Evening Star Newspaper, December 26, 1936, Page 15

CHRIST’S BIRTH HAS INSPIRED SCULPTORS AND Art of Renaissance Shows Examples of Inspiring Work of Masters Who Have Washington’s Notable Products. Won Immortal Place. . By Leila Mechlin. Madonna and Child, by Donatello, | in the Corcoran Gallery. | HERE is a close association of | art with this particular season of the year, for the birth of Christ, celebrated annually on Ohristmas Day, gave to the early painters and sculptors of Italy and other European countries their major and most congenial theme. Many of the finest examples of the art of the Renaissance and the period directly preceding it are representations of the Christ Child and His Mother—the Virgin Mary. These were produced under commission from the church, or generous donors, for placement in the churches or other religious insti- tutions, and they represented the rev- erent faith and devotion of both the people and the artists. Oddly enough, each artist seems to have developed the theme with orig- inality so that there is found great diversity in character and style of the eountless presentations made of the | *Madonna and Child” Doubtless contemporary models were used, but they were idealized, and so set forth that they might become the subject of adoration. Obviously the artists | ‘were completely engrossed in their theme and gave to its interpretation all the talent they had, together with their most accomplished craftsman- ship. And yet in each instance they | put into their work something of themselves, inevitably, if unconscious- 1y, so that each, today, across the span | of centuries, manifests the individual- ity of the master. It was a Madonna by Cimabue | which, in the latter half of the thir- | teenth century, was carried in joy-} ous procession through the streets of Florence prior to its placement in the church for which it was painted. It is for paintings of the Madonna that Raphael, who lived two centuries later, attained greatest fame. But alas! No painter in recent times has carried on in this line the great tra- dition, or added to it. We have, how- ever, the precious heritage, and so prolific were the artists of the four- teenth, fifteenth and sixteenth cen- | turies that many of their works sur- vive. In both the Clark collection in | the Corcoran Gallery of Art and in | the Ralph Cross Johnson collection in the National Gallery of Art are very | interesting examples of paintings, by | great masters of the past, of the Christ Child and His Mother. Also, | there is in the Clark collection a panel ‘\ in high relief by Donatello, which is, | of all, perhaps, most lovely. Donatello, it will be remembered, lived from about 1386 to 1466 and has been called the father of all Renais- sance art. It was he who modeled the great statue at Venice of Gattamelata, one of the finest of all equestrian stat- ues, and also the David with helmet and sword. His also are the pulpits for Santa Lorenz adorned with Sing- ing Boys and the exquisite “Annuncia- tion” in Santa Corce. He could and did produce work which was simple, bold and strong, but he was capable also of work of great refinement. The panel in the Clark collection is of the latter sort. In colored stucco, it is seasoned by age but unimpaired—as Jovely today if not lovelier than when fresh from the master's studio. There is & great tenderness in the face of the Mother; real sweetness and child- ishness in that of the Holy Child. In this respect the Renaissance sculp- | tors outdid the painters, who in many | instances make the Child grotesque— inhuman. But what could be more charming than this Child or those ;nndeled much later by the Della Rob- as? ‘This panel is colored. The Madonna ‘wears a robe of blue, the Child a gar- ment of dull red, the former a dress of dull gold matching her nimbus. ‘The background is gray, and a line of rich blue ornaments the molded frame, in true Florentine style. As a work of art one remarks the beau- tiful composition—®e disposition of hands and the Child’s legs and feet, the harmony of color and its mass- | ing and above all the sensitive and simple modeling. Here is a work of & | very great artist, inspired by his theme, and to such an extent that he | has given it unending significance. The | Corcoran Gallery of Art is indeed fortunate in its possession. Beautiful Windows, by LaFarge, Given to the National Gallery. "[HE National Gallery of Art has | lately received a notable gift of & | pair of stained glass windows by John La Farge, who, as mural painter | and worker in stained glass, takes | we must use the term—is an upright | but other gifts generously proffered. first rank among American artists. | These panels, given