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“Half Dom e—Yosemite,” a By Leila Mechlin. FTER years of eager waiting | and hoping, a National Gal- lery of Art is assured by the | acceptance by Congress of the | munificent gift of building, collection and endowment offered by Mr. Mellon, and within two years the dream, so long cherished, but so elusive, will | come true. This is almost too good 10 believe—and the mere fact of an- nouncement overshaws all other news &t the present time. | Incident to the acceptance of thisJ princely gift, to the people of our | Nation, there was some discussion of ' restrictions placed in regard to stand- ard and administration, which was symtomatic of the times. Certain artists in New York, who seemingly regard art primarily as & trade and have so organized, complained that no provision was made for the display of “living art,” meaning the art of today, forgetful of the fact that the works of art which compose the Mellon collection have lived for from one to six centuries and thus quite certainly attained immortality. Only time will tell whether contemporary art will so live—or die. The great art of the past comes to us, not as a dead, but a living, thing, with power to inspire and lead onward. The great art of today is built on this foundation, and not one modernist who has attained distinction and made real contribution has failed to acknowl- edge the debt. Thus our great Na- tional Gallery of Art, upheld to the highest standard, shall serve as a treasury of the best that has been produced in the past and also as a perpetual source of life—giving in- spiration, not hampering, but renew- ing creative effort. A Smithsonian Gal- lery of Art Proposed. MMNWH‘JLE, to amplify facilities and provide further encourage- tment for contemporary artists and art workers, a bill has been introduced into Congress to create and support » Smithsonian Gallery of Art, which s to have, it is said, in a measure, the relation to the National Gallery that the Luxembourg Museum holds o the Louvre; to test out by exhibition, contemporary work; to cover a wide field, and to exert an educational in- fluence through the medium of trav- eling exhibitions, special loans, etc., to small museums throughout the country—an excellent idea. In this gallery would be included the Na- tional Portrait collection, to which Mr. Mellon proposes to contribute, as nucleus, the major portion of the Thomas B. Clarke collection. Corcoran Gallery of Art Opens Fifteenth Biennial Ezhibition. THE Fifteenth Biennial Exhibition ™" of Contemporary American Paint- ings opens this evening with a pri- vate view and reception, and tomorrow afternoon to the public. According %0 announcement, this exhibition com- prises 461 paintings by approximately 400 painters in all parts of the coun- try. The Jury of Admissions and Awards passed upon 2,000 paintings here in Washington, in addition to & very large number in New York. Fourteen galleries are given over to | the display, which is said to com- prehend works of varied character representing current trends. The | Prize awards were announced last | Monday and the prize paintings repro- duced Whether or not the public will approve the jury's findings Te- | mains to be seen. This is considered | one of the most important exhibitions | of contemporary art held in this | country, and at the opening reception | there will be directors of other art| museums, artists and collectors from | Bulletin of other cities. A review of this exhi- bition will be published in the news columns of The Star tomorrow. The Unique Art of Arthur G. Dove Ezhibited. lN THE Phillips Memorial Gallery was opened on Tuesday—to con- tinue through April 18—a retrospec- tive exhibition of the unique art of Arthur G. Dove, who has been aptly described as ‘“an uncompromising abstractionist.” Mr. Dove was born at Canandaigua, New York, in 1880, graduated from Cornell when 22 or 23, and has lived on a farm almost all of his life. He began painting shortly after leaving college, and has persistently followed his own con- victions and fancies ever since, despite the bewilderment of ¢neighbors and the public-at-large. He is essentially an individualist and his individualistic transcriptions have found favor and given delight among those who viewed them sympathetically. Three galleries are given to the current display. In the first are shown his early works, in which he used all manner of materials and comparatively little paint. Take two typical examples, “Recollections of My Grandmother” and “Nigger Goes a-Fishing”—the former consists of a piece of needle work—a floral pat- tern in needle point—a leaf from & Bible, some pressed flowers and ferns, and some thin slabs of gray, weathered wood, put together with precision and decorative effect; the latter has a painted sky, a background of blue shirt, and sections of bamboo fishing pole arranged in parallel groups. Here also hangs the little