Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-05-03


day evening, April 3. The
magnifcent marble stairway in the fine
arts department made an attractive set
ting for the crowds OF beautifully gowned
women and their attendant cavaliers, as
they eagerly assembled for a first glimpse
Of the 352 paintings that will adorn the
walls Of these spacious galleries until the
evening Of June 80.
This private view, called in Paris lie
vernissage" was originally very quiet
affair, merely a time set apart before the
opening Of the salons when artists could
come for q last view of their pictures and
decide IL they needed bit more color or
a little toning down in their new sur
roundings. They always brought their
paints and ladders were provided for all
contingencies.
The chief reason why ladies' OF fashion
first sought admittance was because OF
the novelty OF seeing the world-famous
painters perched on ladders or hard at
work retouching their pictures. But after
while the artists rebelled. and refused
longer to provide amusement for this
public vernissage.
They went a day earlier to overlook
their pictures, on what is now called lie
petit vernissage," to which entrance Is
more eagerly sought than to that OF the
vernissage proper. when society must de-
pend on friends, or newspaper critics, or
the pictures for entertainment.
In our country there Is but one YER
nissage, or private view, which has come
to mean merely q social function, as even
the critics usually manage to slip in q
few hours in advance that they may OBJ
tain an uninterrupted view of the pic
lures. In this case the extraordinary ex-
cellence Of the entire exhibit aided them
to form q more rapid judgment than 10
usually possible. No unpretudioed OBJ
server could help being impressed by the
first respondent vision Of such q scene.
The stately galleries, with walls Of solid
color make superb setting for the work
Of both foreign and American painters.
Mr.. Beatty Is not only a most competent
director. but an artist as well, and
ception Of the fine arts department, sew
enteen years ago. the standard for these
annual exhibitions has become wOrld-re-
nowned. There are no record-breaking
pictures this year. but the splendid aver
age Is more than compensatory.
Many of the pictures seen here were in
the Corcoran biennial exhibition last De-
cember. Notably, John Sargent's magnifi-
cent Portrait OF q Lady; Breaking of
the River lee by Gardner Symons which
Benson's refreshing outdoor idyll Sun
and Shadow" .'F'leur de Lys" by F. c.
Frieseke; Where the Brooks Meet"
Jonas Lie: Church Interior" Carl Mel
cheers. and many others that won much
praise here for their high technical quail
ties and appealing beauty.
In awarding the Carnegie prizes the
jurors were limited in their selection. a.
many Of the pictures were labeled mot
competing" These little tags are so
inconspicuously placed on exhibition pic
lures that many visitors do not under
stand that q large proportion Of the
finest works are always ''hor concours."
the highest prize or they are on the jury
or the pictures do not comply with some
OF the necessary conditions; these condt-
tons vary: usually there Is q time limit
within which the paintings must have
been produced.
The Marble Cutter" by Glyn w. Phil
pot. won the gold medal. which carries
with IL $500. II ID q magnificent ex-
ample of the work being done In Lon
don by a group Of young portrait painters.
inheritors Of that long line Of portraitists
who have made this branch of English
art famous.
The second medal. with $1,000. went to
Henri Martin for his gorgeous color
decoration Autumn" Martin II one OF
the few French mural painters on whom
the mantel Of Puvis de Chavannes seems
to have fallen-not that his works re-
semble those OF the master, for they are
absolutely different In color and technique
but he shares those high imaginative