by a grandson, | Henry La Farge, have been beauti- | fully instalied in one of the smaller | rooms sei aside by the National Mu-l seum for the National Galiery of Art. | They are on an inside wall, to the | right and left of panels by the llne’ William Willet, on loan, with which | they admirably accord, and are light- | ed artificially from behind. | La Farge was born a little over 100 | years ago in New York, the son of & | French refugee from San Domingo. | “Fate,” Royal Cortissoz says, “made him an artist,” but certainly before | doing 30 she endowed him richly. He was & pupll of William M. Hunt of Figurehead from a New England whaling ship, by | here at our National Capital, which | fine characterization of one of the | conditions, were lately recalled and Boston, had a lively, inquiring mind, not a strong body, but studious in- clinations, endless enthusiasm and | patience as well as creative ability. It was contact with the Pre-Raphael- ite Brotherhood in England and a visit to Chartre with Henry Adams | that turned him to glass-making and the use of glass as a medium, as it was the commission from Richardson to decorate Trinity Church, Boston, that turned him to mural painting. He was the inventor of iridescent glass, manufactured for many years by skilled artisans for the Tiffany Studios, but the glass he himself used was always made under his su- pervision, and to the making of his windows he brought all of his orig= inality and creative art. For his achievement in this field the French government conferred upon him the Legion of Honor. ‘The pair of windows now owned by, and on view in, the National Gallery of Art, represent peacocks and peonies, and are thoroughly representative, both of his manner of working and his art. There is no resemblance in them to the windows of the Gothic makers, save in the brilliancy of their coloring and their jewel-like effect. The structure, or leading, is complete- ly subservient, and is used merely as “a web in which to imprison light— color in solution.” The following beautiful description of one of these windows—or one pre- cisely similar—is given by Mr. Cortis- soz in his authorized “Life of John La Farge”: “The window—since for convenience panel. Filling a good part of the space is a peacock of glorious plum- age. The head and body are well up in the higher zone of the composition, so that the colors of the back and tail feathers seem to flow, as in an iridescent waterfall, down toward the watery green background at the bot- tom. This background, which has & fairly light tone at the base of the design, deepens gradually as it ascends through gradations of dark blues and dark purples. Here and there, on either side of the bird, there is a mass of rosy but quiet color. These epi- sodes are provided by the big peonies which the artist chose for his floral motive. Their lovely hues are made the lovelier through contrast with dark leafage. Set within these broader ele- ments of color is the proud blaze of the peacock’s feathers. They make actually a kind of conflagration, and yet this work is in nothing more ar- tistic than in its fusion of unnumbered glowing tints into a positively repose- ful harmony. It is as if La Farge had taken a thousand precious stones and then filtered the sunlight through them, but had always remembered so to arrange his jewels, 30 to blend and contrast them, that in the ensemble they should preserve something of the subtle, sober unity you find in divers nominally ‘gorgeous’ things, such as Oriental rugs, the arabesques of the Alhambra or ordinary fireworks. In other words, this is the very poetry of stained glass, a vision of sensuous loveliness realized in s medium no- toriously obstinate, but made to serve the designer's purpose as readily as pigment serves it. * * * Its great virtue lies in the fact that it has the character only to be extorted from glass; it expresses the very genius of the medium.” It is & far cry from these magnifi- cent creations of La Farge to some of | the church windows done by limp and uncreative followers in the medium he invented—iridescent glass. For this very reason it is especially for- tunate and desirable to have these most excellent works in the permanent collection of our National Gallery of | Art. Again we recall the fact it is | not what an artist does, but the way he does it that signifies—not the me- dium he uses, but the use to which he puts it. Among the artists of his day John La Farge was a giant. He is represented in the national collection not only by these superb and fascinating windows, but by his painting of “The Visit of Nicodemus to Christ” in the William T. Evans | collection, and by a still-life