifix silhouetted against a blue, partly clouded sky, very simply rendered with a certain spirit in- dicative of appreciation of beauty and the emo- tional quality of the figure itself—a brilliant piece of work. With a charm all its own is a painsing that he made last Summer of the belfry of the old Colonial Church at Castine, Me., with the pigeons circling around it; and enormously in- teresting is his colorful painting of the red el frames of a new office building here in Wash- ington in course of erection, through which one sees at a distance the dome of the Capitol— the old and the new Washington. GREAT responcibility and at the same time a great honor came to C. Powell Minnigerode, dircztor of the Corcoran Gallery, recently in being named by the late Gari Mel- chers, with Mrs. Melchers, as trustee, not of his estate, but of his works. It will be for them —Mrs. Melchers and Mr. Minnigerode—to say which of Mr. Melchers’ paintings and drawings shall be kept for posterity, which shall be de- stroyed—a great trust, a great evidence of Mr. Melchers’ confidence in Mr. Minnigerode's knowledge, taste and judgment. In New York at the present time and con- tinuing to May is an exhibition of Gari Mel- chers’ paintings, 51 in all, arranged as a trib- ute to him by the American Academy of Arts and Letters (happily before his death) and in- cluding some of his most famous canvases, also some that are comparatively little known. In- cluded in this collection are the beautiful por- trait of Mrs. Melchers painted shortly after their marriage, a portrait of Mark Twain, and quite a late portrait of Mrs. John W. Garrett, wife of the Ambassador to Italy, in Spanish cos- tume; the “Native of Virginia” shown in the Corcoran Gallery’s biennial two years ago, and his beautiful painting of Dutch peasants en- titled, “The Last Supper” and other Dutch works such as “The Sermon,” “The Brabant Bride,” and “The Communicant.” Among his earlier and still notable canvases shown are “A Sailor and his Dog,” “The Hunters,” and his excellent portrait of two Scotchmen, “McPher- son and McDonald,” one playing the drum, the other the bag-pipes. Most lovely of all, per- «haps, in this great collection is his painting of a mother and baby, the mother pressing her lips affectionately to the child's cheek. The title of this is “The Caress.” Gari Melchers was one of those few artists whose works gained strength by aggregation. It is greatiy to be hoped that some time a com- prehensive collection of his paintings may be shown here in this city. GRACIOUS international gesture of good- will is the election of Sir William Llewellyn by the National Academy of Design of New York as an honorary corresponding member, By the constitution of the academy, honorary corresponding members shall be such distin- guished painters, sculptors, architects- or en=" gravers not citizens or residents of the United States as may from time to time be chosen by the vote of two-thirds of the council of the academy. Only five other corresponding mem- bers have been elected: Leon Bonnat of Paris in 1917, Sir Edward S. Poynter of London in the same year, Franco Flameng and Alfred Roll of Paris and (the last previous award of this membership) Sir Aston Webb of London in 1919. The election of Sir William Llewellyn was in recognition of his distinction as presi- dent of the Royal Academy of Arts and one of the leading painters of England. The diploma issued him has been lately de- signed. It is in the style of Piranesi and has three medallions at the top, representing in= telligence, beauty and strength. These are en- gaged by a laurel festoon which hangs down on either side nearly to the end of the diploma, designed by a committez ¢ the National Acad- emy of Design consisting of Edwin Howland. Blashfield, painter; James Earle Fraser, sculp- tor, and Cass Gilbert, architect, president of the academy. The models were made by Mr. Fraser, the woodcuts by Mr. McCormick, en- graver. The diploma bears the signature of the president, Mr. Gilbert, and of the secretary, Charles C. Curran. N Wednesday evening, at 8:30 o'clock, in Baker Hall, Y. W. C. A. building, Thorn- ton Oakley, the well known illustrator, painter and writer of Philadelphia, a former pupil of Howard Pyle, will give an illustrated lecture on “Ilustration,” under the auspices of the Wash-~ ington Society of the Fine Arts. Mr. Oakley's drawings of Hog Island were, it will be remembered, adopted in 1913 by the United States Government for foreign news Continued on Thirteenth Page Critcher Schoeol of Painting and Commercial Art !l:CVqun. Ave. ___Pot. 2t THE CORCORAN SCHOOL OF ART Tuition FREE Annual Entrance Fee, $25.00 v Felix Mahony National Art School 1747 R. L Ave. NAT. 2656 Abbott Art School Day and Evening Classes. Children’s Saturgly Class. 1624 H St. N.W., Corner 17th