Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-06
AMERICAN PAINTINGS
Most of the Evans Collection
Now on Exhibition
IN C0RCORAN ART GALLERY
Mr.. Evans Consistent Encouragement
to Native Artists.
IN CORCORAN ART GALLERY
A REAL MUNIFICENT PRESENT
Brief Description of Some of the Most
Notable Specimens of Landscape,
Marine and Figure Work.

Forty-siX of the fifty paintings recently
presented by Mr.. William T. Evans of
Montclair. N. J., to the National Gallery
have arrived and been placed on exhibit
ton as a loan collection in the atrium of
the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Rarely will
be seen in a single assemblage SO many
important and pleasing works of art, and
seldom indeed is an entire collection so
we'll related and so uniformly good.
None has done more than Mr.. Evans to
promote the progress of American paint
ings. Consistently believing in it, he has
given prizes, arranged exhibitions and dis
tributed his own patronage widely and
we'll The paintings which now form the
nucleus of national collection have been
judiciously purchased and wisely selected.
Besides substantial merit each has in
herent charm, and all testify to the
strength and vigor of the American school.
Two Notable Groups.
Facing the staircase and directly engag
ing the visitors attention are two notable
groups of three paintings, each a land
scape by George Inness, nanked by two
woodland pictures by nenry Ranger, and
California sunset by Ralph Albert Blake
lock placed between marines by Bogert
and InuesS. These are in themselves alone
worthy OF long and careful consideration.
George Inness is called the Father of
American Landscape Painting because he
was one of the first 10 cast off the shackeS
of tradition and turn directly to nature for
Inspiration and truth. Those Who went be-
fore him in this land StrUVe to reproduce
the outdoor world literally, but he chiefly
endgaNOrcd to interpret its meaning. Per
hauS lac was influenced by the men of the
Barbison school like Corot he found the
gentle aspects of nature most appealing,
but he looked out upon the country with
his own eyes and painted always what
seemed to him most significant and lovely.
At first his work was little appreciated, but
today it is held in such high esteem that it
is exceedingly difficult TO obtain at any
price of his truly representative can
vases. There are four in this collection, and
none more characteristic than the Sun
down" which forms the center Of one of
the groups to which reference has already
been made 1t pictures a broad stretch of
open country, grass grown and Verdant; to
the left are two stalwart trees, to the right,
In the distance, habItation; crossing the
fields is a woman worn with the days toll
and sinking toward the horizon is the red
sullen ball of the midsummer sun. 1t is
quiet, commonplace scene but one pro-
foundly impressive. The effulgence of ma
ture, the warmth of the atmosphere the
silence Of the hour, are definitely realized
and the whole is set forth with a serious
ness which in itself is a charm.
Some Other Distinguished Paintings
Some of the same sentiment and feeling is
To be found in his September Afternoon"
which hangs a little distance to the right
It. too. interprets warmth, the prodigality
of nature and the beauty of the common
place. but with less earnestness and greater
richness of color. The Niagara" how
ever. is in different vein and testifies
even more convncingly to the fact that
the painter was well in advance of his day
and generation. Setting forth a view of
the Horseshoe Falls from the American
shore. ii gives an impression of their gran
deur and subtle beauty. There is mist and
mighty waters. dramatic force and mystic
rious appeal, rendered in a manner both
Veracious and poetic. Not the guidebook
picture. but 4 transcription of the mar
Vicious scene which has the same power to
charm, bewlder and uplift--the thing itself
Literally, as Tolstoi has said, "a feeling
handed down.
In excellent accord with this mastery
though reiicent work is George H. Bogerts
Sea and Rain which occupies the oppo-
site side of the same panel, and is likewise
subtle both in color and in handling. I'm
like the majority of marines, it possesses
breadth OF feeling. and vet shows exceed
ingly conservative treatment. Everything
has not been explained by the artist and
yet too much has not been left to the OBJ
servers imagination. Unstereotyped, il is
still nature.
And between these two hangs Ralph AL
bert Blakelocks Sunset, Navarro Ridge
California Coast" one of the most remark
able landscapes which has been produced
by that most gifted painter. Imposing in
line and composition. IL is as rich in tone
as the woyf of one of the Old masters, and
as gratifying to the senses as 1t is to the
intellect. No painter of the American
school has shown greater versatility than
Mr.. Blakelock. and yet, at all times It
has been truly said he is manifestly individ-
ual. Commonly a decorative motive creeps
into his work. and occasionally his paint
ings suggest tapestries. or embroideries In
color Three other pictures stand TO his
credit in this collection-"At Natures Mir
ror," THE Canoe Builders and Moon
rise"
More of the Present.
More closely allied to the present is Mr.
Ranger. whose "Bradbury's Mil Pond
and Connecticut Woods" occupy positions
| to the right and left of Inness' Sun
| down." and whose Entrance to the Har-
| bor'' and THE Cornfeld' are most happily