Evening Star Newspaper, December 12, 1936, Page 19

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1936. B—3 “Dancer and Gazelles,” by Paul Manship, a comprehensive ezxhibition of whose work will be held at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, rt. By Leila Mechlin. Paul Manship to Exhibit in The Corcoran Gallery of Art. \OMORROW will be the last day of the Exhibition of Paintings | and Sculpture for Federal Buildings, sponsored by the | Treasury Department’s art projects, | in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, after the closing of which the exhibits will be pomptly removed and the gallery’s permanent collection of American paintings replaced. The next notable exhibition on the Corcoran Gallery's schedule will con- sist of sculpture by Paul Manship. This will come shortly after Christ- —_— mate works are shown. For once sculpture is to be seen in proper rela- tionship with landscape and growing things. This outdoor sculpture musem, to which one must make & pilgrimage to see—as it lies off the much traveled | roads—was, as has been said, the | logical outgrowth of the interest of its originators and donors, in art| generally and in sculpture in par- | ticular—for Mrs. Huntington (Anni Hyatt) has attained great distinction | as a sculptor, and Mr. Huntington is | widely known as art patron, poet and traveler. Through Mr. Huntington's munificence the Hispanic Museum in’ New York came into existence and is mas and will undoubtedly prove of ex- | maintained. Mrs, Huntington's eques- ceptional interest. Paul Manship holds an enviable place among American sculptors, and | trians of “Jeanne d'Arc” and “El | Cid” are known the world over as given placement in this country, more than almost any other has in- “ France and Spain. fluenced sculpture in America in the present day. He was born in St. Paul, Minn., on Christmas day, 1885; studied first at the Art Institute in his native city and then at the Pennsylvani: Academy of Fine Arts. These gave him foundation and opportunity to manifest skill, but the determining factor in his career, and, incidentally, that of others, was the winning of a fellowship in sculpture at the Ameri- can Academy in Rome, which gave him three years—from 1909 to 1912— in Italy, with periods of travel and contact—intimate coatact—with the best of ancient as well as classical art This experience, mingled with his own creative ability, brought torth works which, while adhering to the @reat tradition, possessed marked in- dividuality, an individuality so strong that it has unconsciously impressed itself upon the vision of other work- ers in this fleld by whom a similar style has been adopted. In a measure this was good, but no reflection can possess the strength of the thing re- flected, and as time passes the image fades. Manship, better than others, realized from the first that nothing can be ac- | complished save through technical | mastery — craftsmanship — and he spared no pains to acquire this essen- | tial to adequate expression. His bronzes are wrought with a perfection of detail seldom seen today—but detail sub- .ordinated to unity of effect, transcrip- tion of original conception as a whole. Sculpture has to do with form, but gains its magic, in large part, through the sensitiveness of touch of the art- | ist, registered in the modeling and | surface finish. This magic Manship’s | work has to a great degree. Whether | Paul Manship's sculpture is classical | or modern has proved perplexing, but | the fact is, it is both. It shows great | simplification and directness in treat- | ment, but it has the dignity and the | quality of universality which is as- | sociated with the great art of the | past. | An exhibition of Manship’s sculpture was held last year, by invitation, at the Tate Gallery, in London (an honor never before bestowed upon an Amer- ican artist), and highly praised by | British critics and connoisseurs. Since November 15, and continuing until day after tomorrow, a collection of no less than 75 of his works has been, and will be, shown in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. From there it will come here. This collec- tion comprises portrait busts, medal- lion portraits and bronze groups, ani- mals and figures, showing great va- riety in theme and conception, besides medals, designed and modeled for numerous organizations and purposes. ‘The Corcoran Gallery of Art, it will be remembered, owns his “Dancer and Gazelles,” which was also acquired by the French Government and is in the Luxembourg Museum. Under commis- slon from the Treasury Department, Mr, Manship has lately modeled a statue of Samuel Osgood for place- ment in the new Post Office Depart- ment Building, in this city. He is a National Academician, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, National