boat with real canvas sail, which has for some time been included in the Phillips Memorial Gallery’s collection. Three other works in this first group are notable—two, purely abstract, in color and metalic paint—one titled “Golden Storm,” the other “Telegraph Pole,” both of which from the standpoint of color and form have remarkable potentialities, as curtains raised on @ new and strange world. The third, & little canvas, “Waterfall,” is very suggestive of the Oriental point of view. In the adjoining gallery only works in ofl are shown. These include “Morning Sun,” which has hung for some time in the middle gallery on the first floor wherein the noted “"an Gogh has been given placement—a glimmering sun over fields of red earth, patterned by plow furrows, and also “Red Sun,” a graphic exaggera- tion, which somehow carries convic- tion and greatly. allures by fine color quality. Here also are other adven- tures into the world of fantasy, in some instances tinged with humor—incom- prehensible to many, no doubt, but not without meaning. Such is a barnyard reminiscence in which, after @ period of inspection, one discovers images of all the denizens thereof. Perhaps the most realistic of the paintings in this group is that of & “Red Barge,” which is well composed and handsome in color. Below stairs in the print room is shown a large collection of Mr. Dove's water colors—very small in dimensions and very rapidly rendered, as memo- randa of impressions, but fully sug- gestive, significant. These are es- sentially personal, but for that reason the more enlightening. In an estimate of the art of Arthur G. Dove, written some years ago, but equally true and applicable today, Mr. Phillips says: “He has dared to express, with patterns of robust vi- tality, a conception of life clear enough to himself, though obscure no doubt to casual observers;” adding, “he has made no concessions to the public but has consistently maintained his perilous way ever since he launched his original craft over the rapids and the rocks.” It is as an individualist, Exhibitions CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART—Permanent collection, American paintings and sculpture, Barye b ronzes. Clark collection—European paintings, rugs, tapestries, laces, etc. Drawings by Sargent. Fifteenth biennial exhibition of contemporary American oil paintings. NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, United States National Museum—Per- manent collections—Evans, Gellatly, Ralph Cross, Johnson, Harriet Lane Johnson and Herbert Ward African sculptures. Stained glass windows by John Le Farge and Willlam Willet. ings by Thomas Moran Paintings and etch- SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, DIVISION OF GRAPHIO ARTS—Ex- hibition of etchings by Frederick K. Detwiller. NATIONAL MUSEUM, ARTS AND INDUSTRIES BUILDING—Exhibi- tion of photographs by members of the Associated Telephone Camers Clubs. Japanese textile prints—Loaned by Mrs. Charles D, Walcott. FREER GALLERY OF ART—Permanent collection, paintings, drawings and etchings by Whistler. The bronzes, pottery, miniatures, etc. peacock room, Oriental paintings, PHILLIPS MEMORIAL GALLERY~—Permanent collection, paintings by old and modern masters; also works in sculpture, Retrospective exhi- bition of works in various media STUDIO HOUSE—Exhibition of pail (opening April 1). by Arthur G. Dove. ntings and drawings by Walt Kuha TEXTILE MUSEUM OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA—Permanent collection, rugs, tapestries and other textiles of the Near and Far East, Open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 2 to 5 pm. Admission by card, obtainable at office George Hewitt Myers, 730 Fifteenth street. ARTS CLUB OF WASHINGTON—Exhibition of water colors by Carolyn G. Bradley and etchings by R. W. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, DIVISI . Woiceske. ON OF FINE ARTS—Exhibition of etchings and other prints by contemporary printmakers; Pennell litho- graphs; drawings by American illustrators. Special exhibition of {llustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele, opening March 29. PUBLIC LIBRARY, MAIN BUILDING—Exhibition of prints and draw- ings by Richard Lahey. Northeast Branch—Oil paintings by Washing- ton artists lately shown in the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Takoma Park Branch—Paintings by members of the Landscape Club. Mount Pleasant Branch—Water colors by Suzanne Mullett and Paul Arlt. WOMEN'S CITY CLUB—Paintings by Herbert Hicks. DUMBARTON HOUSE—Historical utility and pictures. art exhibit, furniture, ar@cles of ART GALLERY, HOWARD UNIVERSITY—Exhibition oil paintings by Anthony J. Sisti. INTIMATE BOOKSHOP, LITTLE GALLERY-—Exhibition of oll paint- ings by Rear Admiral Charles Russell Train, through March 31. STUDIO, LEAGUE OF AMERICAN PEN WOMEN, THE GRAFTON— Exhibition of paintings by Grace Merrill Ruckman. THE EVENING watercolor by Eliot O’Hara. —Photo by Lewis