painting | in the Gellatly collection. Bronze Relief Portrait of * Daniel Chester French. T THE annual meeting of the Na- tional Gallery Commission, held | in this city December 8, not only these windows by La Farge were accepted Most notable among these was a por- trait in relief in bronze of the late Daniel Chester French, modeled by his devoted Iriend and pupil, Evelyn Beatrice Longman—Mrs. Batchelder of Windsor, Conn. This panel, done during Mr. French’s lifetime, shows him seated in his studio, across the | wall of which, in orderly procession, as | & panoramic frieze, are seen the dis- | tinguished works which he created. | It is an excellent likeness and a fine | piece of modeling, sensitive and yet | sufficiently strong. This panel was for & time on view | in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, so that to many it is already familiar. But its | acquisition by the National Gallery of | Art assures it permanent placement may boast possession of one of Mr.i French’s-statues of Lincoln, his Du- | pont Fountain and his Gallaudet Me- morial at Kendall Green. Two Other Notable Gifts to National Institutions. ¥ THIS connection mention should | be made of two other notable gifts | —a portrait of Dr. Leonard Stejneger, head curator of the Department of Biology of the United States Na- tional Museum, painted by B]orn‘ P. Egell and presented to the Smith- sonian Institution by Dr. Stejneger’s | friends on his birthday, the 30th of last October, & strong and vital work redounding much to the credit of the painter, and of a bronze bust of Elihu Root, by James Earle Fraser, executed for the Carnegie Corp. of New York, by which organization | it was presented to the Nation. This | is a replica of the original, made for | the corporation and presented to the ! Council on International Foreign Re- | lations. It is an excellent likeness and great American statesmen and leaders in thought of our day. Paintings From the Ranger Bequest and Prints Accepted. IT IS a provision of the Ranger be- quest that paintings purchased from this fund and assigned to Ameri- can institutions may be claimed by the National Gallery of Art during a five-year period beginning 10 years after the death of the artist repre- sented. Five paintings, under these passed upon by the National Gallery Elizabeth Moutal, of Art Commission at its recent meet- American Design by Federal THE EVEN “Madonna and Child,” bas-relief in colored stucco, by Donatello (1386-1466). Corcoran Gallery of Art. G STAR, WASHINGTON, ing. Two of the five—a painting of *‘Central Park and the Plaza,” by Wil- liam A. Coffin, who died in 1925, and & landscape, “Cliffs at Sunset, Unper] Colorado River,” by Thomas Moran, who passed away in 1926, were both | claimed—the three others offered re- leased because the artists were al- ready and better represented or for other cogent reasons. A water color by Prout, offered by Mrs. John T. Devine; an oil paint- ing entitled “Dressing for the Re. hearsal” by Seymour J. Guy, N. A, offered by his daughter, and a collec~ tion of 187 etchings and, other prints presented by the Chicago Society of Etchers were gratefully accepted. Two lithographs by Grace Neville Carroth- ers and engravings and drawings by Stanley Anderson were likewise found acceptable for permanent placement in the National collection, Fine Work for the Index of American Design on Ezhibition. AN EXHIBITION of paintings in water color for the Index of art project W. P. A. artists opened in the National Museum, Tenth sjreet and Constitution avenue, ol De- cember 17, where it may now be seen. ‘The work of the Index of American Design is known to exhibition visitors in Washington* through the display held here in the same gallery last May. The present selection is, however, an entirely new group, produced during the last four months, under the di- rection of Holger Cahill, director of the Federal Art Project, and com- prises very engaging material found in Michigan, California, New Mexico and Pennsylvania, as well as in New York, Mas#achusetts, Connecticut, Maryland and Illinois and other States. Not only is the material new, but the skill of the Index artists is seen to have increased in competence. It is an interesting and excellent showing. There is considerable diversity in the material displayed both as to kind, and time of production. One section is devoted to Shaker crafts, and examples are given of furniture, rugs and all manner of household ar- ticles made by this sect, as well as the costumes worn by both men and women. Another section is given over to ship's figureheads and cigar store figures carved of weod and painted— quaint in the extreme and properly to be placed with