Sculpture Society and other professional bodies, and France has made him a member of the Legion of Honor. His exhibition here may be anticipated with great interest. Outdoor Sculpture Museum Established in South Carolina. IN THIS connection, mention may well be made of the unique outdoor aculpture museum which Mr. and Mrs. Archer M. Huntington have created on a plantation—Brookgreen—on the ‘Waccamaw River near Georgetown, 8. C,, and have presented recently, with an endowment of $1,200,000 for main- tenance and further enrichment, to the State within whose boundaries it chances to lie. Here during the past five or six years have been installed, most perfectly, no less than 130 works in sculpture by American artists, It 1s described quite correctly as “a sculp- tor’s paradise,” but it has been made such to all art and beauty loving visitors, to whom it is freely open. this is the kind of thing we have The creation of an outdoor sculp- ture museum in so congenial a setting must to them have been irresistible. | But they might have kept it for them- | selves alone, instead of sharing it all so generously—and they have not. | Also, of the 130 works set forth at | Brookgreen, a comparatively small | number are by the part-donor. A com- | plete list of sculptors represented | names 109 or 110, among whom are | not only those who have attained dis- | tincticn, but those whose reputations | are still in the making and without | regard to schools or trends. This is a great work, and its gift and endow- | ment an epoch-marking event in the | annals of art in America. ‘Retrospective Ezhibition of Sculpture by Anna Huntington. T HAS become the custom of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York to accord each year to one of its artist members the privilege of a retrospective exhibition, opening in November at the time of the annual meeting and continuing for six months. Last year the artist so honored was Cecilia Beaux, the dis- tinguished portrait painter. This year | the honor has gone to Anna Hyatt | Huntington, sculptor, and the showing she makes is amazing, not only in number of exhibits, but in quality. One hundred and seventy works are set forth in the academy gallery, at 156th street and Broadway. Her “Jeanne d’Arc,” which is on Riverside | drive, New York; in Bloic, France, and elsewhere, and her “El Cid,” works, in the court of the. academy group, New York; in San Diego, Calif., and Seville, Spain, are shown in re- ductions, but the four heroic figures at the base of “El Cid,” full size, oc- cupy four corners of the spacious gal- lery in which her well-known “Diana” holds central place. For the most part, the other works are on a small scale and of animal themes or of bird life. There is great variety. The later works are more animated than the early ones, as if the sculptor, having served her apprenticeship, were now able to give free rein to her imagina- tive tendencies. But throughout the work evidences deep searching for truth and sincerity. None other today has perhaps made so extended and faithful a study of ani- mal life. Her tigers and other animals of the cat family show a complete understanding of physical characteris- tics, the play of muscles under the loose skin, the grace of lithe move- ment, the alertness of eye. Especially well does she also portray horses and colts—from those which worthily bear “El Cid” and the “Maid of Or- leans” to the freakish new-born, try- ing his wobbly legs. It has been truly said that in her “lovingly observed forms of animals the true flavor of her skillful plastic expression is real- ized.” Some of these works are full size, while others are small enough to be held in the hand. When monumental impressiveness is desired, Mrs. Hunt- ington knows how to give it, but her works “in little” are never trivial. To the contrary, they, in exceptional meas- ure, possess what among art lovers is described as “precious” quality. During Mrs. Huntington’s recent so-. journ in the South wild birds and sea fowl have engaged her attention, and several of her works in this exhibition are of groups of such—among them the white heron. These have experi- mentally been cast in aluminum. She shows two portraits very sym- pathetically rendered—one of her mother, Mrs. Alpheus Hyatt, when an make valuable addition to the Cor- coran Gallery of Art's growing print collection, but it will be some months, pending settlement of the estate, before possession is actually obtained. Dramatic Warr Etching By Kerr Eby. IT IS at this season that the print societies issue their print-of-the- year 10 members—a custom which has become quite universal. Within the past fortnight prints have been re- ceived by local collectors from the American College Society of Print Col= lectors, the Society of American Etch- ers and the California Print Makers. ‘The