P. Woltz. who esks no favors and accepts no compromise, that he should be con- sidered. Interesting Dry Point . by Eminent British Etcher. THE American College Society of | Print Collectors has lately issued the 14th of its series of prints by | notable printmakers. It is a dry point by & distinguished British artist, Edmund Blampied, entitled “Seaweed Harvest, Jerse a large plate measuring 14 by 12 inches in | dimensions, but very typical and ex- | ceedingly strong. | Malcolm C. Salaman, who for many years has been a leading authority on prints in England, writing in appreciation of not only the etcher but this particular print has said: “Among modern etchers Edmund Blampied holds his place firmly in the front rank, and even among the older masters, though there be a few who outrange him in their subject matter, in his particular line he has never had a superfor. This is limited to the working horse of Jersey and the laboring man * * * Blampied's horses have every characteristic that nature suggests, observed with eyes that love them, and drawn with a hand in perfect sympathy. * * ¢ “Seaweed Harvest, Jersey,” his latest work, is drawn with rich tones and vital lines—it is a splendid print.” Edmund Blampied was born in 1886, on a farm in St. Martin's Parish, Isle of Jersey. His father was a farmer, and he began drawing horses and farm workers almost as soon as he was able to hold a pencil. To him the subject matter that he found close at hand has never become outworn. In his youth, he says, he spoke only the Norman French patois of the local population. In the nineties it was customary for the Breton peasants to cross over to the Isle of Jersey to assist in harvesting the potato crop. “These were of the type,” Mr. Blam- pied writes, “so famously dipicted by Jean Francols Millet, and I thank my lucky stars for having often worked in their company. Most simple and primitive, natural and amusing, they were a joy to work with, which prob- ably explains my liking for continu- ously depicting both farmer and peasant in my dry points.” The print just published by the American College Society of Print Collectors depicts two men loading seaweed in a typical Jersey cart, on | the seacoast at low tide. A white horse and a dark colored horse, harnessed tandem, stand patiently on the wet sands at the water's edge, while the loading process -goes on, one man below forking it up, the other | man on the top pressing it down. ‘The sky is light and partly clouded; the foreground is dark from the masses | of wet, ungathered seaweed. The | composition of the group and the distribution of light and shade are i TAR, WASHINGTO. ART DREA D. C., SATURDAY M IN GIFT Mellon Gallery to Present Works Linked With Immortal Achievements of the Centuries in Chosen Field. “Street in Mexico,” a watercolor by Mary G. Riley, at the | Morton Galleries in New York. excellent and impressive. No one could complain of “prettiness” in this theme, but neither is it in the fashion of the day—coarse and vulgar. There is & picturesqueness in the subject matter which catches and pleasantly holds attention, and the etcher’s mode of interpretation is peculiarly fitting— virile and spirited. After all, this is where art comes in and does its part. Many persons might have seen men loading seaweed on the coast of Jersey but only one—in this instance Blam- pied—sensed it as a composition in “Seaweed Harvest, Jersey—" by Edmund Blampied. The American Society of Print Collectors’ fourteenth publication. the American colleges are not only building up collections of fine prints, but extending the interest in prints and printmaking among their students. The prints are issued in limited edi- tions and are not purchasable except through subscription. The majority of the plates published have been by American etchers. Water Colors of the West By Eliot O’Hara. 'HE artist who paints out of doors, | landscapes or figures, garners his unity with environment. To again quote Salaman—"Blampied interprets these subjects with a ‘natural instinct’ and the ‘something more’ of the master.” There is the secret—the in- definable “something more,” gives to technical achievement pro- found and lasting significance as & work of art. This is the second print issued by | the College Society of Print Collectors to its constituent members this season |and a third will follow shortly, it is understood. Through this channel which | I harvest in most instances during the | Summer months, with a bit of Spring { and Fall thrown in for good measure. | But the seasons are not identical in all parts of the world and a good many painters have in recent years fallen into the habit of seeking Summer else- where when the cold days begin. Wins- low Homer was one of the first to make Winter trips to the West Indies, on which some of his finest water | colors were painted. Charles Wood- | bury and Stanley Woodward have done | the same with excellent result. Eliot “The Red