Evening Star Newspaper, May 7, 1933, Page 78

N Calendar of Exhibitions CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART, Seven- teenth street and New York avemue. Permanent collection. Prints by Argen- tine artists, collected and lent by Dr Gill, April 27 to May 14, paintings by Wilbur A. Reaser of New York, April 18 to May 7. NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, Tenth and B (Constitution avenue) streets northwest. Permanent collection. SMITHSONIAN BUILDING, DIVISION OF GRAPHIC ARTS, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Drypoints by Cadwallader Washburn. April 24 to May 21. FREER GALLERY OF ART, Tweljth and B streets southwest. Permanent collec~ tion. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, print divi- sion, First street between East Capitol and B strects southeast. Drawings in pen and ink and wash, by William T. Smedley, recent acquisitions. ARTS CLUB OF WASHINGTON, 2017 I street. Paintings by George Elmer Browne. Block prints by Donald Witherstein. April 30 to May 15. PHILLIPS MEMORIAL GALLERY, 1690 Twenty-first street. Open Saturdays from 11 am. to 6 p.m. TEXTILE MUSEUM OF THE DIS- TRICT OF COLUMBIA, 2330 S street morthwest. Rugs, tapestries and other textiles of the Near and Far East. Open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 2 to 5 o’clock. Admission by card obtain- able at the office of G. H. Myers, 730 Fifteenth street morthwest. ART LEAGUE OF WASHINGTON, 2111 Bancroft place northwest. Agquatints and etchings by Herman Meyer,; paint- ings by W. C. Emerson and Dora Jus- gkiew:cz Kalinowski; wood carvings by E. J. Almquist. To May 15. HOWARD UNIVERSITY ART GAL- LERY. Ezxhibition of works by Negro artists, circulated by the Harmon Foun- dation, April 26 to May 15. Sculpture by Ernest Durig, April 7 to May 15. ARTISTS' BENEFIT SALE, 725-727 Seventeenth street morthwest. Paint- ings, prints, crafts, pottery in a beme- At sale, at prices from 50 cents to $20, sponsored by the Art League of Wash- ington PUBLIC LIBRARY, Central Building, Ninth and K streets. Architectura’ drawings by students of the depart- ment of architecture, Catholic Univer- sity. May 8 to 31. PUBLIC LIBRARY, Northeastern Branch, Seventh street and Maryland avenue northeast. Portraits of Americon In- dians by Catherine C. Critcher. May 8 to 21. PUBLIC LIBRARY, Southeastern Branch, Seventh and D streets southeast. Oil paintings by Benson B. Moore. May 8 to 31. PUBLIC LIBRARY, Takoma Park Branch, Fifth and Cedar streets north- west. Paintings by Washington artists; Works by members of the Art League of Washington. May 8 to 31. DUMBARTON HOUSE, 1725 Q street, headquarters of the National Society of Colonial Dames of America. Special exhibition of period furniture — old china, silver and r wter, lent by the National Museum. Sunday,2to$ p.m.; week days, 10 am. io 5 p.m. SCULPTURE by Vir-ent Falino, 1756 M street. To May 13. TEN O'CLOCK CLUB, 1603 K street. Etchings, dry points and aquatints by Minnie L. Briggs. May 7 to 20. NE of the penalties of greatness, of prominence in public life and high position, is that of being fre- quently, and most often indiffer- ently, portrayed by artists. Gil- bert Stuart gave up a successful career in London and returned to the United States because of a great desire on his part %o paint a portrait of George Washington, and it is his portrait that stands today, and prob- ably will for all time, as the authentic type of our first President. Every President of the United States since Washington has. been painted by the painters of his time. Hunging in the White House is the portrait of Theo- dore Roosevelt painted by John Sargeny, a fine characterization and a great work of art. Mr. Hoover was painted a number of times, but never successfully. It is too early in the new administration foa painted portraits of President Roosevelt to ap- pear. Certainly he has had no time for sit- tings—but a remarkably fine portrait, etched, by W. H. W. Bicknell of Massachusetts has been produced. It is about half life size, head and shoulders only, the face three-quarter view, the eyes looking straight at the observer, the mouth firmly closed but not compressed; the expres- sion is thoughtful yet alert; there is not only likeness but spiritual quality, a measure of idealization, perhaps, but idealization not uv- warrantocd—a very great portrait drawing. The word “drawing” is used advisedly in this #- stance, for the etcher’s method is similar that oi one using pen and ink, a multiplieation of fine strokes interwoven, a strong piece of modelinz, yet Sersitive, significant. The etcher, William Harry Warren was born in Boston 73 years ago. He s & THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €, MAY 7, 1983, ° A' A A D Ala AND LHILA MECHLIN Mr. Bicknell’s Portrait Etching of President Roosevelt—Dry-Points at Smithsonian. Exhibition at Arts Club. A New Portrait Etching of President Roosevelt by W. H. W. Bicknell. member of the Copley Society, of the Boston Society of Etchers, the Chicago Society of Etchers and of the Provincetown Art Assccia- tion. His Winter home is in Winchester, Mass.; his Summer home at Provincetown. He has received for his work a bronze medal at the St. Louis Exposition and he is represented in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress. A copy of this portrait was presented to the President last week by Francis H. Robertson of the Art Extension Press, Inc., by which the etching is published. A Dry-Point, “The Matri- arch,” by Cadwallader W ashburn, W hose Work Is on Exhibi- Smithsonian. Oopyright. 