first of these is especially not- able—a large and very impressive plate by Kerr Eby entitled “Shadows,” pice turing a column of tired soldiers pass- ing at night by a stuccoed, one-storied building, partially destroyed, while a mounted officer reviews them, slump- ing on the saddle of his wearied-to- death horse. It is a dramatic theme, magnificently portrayed with great re- serve and reticence on the part of the etcher. Eby has never achieved a more brilliant success, but it was not success that his mind was on when the plate was etched. It was war—a sub- ject which has literally obsesse@ him during recent years because of his first- hand experience in Europe in 1917-18. When asked to write something about the print or how he did it, he re- plied: “It is a difficult thing to write about one's offspring, but there is one thing I can say about this plate—it was not just a job done to fill an order. It was going to be made anyway, to be added to the series of war things. It had to be war, as my mind is at pres- ent running almost wholly in that groove. The reason for this is the strong feeling I have that now is the time to do anything one can. It is now or never. There is no sense of defeatism in this, for not only in the matter of war, but in all other things, 1 believe there is to be a great renais- sance of decency. We are just about fed up with rottenness and fear. All of us.” To this, with special reference to the plate, he added: “A very curious thing happens when an artist is driving at a specific point. All that self-consciousness of trying to put a capital A on art, and all the wondering if you are abreast of the times, or “old hat,” goes to the winds. Into these war things I have put all I know, technically and otherwise. I actually do not care a ‘tinker’s dam’ whether they are art or not, so long as they say what I want to say. This, of course, may be the illustrative point of view—but it is at least conducive to an inward peace.” Commenting upon this print, John Taylor Arms, who is perhaps one of the most technically brilliant of our American etchers, refers to both its spiritual and technical qualities, and concludes his very intelligent and ex- pert estimate as follows: .“It is one thing to make a repre- sentation by means of the rules of graphic delineation, an etching needle, and a skillful hand—it is a very dif- ferent thing to create a work of art. In ‘Shadows’ Kerr Eby has done both, but the latter is by far the greater ac- complishment.” Twenty-eight prints and drawings— octogenarian; the other of the late Henry Davison. It is unusual for one to be 30 equally happy in so many forms of expression. To those to whom sculpture has particular signifi- cance and charm—and more especially to those who are interested in animals in sculpture—this exhibition provides & source of unusual pleasure, well re- paying the trip to New York. It will remain on view until the 1st of next May. Corcoran Gallery Acquires Whistler Etchings. BY‘l'fllwfllo(flulthulillfilb finckel the Corcoran of lately published in book form, under the title “War,” by the Yale University Press, and a collection of Mr. Eby's ary. Tm “Prints for Christmas Gifts” exhibition at the Public Library is & lively little show, evidencing great in viewpoint of the contribut- § z i 5 § il Es g i % i ES i > H i £ I 58EE | E | § | | £ 5 ,vg i : >1 § “Snhadows,” an etching by Kerr Eby, in a series on “War,” {ssued by the American College Society of Print Collectors. MASTER QUALITY IN LOCAL EXHIBIT London and Richmond Share With Washington in Appreciation of Noted Artist Repre- sented Here—Remarkable Outdoor Museum Established on Carolina Plantation—Whistler Etchings as Gift. “Flower Study,” by Olinka Hrdy, on view in the Gallery of Modern Masters. which for lack of a better word may be called ‘“charm,” without which few works of art have been known to win their way in a cold, unresponsive world. Perhaps of all the really clever works set forth those which most nearly ful- fill this requirement are the litho- graphs of A. G. Arnold, mostly snowy landscapes, very well compased and sensitively rendered, pleasing and pic- turesque. Have we, indeed, as the French critic, Camille Mauclair, avers, developed a “hatred of nature and beauty” and a *“passion for ugliness for its own sake”? It would at times seem 80. Art is in the doing, and may be manifested in the rendition of any subject whatsoever, but none can doubt that in the choice of theme is reflected the taste and mind of the artist. If he renders an ugly theme Bulletin of pean pain NATIONAL November 30. pottery, miniatures, etc. by Camille Van Driessche. Admission by card obtainable at Fifteenth street. THE ARTS CL! + —recent by Jeanette Griffith. Chase and Frances mfie.m Clul INTIMATE - BOOKSHOP LITTLE Cross. L. Laidig and G. B Pischer. ,UB