Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-09


further action being taken. Recently in
ing taken toward reorganization on
broad basis. Through the instrumentality
Of Mr.. Charles NJ. Ffoulke. president OF
the National Society OF the Fine Arts
and a member of the original board of re-
gents of the National Academy OF Art.
meeting Of the board has been held. va
cancies filled and an era OF activity en-
tered upon. It has been felt for some
time that great benefit would follow from
the federation of the art institutions ana
art societies of the United States. and II
is now proposed to take the National Acad-
envy of Art. with Its charter from Con-
gress. as a basis for such federation:
With this object in view the numpeI o.
regents has been increased and certain
representative art societies and organlza-
tons in various parts of the country are
to be asked to nominate a representative
to be elected a member or the poaIu.
The members of the present noaro ~. ar
Mr.. Elihu Root. Senator Henry Caoot
Lodge. Senator Philander c. Knox. sen.
ator Francis G. Newlands. Mr. Rooert
Bacon, Prof. William H. Holmes. HehIy
Walters Charles M. Ffoulke. william f.
Curtis. Glen Brown. Francis D. Miiet'
Charles L. Freer Charles Stewart Smith.
James ]. Hill. E. Francis Rigg. Francls
Cotton, Mrs. Frank o. Lowden. Mrs: Lew
p. Morton. Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst anu
Mrs. Bellamy Storer. At meeting nelS
last week Mr.. Henry Walters was electeu
provisional chairman. Mr.. Charles M;
Ffoulke provisional vice chairman anu
Mr. Glenn Brown provisional secretary.
This forms a temporary working ioICe
which. through the cooperation OF tne
art institutions and societies applied TO-
WILL as soon as possible, affect perma-
nent organization. AS soon as TINS per,
maneht board is organized it Is proposed
to issue a call for a national conVention
to be held in this city next winter TO pe
composed of the delegates from the art
institutions and societies of the Cnlteo
States, including all associations TOT the
promotion of art and the educatlon oI.the
public taste, to formulate plan ioI
national fine arts federation and to con-
slider such other matters of general IN
terest as may be deemed of sufficient I'M
portance. President Roosevelt In a letter
has signified his deep interest In the plan,
heartily indorsing the project for feder-
alton similar in scope to existing federa-
tons of professional associations and So
cieties of a national character. Vice Pres
ident Fairbanks has promised to presloe
at the convention and Secretary Root Will
deliver the address of welcome and ex-
plain the purposes for which the conven-
ton is called. That the time Is now ripe
for a federation of this character Is gen.
orally agreed. and that such convention
would do much to stimuli art interest
doubt.
Several more paintings have been added
by Mr. William T. Evans this week to
the collection which he has presented TO
the National Gallery. Two are In lieu
of canvases withdraw, which seemed
to fall below the standard established,
and three are works of painters hereto
fore unrepresented. The former two are
paintings by Homer Martin, an early and
characteristic. Lower Ausable Pond"
bears the date 1858 and manifests an
affinity with the works of the Hudson
river school. Its technique is rather
tight. its composition crowded, and yet 1t
has excellent tonal quality and a beauti-
fully luminous sky. Evening on the
Seine" is a broader painting. though
less finished production Its composition
is extremely simple. its charm entirely
dependent upon the interpretative power
of the painter. Less dreary than some of
Martins paintings, it is not without vital
significance. When Mr.. Evans first made
his gift to the National Gallery he prom
ised to include in it a painting by Irving
this artist of young woman in
Brown Kimono" standing beside
Japanese jar filled with hydrangea bios
SONS. 1t is APPARENTLY very recent work
and has dried in somewhat unevenly.
which initiates at present against it's
effect. but its color scheme and textures
are both agreeable and finely handled.
'The Moose Chase" a picture of three
Indians In a canoe. on a mountain lake,
pursuing swimming moose, which
was painted by George de Forrest Brush
In 1888. Is also among these last addi-
tions and will be found interesting and
notable. Perhaps trifie hard and meas
ured but well conceived and strongly
a txy,ioo ~ fhn ,Ars01
and indicative Of the painters strength.
The fifth of the group is a landscape Dy
Ernest Lawson. painter of the ultra
school, whose chief aims are the repro
AS an experimenter Mr.. Lawson has done
good work. but one may question the en-
during. merit Of this particular canvas.
Mr. Evans is not one, however, VINO is
afraid to change his mind or revise his
opinions, and If after a trial the pictures
he purchases do not ho-d up to the
standard he requires, they are banished
and others procured. There is certainly
no more consistent or untiring patron of
American art than he.
4 X
Now that the ONCE building for the
House of Representatives is complete. the
question of decoration comes up. The
Library of Congress, which has set an
cAdNNplo anu 1cNI Impetus W SUCH WOIA,
has also sounded warning, and the feel
ing Is that these decorations should
neither be insistent nor ornate. The
function of the building dictates simplici-
ty and it's plan gives but small oppor-
.tunity for much display. The plaster Of
the walls in the offices is yellowish in
color and rough finished, which gives good
texture and tone: and the walls Of the
corridors. which are now a dead white,
will probably be given fiat tint: but the
conference room. the rotunda and two or
three large committee rooms invite more
elaborate treatment. A scheme for the
decoration Of the ways and means COM
mittee room has been presented by Mr.
James Wall Finn Of New York, which
has the Endorsement of the consulting
architect, Mr.. Hastings. and is now be-
fore the committee.
According to the sketch which was SUBJ
mitted, the design provides for the deco
ration of the ceiling and the walls the
motive for the former being the signs of
the zodiac. and for the latter allegorical
0ruras roproconfinQ the aeveral confinopfc