Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-25
ART NOTES.

1t is many years since the Washington
artists have been blessed with such a
month of June as that which is now all but
gone. Never have the city and its environ
ment been more picturesque, and seldom
have the weather conditions been as favor
able for outdoor work Once or twice the
thermometer has mounted uncomfortably
high, and occasionally shower has disar-
ranged outing plans, but the majority of
the days have possessed the rarely perfect
qualities which Lowell Fhas ascribed to
them. For the recently formed Aquarelle
Club this has truly been holiday season
turned to good account. Under the direo-
ton of Mr. Moser 1t has transferred its
class work, since the close of the Corcoran
School, to the open fields and has endeav-
ored to apply out of doors its indoor les
sons Instead of going from place to place
the club has met each time at the juncture
OF the Conduit and Great Falls roads, and
found all of its subjects from the vantage
ground of nearby hillside. 1t is hard to
overestimate the value of familiarity with
ones theme, and 1t Is remarkable what a
quantity of diverse material can be gath
cred from single viewpoint. In the selec-
ton and simplifying Of compositions Mr..
Moser has materially aided the students.
but he has at the same time allowed them
entire liberty Of expression. Each trip has
partaken somewhat of the nature of pic
mic, concluding with a supper, informally
served when the light was no longer strong
enough to work by, but the primary object
has been study, and many of the results
have been remarkably promising.
In his studio, during leisure hours Mr..
Moser has recently painted two very In
teresting and unusual water colors They
are both pictures of the sunrise at
mountain lake, showing the evening mist
drifting upward, but they are altogether
distinctive. One has a clear, family tinted
q other q luminous ClOu0ed The
first pictures the mist as a ragged Whit
Of smoke straying across the mountain
the second transcribes it in close relation to
the vaporous clouds which hide the sun.
They are both atmospheric and luminous,
and not only possess the quality of light
peculiar to the sunrise hour, but ably
set forth the feeling which characteriZes
the dawn of day. Mr.. Moser has recently
made speciality of cloud effects in the
mountains, but these are in entirely new
vein.
Mr.. Edward Kemeys has lately unpacked
and placed view in his studio a num-
Der of sketches which he made in clay
of birds and animals at least twenty years
ago. Many of them are very small and
all have been quickly pulled together, but
they manifest to a remarkable degree the
nature of the wild creatures which they
represent and are pregnant with artistic
feeling. AS a painter would seize pencil
and paper to jot down his immature con-
ception, so Mr.. Kemeys laid hold of the
clay and nodded it into definite ex-
preston. He thought directly in the clay
without previous consideration, but, on &C
count of his knowledge. correctly well
as quickly. In almost every instance they
are rough, unfinished and scarcely defined,
but they are as Ineligible and surely
weighted with the virtuse of finished
work as is ever the pencil sketch Of
master painter. One is a tiny rabbit. an
a la wit % r
like grace, upon a ledge of rock. a third
sets forth a struggle between an eagle and
mountain sheep. and a fourth represents
the conflict between a deer and its natural
foe, a panther. There are at least a score,
and each one is distinctively individual.
They were done in common clay, at Bridge
ton, N. j., one summer in the eighties,
when the sculptor was on a holiday. but
were afterward baked at a pottery factory
near New York, and are still in an almost
perfect state of preservation.
The Corcoran Gallery of Art will close
rext Wednesday for three months This is
the usual summer intermission. during
which all needful repairs and improvements
are made. Besides these and the customary
care taken for the special preservation of
the exhibits, a new, handsomely illustrated
catalogue is to be got out during these va
cation days, and the gallery's latest acquisi-
ton, the Sarcophagus of Alexander Is to b.
installed. Since last October the Corcoran
Gallery has been open to/the public every
day except Christmas, and though the at
tendance has not been as large as common
ly owing to the severity of the winter II
has been sufficient in number to satisfacto-
rily attest the place the gallery holds In
the estimation of the general public and Its
value in the community.
In spite OF the pleasant June weather the
local studios are rapidly being deserted.
Miss Atwater, Miss Porter and Miss Saun-
ders have established themselves at Giou-
cester' Mr. r. I; Morse is at his summer
home In New Hampshire, Mr. Brooke Is
working in his Warrenton studio, Miss
Mueden sailed on the 21st for Holland,
Mr.. Curtis left on Wednesday for New Eng
land, and early next week Miss Sands will
go to Connecticut
Among those remaining who are still hard
at work are Miss Moves and Miss Peixotto,
who share a pleasant studio at 913 street
Since early in the spring Miss Peixotto has
been going to Fort Myer twice a week to
witness the drills and to make studies of
the troops and military maneuvers. This Is
a difficult, DEMONSTRATING task but by
careful study and persistence she has &C
compl1shed surprising amount and been
enabled to put together, after a poster fash
studies of army life. In the meantime Miss
Moves has been working from models In the
studio, and produced a number of Thought
full portrait studies in crayon and charcoal.
One Of these. Of an old Irishman is spe-
cially worthy Of notice. 1t is done on Ma
nila paper with charcoal and chalk and is
not only we'll modelled and a good like
ness but nicely handled and admirably
characteristic.
commission composed Of Augustus st.
Gaudens, Charles F. McKim, Edgar F.
Smith. president of the Philosophical So
ciety. and Harrison s. Morris of the Penn
sylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has
been appointed by the Secretary Of State to
select the sculptor to design and model the
medal which the government Is to strike
in commemoration of Franklins bicenten-
NAL; This Is decidedly a step toward bet
ter things.
Still another sign of progress is to be
CLEANED from the report of the expert jury
which passed upon and courageously re-
tected all the models entered In competition
for the monument which is to be erected