OF WASHINGTON—Exhibition of oil paintings by 8. Zimmele and water colors by Gertrude A." Kay. PUBLIC LIBRARY, MAIN BUILDING—Exhibition of prints for Christ- local BRANCH—Paintings by members of the Landscape umoumr.mlmto—wmrmmmun_m w&mm—mmwflmm—, pm%mmmdmamwn voluntarily it must regizter personal | preference. The graphic arts afford | great opportunity for artistic expres- | sion, and print collecting is a hobby which, if not ridden too recklessly, even the owner of a slender purse can indulge. But the urge to acquire must be kindled by the print itself, and be s0 insistent that it cannot be downed. There are such prints for the Christ- mas shopper as well as all-the-year= round collector, and if the exhibition at the Public Library may not contain them in majority it does at least point the way to discovery" and location. Water Colors by a Belgian Artist on View. AN INTERESTING and unusual collection of water colors is on view in the art gallery of Howard Exhibitions CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART—Permanent collection—American paintings and sculpture. Barye bronzes. Clark collection—Euro- tings, rugs, tapestries, lace, etc. Drawings by Sargent. GALLERY OF ART, MUSEUM—Permanent collections, Evans, Gellatly, Ralph Cross John- son, Harriet Lane Johnson and Herbert Ward African sculptures. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, DIVISION OF GRAPHIC ARTS— Exhibition of etchings by Morris Henry Hobbs of Chicago, opened UNITED STATES NATIONAL FREER GALLERY OF ART—Permanent collections Whistler paintings, etchings, drawings and the Peacock Room, Oriental paintings, bronzes, ART GALLERY, HOWARD UNIVERSITY—Exhibition of water colors PHILLIPS MEMORIAL GALLERY—Second Annual Regional Sales Ex- hibition of works by artists of Washington, Maryland and Virginia. STUDIO. HOUSE—Exhibition of easel paintings by artists who have been commissioned to paint murals for Federal buildings in Wash- nx-rnx' MUSEUM OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA—Per- manent coblection rugs, tapestries and other textiles of the Near and Far East. Open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 2 to 5 pm. office of George Hewitt Myers, 730 GALLERY—Paintings by Bernice | Exhibition in the Corcoran Gallery | of Art from December 27 to January University. They are by Camille Van Driessche, a Belgian by birth, who was brought to this country when a child and first studied in Chicago, where for many years he made his home. But his art education was continued in Europe. He was a pupil of the Royal Academy in Ghent and studied under masters in Brussels and in Paris. Recently, after some years absence, he has returned to the| United States and opened a studio in | ‘Washington. | The collection now on view in-| cludes flowers and still-life subjects, Belgian street scenes and one or two | portrait studies. They are dons in | practically every instance in the Dutch method, opaque color scrubbed on with the semblance of oils or| pastels, without sparkling high lights | or resonant depth in shadow, but very | toneful and impressive. Especially fine and successful are the flower and still-life paintings. In color these zre | harmonious and, what is more, have | atmosphere—unity of effect. A gray tone predominates, but through this a variety of colors shines with a jewel- like richness. After all, no method | skillfully and knowingly used can be | outdated. Colorful Water Colors to Be Seen | At Mt. Pleasant Branch Library. | IN THE Mount Pleasant Branch Library, water colors by Susan B. Chase and Frances Wheeler are now on view. Numerically, honors are evenly divided, each artist contribut- ing her full share. Mrs. Chase, who is the secretary of the Washington ‘Water Color Club, uses transparent color on white paper and paints freshly and broadly, interpreting places and things seen with truth and sincerity; Mrs. Wheeler, on the other hand, mixes her colors with Chinese white which gives them the quality of oils, paints more heavily, and to a greater extent reduces her composi- tions to patterns. In this way the works of these two artists offset one | another. The cumulative effect, however, is harmonious and very col- orful. Forthcoming Ezhibitions. THE ‘Washington Water Color Club will hold its Forty-first Annual 30. Paintings to be shown in this exhibition must be delivered at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, New York avenue entrance, unpacked, on De- cem 18. Entry blanks and further in- formation may be had by applying to Mrs. Susan B. Chase, secretary, at 2017 I street northwest. The Society of Washington Artists’ Forty-sixth Annual Exhibition will follow immediately on that of the ‘Water Color Club, opening in the Corcoran Gallery of Art January 31, and continuing through February 22. Entry cards, obtainable from Miss