folk art. Two of the figureheads are of draped figures, rather classical in line and concep- tion, but others are extremely realis- tic, and, it would seem, ill suited to their purpose, as, for example, a rather smug sea captain standing erect as a ramrod and holding & sextant in his hands. How he escaped demolition by the sea it is hard to understand. Perhaps even the waves were affright- ed. The tobacco store figures are of many varieties as set forth in these paintings—not only Indians, but Turks, Egyptians and Negroes—some of them very fetching. Why, one wonders, have they disappeared? | Hitching posts are no longer needed but such alluring doormen as these must. still have their uses, ' A third section shows dolls of many kinds and from widely distributed lo- cations. Orfe of knit material, stuffed, soft and safe for the youngest play- | fellow; another of wood, jointed. A | third has kid body—somewhat elon- gated—and composition head. It is | quite a shock for those of the older generation to discover that several | | of these historical playthings were created within a remembered child- hood’s days. But the costumes that are represent- | 'ed go back'a good bit further, as does a bead bag—most perfectly rendered— and the coverlids and quilts. Samplers copied are of the mid-nineteenth cen- tury vintage and seem to belong to an entirely unknown world. How we have “stepped out” since then! This Index of Design may have more uses than was originally supposed. Specially featured.in this exhibition is a series of reproductions of painte ings illustrating the “Stations of the | Cross,” made in the early days of the settlement of California for a mission, “San Gabriel—Arc Angel"—in the southern part of the State. They are crude, to be sure, but interesting as Bulletin of D. C, Part of the one of the oldest examples of Spanish- Americap pictorial art. ANOTHER feature emphasized 1s plates of puppets made by the Lano family, who, ~with old-world traditions, settled in Michigan, and | became puppetiers of note, exhibiting | and performing with all sorts of shows, including the great Ringling Circus. Nor is this all—there are clocks of various “viniages,” glass, pottery, hat | boxes and hats—some very strange to present-day eyes—slippers and jew- elry. ‘This basic material is being as- sembled, and to be given permanent form, with the intention of preserving record of achievement for the bene- fit of historians, designers and crafts- men. Incidental to its assemblage, much general information is being gathered. In New York State, for instance, a complete list of craftsmen specialized study is being made of tex- tile designing and the work of the Shakers. Besides which, valuable ex- hibits in private ownership are being recorded. The making of the Index of Ameri- Exhibitions CORCORAN GALLERY paintings and sculpture. OoF Two stained glass windows by accessions. Exhibition of etchings by Morris pottery, mirnatures, etc. tion Index of American Design. STUDIO HOUSE—Exhibition works Closed December 25 to January 2. Blue Eagle of Oklahoma. —recent accessions. by Jeanette Griffith. artists. MOUNT PLEASANT Chase and Frances Wheeler. Club. INTIMATE BOOKSHOP LITTLE Cross. ists at moderate prices. Hrdy. D. L. Laidig and G. E. Fischer. ART—Permanent oollection, Barye bronzes. Clark collection—European paintings, rugs, tapestries, lace, etc. Drawings by Sargent. Forty-first Annual Exhibition Washington Water Color Club. NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM—Permanent collections, Evans, Gellatly, Ralph Cross john- son, Harriet Lane Johnson and Herbert Ward African sculptures. American John La Farge and other recent SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, DIVISION OF GRAPHIC ARTS— Henry Hobbs of Chicago. FREER GALLERY OF ART—Permanent collections Whistler paintings, etchings, drawings and the Peacock Room, Oriental paintings, bronzes, NATIONAL MUSEUM, Tenth street and Constitution avenue—Exhibi- Federal Art Project, W. P. A. PHILLIPS MEMORIAL GALLERY—Permanent collection paintings by old and modern masters; also works in sculpture. by professional and amateur artists who have studied at Studio House or in Phillips Memorial Gallery. TEXTILE MUSEUM OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA—Permanent collection rugs, tapestries and other textiles of the Near and Far East. Open Mondays, Wednesdays and Pridays, 2 to 5 pm. Admission by card, obtainable at office of George Hewitt Myers, 730 Fifteenth street, THE ARTS CLUB OF WASHINGTON—Exhibition of paintings by Acee LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, DIVISION OF FINE ARTS—Exhibition of recent accessions; Pennell lithographs; drawings