1933. by Mr. Bickneil. exhibition of dry-points by Cadwallader Washburn which opened in the Smithson- ian Building April 24, to continue to May 21, is an event of exceptional note because of the extraordinarily fine quality of the work shown. The difference between an etching dry-point, as doubtless many know the former the lines are nically, to an engraving but the result achieved has more have not been a great many who have this medium (dry-point) with supreme Muirhead Bone is one, Cadwallader Washbura is another. Mr. Bone has achieved his great- est success in subject compositions, Mr. Wash. burn in portraiture, Indeed, it is not an exag geration to say that in some particulars finer portraits have been produced since days of Rembrandt than these dry-poin Cadwallader Washburn’s which are now on in this city. And how distinctly his the method he employs! For the most part the people who are the subjects of these dry-points are of the peasant class, chosen by the artist because of interest- Matriarch,” an old woman with scarf over her head. a toothless mouth, but sparkling eyes— & real personality. Mr. Washburn's method suggests much more the use of charcoal than pen and ink. He has & way of employing in repetition diagonal lines, out of the welter of which he mysteriously brings not only a face, but a character. His is indeed a great gift. © Mr. Washburn does not confine himself ex- clusively to portrait or figure work. He etches landscapes, houses, streets, and always with great individuality. To be sure, one may find here and there an echo of a great etcher of the past, Seymour Haden or Whistler, but it is only sufficient to prove Mr. Washburn's artistic descent. Malcolm G. Salaman, ane of the leading au- thorities on etching and other prints in Grest Britain, had the following to say of Mr. Wash- burn when an exhibition of his dry-points was held in Paris in June, 1928: “Cadwallader Washburn's is a remarkable personality, compact of natural independence, diffidence, sincerity, tenacity of ideals, and a sort of cosmic curiosity, and his eagerness for adventure in strange places and for testing n>w and unfamiliar experiences has been amply ful- filled. Born in Minneapolis, he comes of a well known New England stock; his father was & Senator and great builder of railways, and his uncle, from whom he derives his Chris- tian name, was a State Governor and pioneer in Northwestern enterprise, but, as far as I know, C. W' is the cnly member of the family who has been distinguished in art. From Gal- College, Washington, where he entered 1886, he went with a B. A. diploma in 1890 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology In 1897 Washburn finished his studies in New Vork and went to Europe, going first to Spain to copy Velasquez at the Prado, and then to Haarlem to learn all he could from copying the pictures of Frans Hals. Thus equipped, he made his way to Morocco, and his “Marche a Tanger” introduced him to the salon. He was now in love with light, and, seeking how best to express its caprices,vagaries and largesses, he became the puplil of the Span- ish master, Joaquin Sorolla, who was then painting his famous pictures in which sunlight is the prime motive. He worked with him un- til the artistic call of Paris lured him to the studio of Albert Besnard. From that fine painter he learned much, including the vivid decorative qualities of contrasting lights. When Washburn adopted etching as his new craft, he took immediate command of it, and it opened out for him new artistic vistas of the Italian scene. He saw picturesquely, his points of view were personal, and one can trace in those earliest plates the influence of Whistler’s Venice etchings, but used with so impelling a charm as to suggest that innately he was an Later, Mr. Washburn went to Cuba. In the Spring of 1904 he was in Japan and made 64 plates, comprising scenes in Kyoto, Tokio, Nara, etc. Later on he visited Siam and the South Sea Islands, and with only a dog for company, cruised about from island to island, drawing as he went. During the war he car- ried secret dispatches in Asia. In 1923 he ac- companied .a university professor of science to the Marquesas Islands, staying there for nine months, making both entomological and ornitho- logical collections and dry-point portraits of the natives. It was after this trip thai he received from his alma mater the degree of doctor of science. He is a great traveler, but for the last few years he has lived almost un- interruptedly on the Island of Mallorca, and it is there that most of these works now on exhibition a: the Smithsonian were produced. Never before have they been shown in #his country. Mr. Salaman says, in concluding his essay on Cadwallader Washburn: ‘“He has attained to such mastery with his dry-point it is difficult to say what he will do; he is certain not to Continued on Thirteenth Page. THE 'CORCORAN SCHOOL OF ART Tuition FREE L SN s S v FelixMahony National Art School 1747 R. . Ave. NAT. 2656 Abbott Art School Summer Classes 1624 H St. N.W., Corner 17th