Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-27
ART NOTES.

Much has been said and written about
| Washington as a national art center-much.
perhaps. that was chimerical and ineIfec-
tual, but the idea has survived. So far
the agitation has come largely from
within-the effort has been on the part Of
the Washington people-but now 1t is be-
ginning to come from without; the country
at large is beginning to interest itself in
the matter. Mr.. Freer's gift to the nation,
the American Institute Of Architects Wig
orous advocacy Of the park commissions
plans, the National Society Of the Fine
Arts initial efforts, the Corcoran Gallery
project for great midwinter exhibition
and the Harriet Lane Johnston bequest to
/ a national gallery have been factors
1 in the awakening. Attention has been
l called to the possibilities and the need-the
question has become attractive.
Last Saturday the New York Evening
1 Post, under the caption "Wanted-A ma
| tional Gallery" discussed at considerable
length the suggestion made by the Burling
ton Magazine for the specific establishment
| of such an institution. 'Washington, 1t
said. us the natural location for a gallery
| merely display the art Of the past, but
| should encourage that Of the present, be-
| coming a sort of American Luxembourg.
Il" There Is no city in America
/
see, and for to admire A collection OF
| the finest works that American artists
| have produced, or are producing, could form
Washington extend an educating and re-
| filming influence to the remotest hamlet IN
| the land"
The proposition is to have the establish
! ment under the administration or the
| Smithsonian institution, which has al
ready the nucleus of a collection; to have
It's support assumed by Congress, and Its
| direction undertaken by special oficer
who shall rank with the heads OF the
Smithsonian's other dependencies. 1t Is
all practical and not impossible. None Will
deny the need and all must feel the timeli-
ness Of the suggestion. The development
and character Of the print DIVISION OF In, tne
Library of Congress prove the possibility
of an able art department under govern
ment control; the Harriet Lane Johnston
beouest emphasizes the need for immediate
K action A little more judicious help from
outside and support from within and the
thing might be accomplished
~
The board of managers of the Nationat
Society of the Fine Arts met last Tuesday
afternoon and transacted some important
business Mr.. Charles J. Bell. who has
been the president of the society since its
organization, pleading manifold duties, re-
signed. and, pending the annual election,
Mr. Charles M. Foulke was appointed 10
his place. AS several out-of-toWn art OF
CARNATIONS have applied for help the ques,
ton of circuit exhibitions was taken up ana
discussed, as were also means through
which the members of the society might De
kept constantly in touch with art matters.
1t was determined to hoid an the reguia a.
meetings for the coming season in Hubbard
Memorial Hall rather than, as last winter;
at private residences. The first meeting VIII
be held the third Thursday In november
and at this meeting, 1t was announced, MT.
Royal Cortissoz of New York will deliver
lecture on Velasquez, which will be Illus
trated by stereopticon.
~
Mr.. Richard N Brooke brought back
with him from Virginia this fall collec-
ton of forty or fifty outdoor sketches
made in the neighborhood Of Warrenton
They were done chiefly during the time he
was conducting his class in landscape paint
ing and were purposed primarily to eXem-
plify certain principles or facts, but 1or
these very reasons they are none the less
interesting attractive. In every IN
stance Mr.. Brooke has transcribed what
he saw with the utmost simplicity and d.
rectness, and yet at no time mas ne sacTi-
feed feeling or pictorial enece IT'S ms
sketches done in oils, are briefs, from
which studied canvases might be produced,
but in themselves are peculiarly charming.
There is a spontaneity In a painting zone
directly from nature which can rarely be
got in a more studied work. and this quality
| these sketches possess in large measure.
There Ire views of wheat fields ripe with
grain, long hillsides. evening skies; there
! views and intimate studies, all full or the
| spirit of out-of-doors; big, Significant ana
| truly beautiful. None save painter VINO
| had his art at his finger tips could nave
| produced such work, for it is truly said that
| it takes greater man to make a good
| sketch than to paint good picture NJ
commentary on landscape painting couia
| be as instructive to the student as this col
lection of little paintings, and IT Is earnestly
hoped that the opportunity may offer some
time in the near future for Its exhibition.
**
| There Is much of local interest in the Chi
cago Art Institutes annual exhibition of
oil paintings, which opened on the 10th OF
this month and Is now in progress. E. A.
| Abbey's Trial of Queen Catherine OF
| Aragon," belonging to Senator w. A. CLARK
and for several years included In the loan
collection of the Corcoran Gallery. is one
Of the most conspicuous exhibits, and
among the leading pictures shown are
works which have already found favor IN
the Society Of Washington Artists annual
displays. Such, for example, as Irving r.
| Wiles' portrait of his wife and daughter.
Mr. Adam Emory Albright, who has made
! a place for himself in the art world through
his sympathetic Interpretation OF the coun-
try boy, and a collection of whose works, II
|
wears ago in the hemicycle of the Corcoran
Gallery, contributes group of three char
acteristic paintings. and Miss Catherine
Critcher,; who, though at present residing
in Paris, is a member of the Society OF
Washington. Artists, sends her portrait OF
Miss H. Among other artists repre-
scented are Horatio Walker, Chase, Mel
cheers, Groll Murphy, Curran and Eaton.
| The N. w. Harris prize of $500 was award
ed to Henry o. Tanner for his Two Dis
ciples at the Tomb" while. the Martin B.
| Calm prize of 500 was given to Alison
| Skinner Clark for THE Coffee House" BY
| Chicagoans this exhibition is thought to
| be the best ever held under the auspices
| of the Art Institute.
Miss Mathilde Mueden has reopened her
| studio at 913 F street and resumed her
classes at the Corcoran school. The last six
| weeks of the vacation season Miss Mueden
| spent in Paris and from there she has
| brought back with her a number of de-
| lightful little urban sketches-bits found
| here and there in the French capital. which
are particularly typical and picturesque.
Some she has done in oils, others in colored
| 10 To- han q