by American illus- trators. Exhibition of original illustrations by Walter Appleton Clark Pictorial photographs of the Statue of Liberty PUBLIC LIBRARY, MAIN BUILDING—Exhibition of prints by local ‘Bmcfl—fihlbltion water colors by Susan B. GEORGETOWN BRANCH—Piintings by members of the Landscape GALLERY—Paintings by Bernice Lm'ou.my. 2040 B street—Water colors and prints by local art- GALLERY OF MODERN MASTERS—Paintings and designs by Olinska PAN-AMERICAN UNION—Exhibition of photographs of Mexico by is being compiled; in New England | | | SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1936. PA K_ B3 INTERS Stained Glass Windows by John La Farge Placed Among Treasures Now Possessed by National Capital—Features of Local Art Circles. Garber is also conservative—a painter of landscapes, figures and interlors— works which invariably render impres- sions of beauty, with quiet dignity and sincere, strong feeling. Mr. Curray is not unacademic in his manner of painting, but his choice of subjects W. A. Clark collection at the can Design is one of the largest and most far-reaching undertakings of the Federal art project of the W. P. A. It is now operating in 25 States. It will culminate in the issuance of | a series of portfolios of plates in black and white and color which will illus- trate the rise and development of the decorative arts in America. These portfolios will be supplied to educa- tional institutions all over the c-un- try, furnishing students with source | material from Colonial times to about | Already 3,500 renderings have ! 1900. been made by project artists, The extent of the work that is being carried on by the Federal art project of the Works Progress Administration, in addition to assembling and put- ting into usable form this index of American design, is so great that it seems almost unbelievable. According to a report just issued, 5300 artists and art teachers are employed by the project in 44 States. About 450 mural paintings are now under way or com- pleted and placed in schools, colleges, libraries and other educational or tax- supported institutions throughout the country; besides which “many thou- sands of canvasses” have been and are being painted, to say nothing of the making of an equal number of prints. Teaching activities are car- ried on in 600 centers, and it is es- timated that 18,000 children and 5,000 adults receive instruction weekly. And finally, art-cetner zalleries have been established and are being oper= ated in four Southern States, Okla- homa, Utah, Wyor and elsewhere. an American renaissance. danger is very real. The creative gift is rare and art produced withowt it is neither valuable nor lasting. The 1llustrative paintings made with accu- racy for reproduction in the Index of American design are well done—ad- mirable. But no creative gift is here required—the “artists” are copyists and craftsmen. Very different is the painting of murals and easel pictures. But perhaps, to be optimistic, this very welter of activity in the field of art may leaven the soil so that from it in time will spring the men and women of genius for whom we s0 eagerly await. Corcoran Jury of Selection and Award for Biennial Exhibition Announced. THS Corcoran Gallery of Art has announced the appointment of the jury of selection and award for the Fifteenth Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting to be held next March and April. Wil- liam Glackens of New York is named as chairman, with whom will serve John Stuart Curry of Kansas and Connecticut,aDaniel Garber of Phila- delphia and Lumberville, Pa.; Rich- ard Lahey of Washington, principal of the Corcoran School of Art, and Wil- liam M. Paxton of Boston. ‘The last named is essentially of the academic school—a painter whose works are very realistic and almost meticulous in detail. It was to a nude by Mr, Paxton that the Popular Prize in the last biennial was voted. Mr. ] savors of the extreme modern school, which registers a predilection for the sensational and horrifying. He may be said to have specialized in the so- called “American Scene.” Mr. Glack- ens and Mr. Lahey both belong to the “advanced” group in New York, which sponsored the Armory Show, and have helped to create a vogue for the works of the French post-impressionists, without, however, going to extremes themselves. Mr. Glackens employs & very personal formula in his painting. Mr. Lahey has more than a regard for the great tradition, but is open-minded to innovation. As a whole, the group is thought to be well balanced and widely representative. Pictorial Photographs-of Early American Architecture to be Ezxhibited. N!.'Ws of an exhibition of recent Benjamin Johnston of historic build- in