Sun,” an oil painting by Arthur G. Dove, on erhibition in the Phillips Memorial Gallery. —Photo by Lewis P. Woltz. O’Hara went one year to South Amer- now but just returned from a trip, by motor, to the Pacific Coast, via New Mexico and Arizona. Each of these trips has yielded Mr. O'Hara good returns. He has keen ob- servation and very skillful use of his brush; he knows on the instant what he wants to do and does it with the utmost facility and swiftness, These qualifications are enormous assets to | one who would paint en route. The quantity and the quality of the work that Mr. O’Hara achieves on his excur- sions into country new to him is, how- ever, none the less surprising. Those who see our great West, with its deserts, its mountains, its canyons and many natural phenomena, for the first time, are apt to find it overrower- ing, and the artist, with his more sen- sitive perception, cannot escape the experience, but if he is wise he will not attempt the impossible. This Mr. O'Hara fully understood, and the paintings that he has brought back from Death Valley, from the Grand Canyon, the Yosemite, Carmel and Santa Barbara are a series of vivid impressions, very personal and there- fore very significant. It was only 10 years ago that Eliot O’Hara began painting. Nine years ago he went to Russia on a Guggen- heim fellowship and almost imme- diately upon his return scored success. He had then given up a lucrative busi- ness to follow art and had chosen water color as his medium. He is now recognized as one of the foremost water colorists in t*is country and one of the most accomplished teachers. He Summer school at Goose Rocks Beach, Me., i5 annually overcrowded. He had classes last Fall in Philadelphia at the museum school, and is to give a teach- ing course at Yale before the season closes. From the first Mr. O’'Hara had a flair for water color and his earliest efforts were amazingly clever, but as time has passed he has acquired not only greater control of his medium, but a richer sense of color and a finer feeling for effect. This continued development, which ‘was noticeable especially in his paint- has brought back from the West. In composition these are very simple—no effort has been made to put down all that was to be seen, and in this re- | spect Mr. O'Hara’s work may be con- | sidered modern—but he does tran- scribe the essence of the factual and | his transcriptions are rendered with | both breadth and subtlety, a good | combination. In two of these paintings he has pictured luminous, late afternoon skies with what may be properly termed perfection of feeling, a bril- liant effect of light gleaming through dry, clear air. He has painted the Grand Canyon urder a snow blanket; he has looked into Death Valley and Sculptor Expressed Devotion in “Lincoln at Prayer” Unique Among Statues of: American Executives, It Is Impressive. OUNTLESS pilgrims, wending their way through the mag- dral on Easter day, will pause in reverence before the bronze like- This is the only known statue of a | President of the United States kneel- On Easter morn, when the rising | sun illuminates the two glorious “He that doeth the truth cometh to the light,” and the other depicting the cast a halo over the bowed head of the Lincoln figure. In this ethereal stands out in striking contrast against the gray stone wall, and the strong and strain of terrific years of pathos, are skillfully portrayed by the artist. “A man is responsible for his face | after 50.”" priate setting for the appealing figure of “Lincoln at Prayer” than its pres- beneath the windows of truth, and its | challenge, at the head of the stairway | lehem chapel—the cradle of the Ca- thedral. | word pictures, so the artist has con- ceived, in tiny pleces of scintillating whose lights glorify—make lifelike— the “man of sorrow. “I prayed for guidance as I ap- proached the designing of the win- Hildrup, jr. It was natural that they, in color, should be the most glorious— dor, and if possible. be reminiscent of colors in celestial Chartres and golden “rubies of the most varied tints, with variations specially wrought by the of light radiation, were chosen. The same is true of topaz, varied flesh shades of tokay grapes. Filming was especially studied to achieve shimmer By Louise H. Wassell. nificent Washington Cathe- | ness of President Abraham Lincoln. ing in prayer. stained glass windows—one inscribed, opposite of truth—the roseate lights light the bronze Lincoln likeness features, deeply etched with the stress To Lincoln is credited the saying, Nowhere is there a more appro- ent location in the Hildrup memorial in the north transept, leading to Beth- As the poet and author paint their glass, these two colorful windows, AWRENCE SAINT, the artist, said: dows in memory of William Thomas conceived in colors of jewel-like splen- Leon. Accordingly,” he continued, glass-blower to get the greatest effects tones, amethyst, green, blue and and