Evening star., 1909-05-29
GOLD MEDAL AWARDED
Miss Barnes Wins C0rCoran
Art School Chief Prize.
EXHIBIT OF YEARS WORK
Presentation in the Hemicycle Hall
of Corcoran Gallery.
WORTHY DISPLAY BY PUPILS
Principal Messer Delivers a Short
Address, Suggesting a Viewpoint
of Field of Modern Art.
EXHIBIT OF YEARS WORK
WORTHY DISPLAY BY PUPILS

About nine hundred persons assembled
at the Corcoran Gallery last evening to
witness the presentation of the gold
medal and other awards OF merit to the
pupils of the Corcoran School of Art and
10 view the exhibition of the years work
set forth in the hemicycle hall and oppo-
site the school room.
The doors were thrown open at $50
o'clock and long before the bugie sounded,
at a quarter past nine. announcing the
opening of the exercises many persons
had chosen positions of vantage on the
staircase from the platform of which the
presentations were made.
Announcement of Awards.
Mr.. F. B. Mcclure. the director of the
Corcoran Gallery. made the announce
ments. and Gen. John NJ. Wilson of the
board of trustees the presentations. They
were follows: In the life class, the gold
medal. which is the highest award to the
group of drawings marked G, the work
of Miss Edith Alice Barnes: the bronze
medal to the group OF drawings marked c.
by Miss NInna Heilprin. and honorable
mention TO the group of drawings marked
l.. by Miss Elsie Brooke Snowden. In
Miss Marion Stevens. and honorable men,
tion to Miss Faith Edwards. In the
draped life class. silver medal to Miss
Louisa Huntington, and honorable men
tion to Miss Elizabeth Hatton. In the
still life class, silver to Mrs. Myron d.
Smith, and honorable mention to Mrs. j.
d. Hauze. In the composition class. sill
yer medal to Mr.. Vincent Lynch. and hon
orable mention to Mr.. Frederick &. Fox.
In the water color class. silver medal to
nhNfI l1a
mentions to Miss Pearl Potter and Miss
$. NJ. Constable. And. finally. a prize of
80 in gold offered by one of the trustees
for the best torso either in black and
white or color. to Miss Elsie Brooke
Snowden. whose drawings from life and
the antique received honorable mention.
Prize for Best Landscape.
The jury making these awards was
composed of Messrs. C. c. Glover, A. J. |
Parsons. F. 3. Mcclure. E. c. Messer, |
r. y. Brooke, James Henry Moser and
Miss Mathilda Mueden, the art commit |
lee of the Corcoran Gallery and the |
faculty of the school 1t was announced |
by Mr.. Mcclure that the same trustee |
who gave this year the prize of $25 for |
the best torso, offered a similar prize |
next season for the best landscape in |
water color. painted out of doors. Gen. |
Wilson, congratulating the young wom- |
en- upon carrying off the majority of the |
awards. called attention to the fact that
his own sex was improving in this re-
spect, taking 100 per cent more prizes this
Near than last, reminding his audience
that last year just one man was thus
honored, and this year there were two.
Address by the Principal.
Before the announcement of awards
was made-indeed. almost before the
murmur of voices had subsided-E. c.
of he
School. delivered a short address, the
purpose of which was to establish view
point from which the field of modern art
might be advantageously surveyed and to
suggest lines of thought to be fruitfully
pursued by the students. He said
Tt Is not easy to define the modern |
spirit as expressed in art. Essentially, all
manifestations of the art idea are in
accord. but the more or less superficial
Emergencies of different peoples are mir
rored in their art, and so we find an in
teresting diversity in the art of peoples
and periods. 1t so happens, as this i'm
mediate period. through the agencies of
modern inventions, that the principal ma
tons are closely interrelated, and the
whole world is settling into a community
of interests. and it may not be a fanciful
supposition that the art of the future
VIII be an art common to all races In
those nations that are now most nearly
IN accord we find phases of art not es-
or racial Emergencies are to be found
IN nation that lags a little behind like
Spain We find there an art that shows
distinctly national spirit, in the art
OF Sorolla and Lulcaga. There is much,
II is true. in the art of Sorolla that is
modern in a general sense-the modernity
of a Sargent. for instance-but beyond
that, or within it, is an accent that can
not be found outside of Spain. This is
particularly true OF the art of Zuloaga.
we do not compare him TO other modern
painters We bark back TO the old Span
ish masters. 10 Goya.
Modern Spirit in Art.
Just how shall We define the modern
spirit: II reflects the modern life and
tiat is complex. III we seek a word to
differentiate it from the older art. it will
be the word psychic The old art was
frank: it dealt with the obvious. The
modern poet says With an inner voice
the river ran We listen to these voices
We seek TO penetrate the wells of matter
that hide an Elusive spirit One is dis
posed TO think that modern materialism
Is myth. No one rests content in il: the
classroom. the laboratories are fields of
psychic research. We are at the parting
OF ways and one way leads we know not
where II Is this spirit OF uncertainty,
of unrest, that chara acteriZes our period
and so we may expect 10 find the spirit
of modern art spirit Of unrest This is
not AL. We suffer. more or less from a
nervous exhaustion that is apt 10 end in
hysterta or in the so-calIed decadaut
phases OF French art or kindred phases
among the secessonists OF GERMANY
fortunately the American is too young or
run blooded or top ambitious to suffer as
yet from these maladies. Perhaps the
seh-criticism that offers itself the most
readily 10 us is that the method over
powers the concept, but that will pass