this city in February, comes via North Carolina, where she has lately been working. This will comprise pic- torial records of early architecture in Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina made for the Pictorial Ar- photographs made by Frances | ings in the South, which is to be held | chives of Early American Architecturs (under grant from the Cornegie Corp.) for the Library of Congress. To these archives Miss Johnston already has contributed about 5000 negatives. Under three previous grants she has gathered material chiefly in Virginia and Maryland. This fourth grant has enabled her to extend her quest and activities to the Carolinas, which is very gratifying. She has found East- ern North Carolina especially rich in specimens of fine early building. This territory has been less explored and exploited than almost any other in the South. Miss Johnsion combines in her photographic work accuracy and artistic charm. The houses she pho- tographs have, when seen in her prints, atmosphere as well as architec- | tural merit. | The Annual Exhibition of the Washington Water Color Club Opens. 'HE Washington Water Color Club will open its Forty-first Annual Exhibition in the Corcoran Gallery of | Art tomorrow to the public. This is always an event of note. Washington water colorists stand with the best in the country, and the club’s annual | shows are well chosen and of lively | Interest. Phillips Memorial Gallery announces an exhibition in their print rooms of | drawings and prints by Gifford Beal | to open January 2. By Helen Elliott. NE of the most unusual and unknown museums in the world today is just a big tin building at the Government Proving Ground, Aberdeen, Md. Here you can see everything from the Big Bertha, “Die Dicke Bertha” of Sun- experimental shell that has proved to be a “chestnut” as ordnance material for the next war. Strange to relate, you can't find & word of printed matter on the con- 1 tents of this museum because “every= body is keeping pretty much under his hat what the next war is going to be fought with,” according to Col. H. H. Zornig, acting commander at the proving ground. The so-called “skele- tons” found here are mostly war trophies from Germany, France, Italy, England and Belgium, as well as American attempts to develop im- proved ordnance material that was not sufficiently improved to warrant adoption, or which didn't work at all. study machine guns, shells and tanks used in the last war, because, as the succinct Capt. David Van Syckle ex- plained, “The chief value of a mu- seum like this is to keep people from inventing chestnuts.” One of the first things that attract your attention when you enter the huge building, flanked on either side by 150-millimeter used in the Spanish-American War. It represents the earliest type of ma- chine gun. It used a projectile that came out all in one chunk, designed to burst after it was fired, whereas modern projectiies burst into a mil- lion splinters before they come out of the machine gun, and it is these infinitesimal steel splinters that cause the casualties. pointed out as an Iinteresting item by the colonel, Mr. Preister hav- ing been a German minister of the gospel. The barrel of the gun is in- side the grenade thrower, and it has an iron shell containing lots of ex- plosive and stabilizing fins to keep the particles head on. You put the fuse in one or both ends to set the charge off. In the case of larger shells both ends are set off. We turned up an aisle containing | shells of all sizes and from all nations. | They ranged from 17 to 4,000 pounds, | | and were painted yellow for the United | States, blue for France and red for Germany. The British bombs had a | little blunter noses than the others— which was the only difference we could notice. Innooent of the ways of war- fare, we inquired if the bombs of one country were any better than those of | another. “You never talk about the other | fellow's stuff,” explained the colonel. | “It's like talking about religion.” | The 4,000-pound bomber has not | proved practicable enough to use, however, and a large bombing plane would be able to carry only one of them. The 2,000-pound bombs were the largest used during the World War. Most shells range from 600 to 1,100 pounds. Many small bombs, | weighing from 18 to 65 pounds, were used in the last war to destroy troops, while the large ones were used to| destroy bridges, railroads, buildings and waterworks. The 2,000-pound bombs will probably be used in the next war; the 4,000-pound ones prob- ably will not, according to Col. Zor- nig. That “probably” is a very of- ficial word. It is difficult to predict just what will be used in another war. 