sparile, to nu:e the light enter- “Lincoln at Prayer,” a statue in bronze by Herbert Spencer Houck, which may be seen at the head of the stairway of the north transept of the Washington Cathedral. taining as it came through the glass.” The windows were made of ma- terials not only from different parts of America, but from France, England, Germany, Russia, Sweden, far distant China and the Malay States. They are highly sensitive to light, and “change a thousand times a day as Nature parades her moods across the sky with storm clouds, fog, dawn, sunset, sunrise and season changes.” Location of the sun at any period of the day develops most interesting studies of the bronze image of Lincoln. ‘The statue of “Lincoln at Prayer” was created by the distinguished sculptor, Herbert Spencer Houck of New York. It is literally a “dream come true,” as the artist carried this sacred desire close to his heart for almost a half-century before it took form in modeling clay. Mrs. William Thomas Hildrup, sister of the sculptor, says: “My father, » the Rev. William H. Houck, D. D, of Carlisle, Pa., who served as chap- lain with the Northern Army during the War Between the States, stood close to Lincoln—in fact, Dr. Houck could have placed his hand on Lin- coln’s shoulder when he delivered his now famous Gettysburg address. As children we often heard my father tell of this incident.” “My brother Herber. " she added, “thus conceived the idea of carving an image which would show the ‘Great Emancipator’ in the attitude of prayer, as related by my father.” OUBTLESS the sculptor's own suffering, caused by injuries re- ceived in the World War, enabled him to reflect deep agony and sorrow in the face of his subject ar.d make life- like the abject humility of the bowed figure—baring his very soul. Herbert Spencer Houck was & mem- Attention of Visitors With Its Setting. | ber of Battery E, 108th Artillery, 28th Division, serving in France and Bel- gium. On Lincoln’s birthday in 1932 Mr. Houck himself unveiled the | statue of “Lincoln at Prayer” in his { New York studio, where immediately it attracted wide and favorable com- ment. During the last few years of his life he took p sculpturing as an avocation and did not consider him- self a professional. He was engaged in the work of completing a life-size equestrian statue of Lincoln at the time of his death. Mrs. Hildrup comes to Washington annually on & Spring pilgrimage and spends much time in the W.shington Cathedral, where she is often found sitting in front of the Parclose, dedi- cated to the memory of her husband, William Thomas Hildrup, studying the cherished bronze statue created by her brother. After the sculptor's death Mrs. Hildrup gave considerable thought to a plan of having the statue recast in heroic size for placement on the Gettysburg battlefield. As she be- the Nation’s Capital, however, and realized that it is visited by 250,000 pilgrims and worshipers annually even now when the edifice is only one-third completed, she decided to place the priceless bronze image in the part of the Cathedral which memorializes Mr. Hildrup. Here it is seen by visi- tors from all over the world as they conclude a visit to the great choir and start down the stairway to Beth- lehem Chapel of the Holy Nativity, where President Woodrow Wilson, Admiral Dewey and other eminent Americans rest. Historians agree upon at least four times in the life of Lincoln when he fell on his knees in prayer, asking for help and guidance—as a lad of 9, he knelt beside the death bed of his own mother; he was bowed in sorrow at the grave of his beloved sweet- heart, Ann Rutledge; the loss of his little son, Tad, and on the battlefleld of Gettysburg, which inspired his immortal address. On Easter morn, as the Cathedral choir boys sing, “Welcome, Happy Morning, Age to Age Shall Say,” and their sweet, clear notes are rever- berated by the choir invisible, the gaunt bronze figure of Lincoln, kneel- ing in abject humility, seems to echo “Amen.” -~ ica and another to Mexico and has| exhibits widely, his paintings sell, his | ings done in Mexico, is evidenced in | a greater degree in those which he | Tribute at Cathedral Holds | | century—the Library has, it declares, came interested in the Cathedral in | painted what he saw; he has cap- tured the effect of the surf on the | shore at Carmel and set forth the sea view at Santa Barbara through | the royal palms on its esplanade. And in all these, and many more, Mr. O’Hara manifested beauty as he has discovered it; beauty in strength, in color, in composition, or perhaps only beauty in truth—but beauty just the same—and in this he has exercised as an artist his chief prerogative. Mr. O'Hara has been invited t« hold one- man exhibitions next season in the | art museums in San Diego and Los Angeles. A Washington Artist Ezxhibits in New York. MARY G. RILEY of this city is at | holding an | the present time exhibition of water colors at the Mor- ton