The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-11-18

|
ington Water Color Club will be held thi
year in the hemcycle at the Corcoral
Gallery of Art. Tie card reception an
private view given last evening was ;
grand success. The beautiful gallery wa
crowded from s to II with club member
and their friends, and congratulation!
were the order of the evening.
The exhibition will be open to thu
public this afternoon and continues fol
two weeks 1t will also be open on Mon
day, Thursday, and Saturday evenings
from S to 10, and no admission fee is
charged.
Both the trustees and the artists seemed
last night to feel that the right Trims
had come to pass, now that the local arr
organizations had ceased roaming abo;'t
aud were securely sheltered beneath the
broad and sympathetic wing of the Cor
ooran. All the happier, too. are these
workers, since they know that these ad-
vantages are theirs without any sacrihce
of independence and personal response
biIity for this and such other exhibitions
as may in the future be given here by
them.
There is a dignity and quiet beauty
about this large and fnely-lighted gal
lery that meets and satisfies the ambitious
aspirations of the guild. 1t now becomes
the duty of the artists to live up to 1t
anu see that their offerings there here
after are entirely worthy the place and
the cordial support of the local patrons
| of art, and those patrons, by the way.
| should also remember that while 1t en-
| courages the painter to sell pictures at
| the studio, 1t is not to be compared to
the thrill of delight experienced when
| sale is made in an exhibition. Next to
| the praise of some revered master there
| is no stimulus equal to the magic WORD
Sold in the corner of picture In an
| important exhibition where wise artists
| send only their very best productions.
There are. Of course, nc oils in the
present show; those will be seen later in
| the season, when the society's spring ex-
hibition is held, but the display of water
| colors pastels black and whites, burnt
wood and miniatures is finer than ever
| The place of honor is occupied by Mrs.
Robert Coleman Childs Summer,
splendid pastel picture Of Il Greek woman
| in white, seated in chair on simple
terrace Above the low horizontal marble
parapet CLOVIS that unnamed blue love-
Sea- The woman is, indeed, Sappho like,
but a trifie more human and dear. She is
STOPPING forward to arrange some yellow
roses in glass jar. The pose is easy
and natural. The woman's hair is of that
Titan shade which fits perfectly the ex-
quisite color scheme. There is brave
technical freedom and excellent drawing
in this picture which supports the claim
Of Mrs. Childs' friends that her best work
ha1n ola tn a
American art. One rarely sees SO i'm
portant pastel satisfactory in so many
particulars. In color, composition. and
execution it is superb, while over and be-
yond that is the fact that it is very
lovely picture, entirely free from senti-
mentality and technical incompleteness
which has marred some of her former
otherwise important work.
This high-keyed and brilliant thing. full
of the bigness and nobility which belongs
to the higher class of mural decoration. is
thanked on either side by two equally re-
markable pictures, low and rich in tone,
the work of Miss Juliet Thompson. 1t is
difficult to recall exhibition where
three large, important pictures hung to-
gether SO tremendously and to such mu-
tual advantage. These pastels differ wide |
ly in method and point of view. Sum !
mer" is the clear, open air of Greece, /
while "Portia' and the portrait of Mr.. |
Thompson are dark, low-toned interior !
effects quite English in character. There I
is one other very large pastel made con- |
spicuous by its size, a portrait of lady |
by Miss Anna Sands. While not without |
some excellent qualities, 1t suffers by |
comparison and seems weak and inef-
fective.
Miss Juliet Thompsons "Portia." the |
principal one of her great pastels re-
ferred to, leaves nothing to be dc sired in
this hour of triumph for the pastelists.
Never before has there been shown in a
local exhibition such combination of
strength. Miss Thompson has made this
ambitious "Portia' so much more than
a mere portrait that it is difficult to de-
fine its exact place. 1t needs no name, 1t
is beautiful woman. a brunette. gown
ed in low red and seated. The figure is
relieved against a dark tapestried back
ground of wonderful richness. The flesh
is exquisiteIy handled and grows more
charming on acquaintance. The holiness
of the technique fits exactly this grand
gallery. The other picture, a portrait
of her brother, quite equal to ''Portia"
as a painting, is also fine and supports
we'll the more important picture. In
drawing. modelling. color technique. and
tone it is delight. There is fasci-
nation in every square inch of the can
vass. If Bischoff had eyes and could see
this picture he might, at his organ, de-
scribe it SO that one who had not seen
1t would understand its great beauty. No
mere arrangement of words, however eX-
act, could convey the impression one gets
from such picture.
Unbiased observers must see that this
work of Miss Thompson's belongs to the
class of Ceceiia Beaux, and even the great
Sargent himself Miss Thompson's pic
lures are pervaded by an artistic atmos-
phere like that, SO discouraging to a
modern, which one finds in the Ralph
Cross Johnson mansion, where MASTER
pieces by Titan, Reynolds, Gainsborough,
and others as great, abound. This pic
ture should be sent to the New York
Academy. 1t would be certain to COM
mand the attention of the New York ar
lists and critics. Both pictures show
how surely she has progressed in the last
few years 1t is pleasant also to see that
her skillful hand lost none of its cunning
in that anxious time last summer when
she fingered SO long in 1.-The valley of the
shadow" We have but one Miss Thomp-
son and Washington needs her beyond the
power of words to tell how much.
Miss Mender, who had the strongest
water color in the exhibition last year, and
,ne which, for strength and artistic beauty,
must have shared the honors with those
,ther brilliant women painters here, Mrs.
Childs and Miss Thompson. had 1t come
,long a year later, has TO the sorrow OF
Ter friends, sent one of the most lamenta-
de failures ever shown in local exhi- |
,ition by an acknowledged leader.
Mr. Edward Lind Morse, Treasurer of
he society, exhibits a life-s pastel por-
raft of himself, which Is interesting for |
wo reasons. In the first place. because it
s one of the good pictures here. 1t is