'HE huge German tractors in one end of the museum are so big that they seem unreal off of a Holly- | wood movie lot. The reason they are | 5o big is that the Germans, not hav- | ing any rubber during the war, had to build solid wheels and tires. That fact may come as a revelation to many of this generation who were 6, 8 or 10 years old when the war was fought. To give you an idea of the tractors’ size, the rear wheels are 6 to 8 feet in | diameter, the front wheels being 3 to 4 | | feet in diameter. They were built | | about 1914 and weigh from 14 to 20 | tons. | The French tractors are much | smaller, for the main reason that the | French had rubber. One French model of steam-engine tractor, made | in Bordeaux, requires a coal shoveler, | who stands on the small running board and shovels in coal. “That’s the kind to have on a cold day,” the colonel remarked. The French had higher speed mo- tors than the Germans, who were day supplement fame, to a 4,000-pound | 1t is here the young ordnance officers | German guns, brought back from an unknown bat- tlefleld, is a 1900 model Gatling gun, TH! Preister grenade thrower was| GUNS PICTURE WAR about them. They were brought off | the battlefields for study, each coun- | try being anxious to learn all it could about the captured tanks. Some of | the difficulties to be encountered when you build a tank are: The type of tract may not grip the ground prop- erly, the motor may not have enough power or the weight may be poorly | distributed. | “During peace time the Europeans | embellish their guns with coats of iarm.s"‘ the colonel said, as I was ex- | amining a German crest on a gun, “but during the war they kind o forgot about that.” “During a war,” Capt. Van Syckle further explained, “you use all the old guns you usually see sitting around | in front of post offices and in public | parks.” | There 1s one sugch “post office™ | gun, a 21-centimeter howitzer, from | the Village Green at Brussels, at Aberdeen. Krupp made it for Bele gians and took it back again.” AT ABERDEEN. too, are the first three tanks built by the United | States during the war. At first there were no motors to operate the tanks: they used steam engines instead. The first United States steam-driven tank is one of the most interesting “skele= tons” in the big tin museum. The third tank, too heavy for its power, is a three-wheeled affair built like a steam roller. It is steam-driven by an inside sprocket on the wheel This type was tried out, but none of the early models got anywhere. Next you come to the first United States tank with a gas-electric drive, but it lacked power enough to light in its drive. ‘There are some little light tractors, used by the French in the Sahara in 1925. They were built to run on ‘»nnd. They were another attempt to build something that would run om mud. According to Capt. Van Syckle, “People have given up building tanks, armored cars, cross-country cars on |a commercial chassis. They build and design now from the ground up.” Did you know 50,000 or 60,000 exe perimental models have to be built before a tank can be found that ig workable? But, as the captain pointed out, the first kitchen stove cost about $10,000 in experimentation before a usable stove was made, and | it cost $7,000,000 to build the first | steam turbine. “Just because a gun is big, it doesn't have virtue,” said the colonel. Yet look at the Big Bertha, “die dicke Bertha,” the Sunday supplement gun that was made such a fuss over during the war. It weighs 35 tons. “Bertha Krupp was head of the Krupp guns at that time,” the captain remarked. 1f 200-year-old cannon interest you, there is a Moros Lantaka from the Philippines. COL. ZORNIG remarked that it would take 10 people, technically informed, to give a really exhaustive talk on the various guns, shells and tractors in the museum. The young ordnance officers were having a class on the museum material as I was going through. The class is all oral, which may indicate to you something of the secrecy with which armies sur- round things like ordnance, “The Navigator,” a ship’s figurehead, by Ingrid Selmer- Larson, from a New England whaling ship burning benzol. There is & post-war type of tractor here, too, with rods that run from stem to stern. It was built to run over rough ground, but there were too many little pleces in it, so the type was never put on a commercial basis. ‘There is one very interesting old | German tank, full of shell holes. | Tanks were first built during the war. | and no country knew very much| EXHIBITION ASIAN ARTS Chinese Paintings of the Ming, Kang- shi_and Chien Lung. Periods; P-nr.:"s Buddhist, Floral and Scenes. Just ar rived from Peking. 1143 Connecticut Ave.