Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-12

Burnett are each specially Interesting
which win be open to students Tor "the
public'D and others specially interested for
the next week or two.
At veerhoff's there is now an exhibition
Of color etchings by Mr.. Howard Helmick
Of Georgetown. who. as an illustrator, a
genre painter. and q teacher. is widely
known. The collection consists Of impress
sions from only seven plates. and, mas
much as most Of these have been at one
time or another previously seen in the To-
cal galleries IT Is to measure disappoint-
Ing. AS a good work can, however, never
become old, and each impression has
distinct individuality. the exhibition as a
whole cannot be said to be without a very
real interest. The principal and perhaps
the best Of these color-etchings is called
Memories" which pictures an old man in
colonial garb playing his violin before an
open spinet on the stool of which lies a
bunch of chrysanthemums. In compost
ton. In line, and in color this study is very
artistic and very thoroughly pervaded by a
sweet, gentle sentiment So strongly in
DEED does the feeling in the picture possess
the Deholder that one is inclined to resent
the slight alterations which have been
made In the several prints. An old Irish
gardener seated upon his wheelbarrow
smoking his pipe at the close of day and
a peasant woman dancing on the shore to
the music of the bsgpipe player, both are
excellent as landscapes as well as genre
studies, and the single impression shown of
an old schooimaster sharpening his pen is
as delightful and admirable as a work of
this kind could well be. Work and Leis-
ure, woman reading among her laundry
work, and an almost life size rendition of
Juliet are, however, less artistic and
pleasing. The former is rather character
less and badly drawn, and the latter is I'M
pardonably poor in construction. 1t seems
indeed lncomprehensible that the author of
this last work could have been the same as
of the former ones, so widely is it diverse
and so distinctly inferior.
X
Miss Mathilde Mueden, whose charming
little portrait study entitled "Old Jan" re-
Gently won the second Corcoran prize at
the Washington Water Color Clubs exhibit
ton, has just finished two small portraits
in crayon and colored chalk One is of a
prominent Baltimorean, whose little daugh-
ter's likeness she is at present painting;
the other is of Washington man, who has
accomplished fully his three score years
and ten and wears a long, patriarchal
beard Neither is larger than an ordinary
imperial photograph, but each displays ex-
ceAent drawing and modelling, and is in
tensely artistic in effect. To the student
of modern portraiture these would seem to
more nearly fulfill the ideal requirements
than the majority of the larger works in
color, for, while they insistent with
personality, they are in no wise aggressive
or dominant.
Judging from the attendance good use is
being made of the art reading room at the
Library of Congress, which some time ago
was fitted up, under the auspices of the
print division. at the extreme end of the
south gallery. At all hours of the day one
or more readers may be found there, and
the character of the books called for is in
dicative of earnest spirit Of inquiry and
a desire for information.
X
There Is now on exhibition at the Library
collection of beautiful engravings copies
of paintings in the Louvre and Luxembourg
galleries, which was presented to the print
division last summer by the French govern
ment; also an interesting collection of cut
tings from old Illuminated manuscripts,
consisting of initial letters. miniatures, etc,
which has been loaned by Mrs. Thomas F.
Richardson of this city.
X x
This will be the last week of the water
color exhibition IN the hemicycle, and none
who has not seen it should fail to do so be-
fore it closes. as many of the works IN
Guided in its catalog are not only well
worth seeing, but will probably never be
exhibited in this city again.
X X
OF the out of-town exhibitions. the next
and most prominent are the sixty-ninth an
nual exhibition Of the Boston Art Club
which opens on January / and continues
until January 80; the seventy-ninth annual
exhibition of the National Academy of De-
sign. which will be in progress in New York
from January to 80, and for which exhib-
its will be received on December 10 and 10:
and the seventy third annual exhibition OF
the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
which opens to the public in Philadelphia
January %. Both the New York and Phila-
delphia academies offer tempting prizes to
exhibitors and the board of managers or
the Boston club has appropriated $l,oCO for
the purchase of one or more works included
in its catalog.
In Chicago the Arts and Crafts Club Is
holding an exhibition in the Art Institute, IN
with which a special exhibition
of Mr. Howard Pyles' illustrative drawings
Is being held; and in New York the Salma-
o,,pdpS opp11al exhibition of water cOlOrS