Lucia Hollerith, secretary, 808 Seven- teenth street, must be in by January 18, 1937. This society, at its most Tecent meeting, elected to membership three painters and one sculptor now residing in Washington. These are Paula MacWhite, wife of the Min- ister of the Irish Free State, Duane Crawford, Nelson Williams and Margot Broxton, all of whom have exhibited with the society and other profession- al bodies. Eben Comins Shows Mezican Types at Wellesley. EBIN F. COMINS, after being ab- sent in Mexico all Summer and in New England for some time this Fall, has reopened his studio in this city for the season. Mr. Comins went to Boston lately, to deliver, in person, & portrait of Mr. Edward Holmes, president of the Museum of Fine Arts, resenting “The Future” is the figure | “The Recorder of the Archives,” and SCULPTURE TAKES STAGE IN APPEAL TO LOVERS OF ART - “Young Elk Running,” sculpture by Ann Hyatt Huntington, on ezhibition at the American < New York. Academy of Arts end Letters, ARCHIVES SETTING (Continued From Page B-1) at the left. In the frieze that adorns the upper portion of the main block of the build- ing are 13 medallions, each 8 feet in diameter, which represent, respective- ly, the Senate, the House and 10 major departments of the Government and the Nation. Seven of these medal- lions were executed by Robert Aitken and the six others are the work of James Earle Fraser, famous New York sculptor, whose beautiful cre- ations adorn many sections of Wash- ington. Likewise, the pediment on the Con- | stitution avenue side and the figures | on either side of the entrance steps are Mr. Fraser's work. The central figure of this pediment represents it is seated on an architectural throne | which rests on recumbent rams, sym- | bols of parchment. A decorative frieze that runs above the rams is formed | of the flowers of the papyrus plant, symbol of paper, the two mediums that make possible the housing of docu- ments. Attendant figures receive, | gather or contribute records, and groups of dogs at either end are the | symbols of guardianship. ‘The figures on the granite pedestals | represent heritage and guardianship. A RAMP running from Seventh | street to the basement of the building is used for the transfer of documents from their present de- positories, and trucks deliver their cargoes safely to a large receiving room where they are checked, and those in need of cleaning. fumigation and repair removed to the Division of Repair and Preservation. Here, by a method of compressed air, which operates in reverse fash- ion to a vacuum, dust or dirt is blown from the pages of books or documents and papers. These cleaned books, piled on hand trucks, are then wheeled into a large fumigating tank, where they are kept for about two hours and . a half, and subjected to a chemical that thoroughly fumigates and kills all organic life without endangering the workmen who happen to come into contact with it. The third step in this division is preservation, and this is affected in ni unique manner devised originally by the Bureau of Standards for the preservation of news print and here adapted to laminating all papers or pamphlets by a process that welds the sheet between transparent sheets of cellulose acetate under heat and pressure. As the acetate is thermo- plastic, it flows over the surface of the paper, making it airtight. Many advantages are gained by this method. While the process welds the document between the acetate sheets, the result is one single sheet, with no measure- able thickness, transparent and pro- | tected from possible alteration, ex- | terior conditions and handling. Under the old method, using crepe- line or Japanese tissue instead of the modern acetate, it took an entire day of a good operator's time to treat 20 letter-size sheets. By means of the modern hydraulic press used in the archives & minimum of 120 sheets an hour are permanently preserved under the improved method. The new method not only costs less but there is as much as a 50 per cent decrease in space required to | house the documents after they have | come from the press. DOCUMENTS which bear a date | later than 1840 cannot be per- | mitted to come in contact with water, | because of their composition, and when such papers arrive folded they must be spread on trays and treated under humidity to erase the creases. ‘They are then stacked under blotters and put under a hydraulic press to dry. There is a small laboratory in connection with this division, where new or improved methods for treating and preserving old papers can. be experimented upon and worked out. From this division, elevators carry the documents to what is at present known as the “Division of the De- partments,” but which will eventually be divided into separate divisions for each ent of the government, as “Division of