Galleries, 130 West Fifty-seventh street, New York. Some of the paint- ings there on view were done in Mexico Summer before last and shown | during the past season in the Cor- coran Gallery of Art, but others were | painted only a few months ago in Guatemala and have not heretofore been exhibited. Among the latter are two of exceptional interest. Both are of churches or temples in the Mayan style, approached by long flights of steps ascending from a wide base in pyramidal form. The steps and the walls of the buildings are white. One of these paintings is entitled “Indians at Chichicastenango” and shows many of the natives sitting on the steps—a very complicated composi- tion most admirably handled. The success of these latest works by no means casts the earlier ones into shadow. The paintings done in Mexico are not one whit less good seen in New York, where there is at this season of year a welter of ex- hibitions, and much fine art in com- petition, than they were when seen here for the first time. If anything, they improve upon reseeing. Miss Riley is exceptionally skiliful in tran- scribing mountains and ir indicating their natural formation. All her naintings are excellent in perspective; the several planes are as they should be, and, withal, her compositions are invariably unified. She paints broad- ly, but never carelessly; her work is very competent and very sincere. It reaches and maintains a very high level. It is very engaging and also satisfying. Miss Riley is a member of the Washington Water Color Club. Ilustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele to be Shown Here. 'HE Division of Fine Arts of the Library of Congress announces an exhibition of the work of Frederic Dorr Steele from the cabinet of Amer- ican illustration, Library of Congress on March 29. The collection, which was presented by the artist, includes over 100 draw- ings, in black and white, covering a period from 1901 to 1932. This is the | first showing that the Library has made of the illustrative work of a living artist, but by including his work in the cabinet of illustration— a memorial to the art of illustration, which reached its highest development in the last decade of the nineteenth no intention of relegating him to the past. To the contrary, the Library finds in his work “the best traditions of that golden age of the illustrated magazine carried on into an age where the art has somewhat lowered its standards.” To many people, Frederic Dorr Steele is best known as the creator of the pictorial type of Sherlock Holmes. “That great detective,” it has been said, “belongs to him as much as Alice belongs to Tenniel.” But Mr. Steele has illustrated the works of numerous authors, among whom may be mentioned Conrad, Kipling, Tarkington, Richard Harding Davis and Mary Roberts Rinehart. His earliest illustrations appearecd in the Century, Scribner's and Harper's Monthly. He has the gift of creating types which perfectly fit the authors’ characterizations. His work is still in demand. And who shall say that {llustration may not yet some day come back into its own? What can possibly take the artist’s place as illustrator? Certainly not the camera when the matter to be illustrated is fiction. There is evidence of a turn- | ing tide. This forthcoming exhibi- tion may be anticipated with excep- tional interest. Our Christian Era Dramati- cally Pictured by Luis Mora. FOR. many years, painting was the handmaiden of the church, and the majority of the paintings pro- duced were of religious themes. Since the light of the Renaissance faded, very little religious painting has been done, and during the last century such paintings of note have been few and far between. This, we are told, is & machine age, and it is the triumph of man’s ingenuity in this fleld that the artists of today chiefly set before us. But there comes an exception. F. Luis Mora, National Academician, who, it will be remembered, gave a lecture-demonstration here this Win- ter, under the auspices of the Wash- ington Society of the Pine Arts, has painted a great canvas entitled, “Our Christian Era,” which is being ex- hibited at this time in the Grand Central Galleries, Fifth avenue at Fifty-first street, once a fashionable men’s club, and is attracting wide at- tention on the part of individuals and the press, as deeply significant and possibly epoch-marking. In the fore- ground one sees hordes of warriors moving forward, on horseback and on foot, banners floating, bayonets gleaming, as they wend their way around the mount, on which sits the figure of Christ, sorrowfully contem- plating the mournful procession. - to open in the | Looking closely at the picture, one will discern men in armor of early days, Crusaders with the cross em- blazoned on their banners, the Na- poleonic hosts, Franco-Prussian ware makers, Spaniards and Colonials, those who figured in our own Clvil War, and participants in the Great War, which has so lately receded