Commerce,” “Division will eventually be worked out by the staff that is at present occupied with that responsibility. The stacks are built three levels to a floor, s0 that there are 21 levels through the center of the building, and it is planned to fill in certain present courts to accommodate other stacks as expansion becomes necessary. They are entirely fireproof, with hu- midity control that includes air con« ditioning for temperature, for humid- ity, and for the acid content of the air. There is an automatic fire alarm system and burglar alarm system that gives immediate warning in the guard rooms and the captain’s office. Each stack section is like a sealed room and only employes of the National Archives are allowed to enter. Shelves and drawers are made of steel as well as floors and ceilings of the separate levels. In the main, a system of fiat filing is observed, under hinged, dust- proof covers of steel. ON’E of the finest equipped labo: tories in the world for reprodus documents is that of the Photograp] Reproduction and Research Divisic of the Archives, which is concerned with preservation and restoration as well. Here may be found a completely modern photostat machine that can reproduce letter size sheets at the rate of 8 per minute when such copies are needed in a hurry for conference or other purposes. Here too is & large, modern studio camera that is used for delicate work, where documents are damaged and must be “filtered.” Fascinating indeed to the efficiency expert is the card copying machine that reproduces index cards or un- bound documents on microfilm, for all the world like a motion picture reel. An almost incredible amount of space is saved by this method, which makes it possible to reproduce a case of cards whose cubage is 27,962 cubic inches upon 88 cubie inches of microfilm, at a cost of 006875 cents each. To give an even more graphic idea of space saved, 4,100 index cards-can be contained, in microfilm, in a box 4 inches square and one inch deep. Even colored cards can be photographed by this machine, after a “densotometer” has established an even quality or density, in accordance with which the camera is set. The microfilm, when consulted for reference, is inserted in a ‘“reading machine,” operated by a handle, and by means of which the card is reflected, enlarged, in a glass plate. The reader turns the handle at will until he wishes to stop at a certain card. There is a reading machine in each of the search rooms and in the library for students who wish to refer to the cone tents of any card file. MOTION PICTURE films that fall under the cataloguing of “his< toric” fllms, and as such have been acquisitioned by the National Archives, are shown to accredited students or groups upon application to the archiv- ist in the projection room on the fifth floor. This miniature theater is equipped with perfect acoustic devices as work- ed out by the Bureau of Standards, in co-operation with the chief of the Motion Pictures and Sound Record- ings Division, Capt. John G. Bradley. This bureau has also co-operated, it might be mentioned, with Vernon D. Tate, chief of the Photographic, Re=- production and Research Division. The projection room is paneled in cathedral oak, and the seats supply the one color note. They are up- holstered in a beautiful shade of green velvet. Every precaution known to science has been taken in this division to safeguard stored films and records against fire. The flims are transferred in steel trucks, under lock and key, and are placed in stone and steel vaults that are maintained at a teme perature of 40 degrees and have air vents leading directly out of doors, as the fumes or gases generated by the films cannot be returned through the main air-conditioning system. A syse tem of flues for the escape of flames in case of fire has also been established, and each vault chamber can be sepa= rated from the others, so that fire in any one could immediateily be iso- lated from all other chambers or any other section of the building. Insulated “fire doors” separate the vault chambers, within whose walls is space for storage of more than 5,000, 000 feet of film. Safety devices for shutting off broken films and a water- cooling system that prevents the film from catching fire under the heat of 100-watt lamps are some of the features of the two ultra-modern pro- Jectors in the booth. This projection room also contains turn tables for transmitting recorded speeches and for the transmission of records. Also in this division are rooms for editing films and the laboratories. December 16, by Eugen Weisz, vice president of the school and well known painter and lecturer. Mr. Weisz will select several of his favorite paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s permanent collection, and comment upon them with the inti- uwmm.mmw-