into history. It is war—so feared and 8o enslaving. In the background, behind the mount, are depicted the products of scientific invention which have lent new power to man and horror to warfare—planes, capable of dropping | death from the skies, alike upon the innocent and guilty. For six years the artist has had the theme in mind, but the recent happenings in Spain brought it as & painting to fruition. His intention was, by no means, to suggest the fail ure of Christianity—for Christianity he believes to be “the only vital force to bring men to better understand- ing"—and on the tablet which is & | part of the painting he has quoted the words of Christ on the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” But rather does he stress the fallure of men to com- prehend its significance. It is a deep- ly moving message to the world, rid- den as it is today by fear, and it is set forth dramatically with force and clarity. This is the second time this Winter that an artist has come forward and endeavored through his art to stem the mad trend toward horror and de- struction, the other being Kerr Eby, whose war etchings have been widely exhibited as well as reproduced with text by himself stressing war’s futility. But Mr. Mora goes a step farther and shows not only the evil but its cure. It is, to say the least, a noble effort. Paintings by Manet Constitute Outstanding Ezhibition in New York. ‘HE outstanding exhibition in New York at the present time is that of paintings by Manet, which opened in the Wildenstein Galleries, 19 East 8ixty-fourth street, on March 19, to continue to April 17. Thirty-seven canvases are included, beginning with a copy of “The Virgin of the White Rabbit,” by Titlan, in the Louvre, which Manet made in the early 1850s, | and extending to embrace such can- vases as “The Man With the Round | Hat,” painted in 1882, the year he re- ceived the Cross of the Legion of Honor, and less than a year before he died. ‘The majority of these paintings are | owned in America and of these the greater number came from private | rather than public collections. One | painting has been lent by the Louvre ° | and one by a collector in Holland. Truly the wealth of American col- | lections in Old World masterpieces of | art today is astounding. The collection now on view in New York includes such well-known can- vases as “The Spanish Singer’—a man sitting on a wooden bench sing- ing to his own accompaniment on the | guitar; “Soap Bubbles"—a boy in white, | holding a bowl in his ieft hand and | blowing a bubble from & pipe held in his right hand; “Good Ale,” “Monk Praying,” “Portrait of Proust,” “Wom- | an With Umbrella,” and others scarcely less famous but not included are the | Metropolitan Museum’s “Boy With Sword,” the “Music Lesson,” owned by Mr. and Mrs. Danielson of Boston, or | “The Railroad,” lent to the Century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago by Mr. Horace Havemeyer—to mention | three of supreme importance domiciled i in this country. Neither is the Manet of the Phillips Gallery—‘"Spanish Dancers"—one of the gems of this collection. But interestingly enough there are two small canvases showing two dancers each—a man and a wom- an—Spaniards—not unlike those in the Phillips painting—both dated 1879—one of which has been lent by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss of this city, the other by Wildenstein & Co.—both very charming. No one can see this exhibition— which, by the way, is being held nominally for charity — without recognizing the masterliness of Manet’s work, and underlying what- ever he did his profound knowledge as well as extraordinary genius. Being retrospective and comprehensive, it witnesses to changing style and in- clination—but even the slightest of the works shown evidences the greal artist. There is an old saying that this exhibition brings forcibly to mind, which is that only those who know conventions can afford to disregard them. Manet's art was built on a very firm foundation. An excellent fully illustrated catalog of this ex- hibition has been issued. Mrs. Ruckman Shows Recent Paintings in Pen Women'’s Studio. TW!.'N'I'Y or more paintings in oil, by Grace Merrill Ruckman of this city, are now on exhibition in the studio of the District of Columbia League of American Pen Women, in the Grafton Hotel. These consist of still-life subjects, landscapes and ma- rines, and are for the most part recent works. Among the still-life studies are one of rose of Sharon and another of dahlias, which are particularly charming and well rendered, but others are close seconds. The land=- scapes and marines were painted dure ing the Summer near Bar Harbor, on Mount Desert, and are very representa- tive—excellent “portraits of place,” with the real feeling of the Maine coast. ——e T J. Ryan, Frankfort, Kans., mail carrier for 15 years, estimates he has walked 100,000 miles, or four timea around the world, delivering mail. - £