Evening star., 1914-02-14

HE Washington Water to'''
Clubs annual exhibition IN the
Henicycle Hall of the Cor
coran Gallery of Art Is attract
ing much interest and attef-
tion. The consensus OF opinion is ina. II
,s one of the best exhibitions the club
has held.
There is a large proportion OF out-oi-
tow,, work and the collection as a whole
may he taken as fairly representative OF
the OUTPUT of the day. In other words,
this exhibition compares very faVorahiy
with the exhibitions of current work held
I,,, the water color clubs in New York
and Philadelphia.
IN especially interesting section OF the
exhibition is that given up exclusively TO
works in black-and- white. Autographs
etchings and drawings The water color
club was so fortunate as to secure for
this exhibition group of Autographs OF
Greek temples, made by Joseph Pennell
last summer on a first trip to Greece
These have the appearance of charcoal
drawings and are of sufficient size to be
very effective even in so large a hall as
the Hemicycle. They are as charming as
anything that Nr. Pennell has done and
lecture to the beholder's attention as few
pictures do. There is realism. a con
viction in these drawings which stirs
even the casual observer. Perhaps IT Is
because of the artists freshness Of vision.
He admits that he went to Greece with
comparatively little knowledge OF the
stereotyped kind and no preconceptions.
Had l known more. l might have seen
less" he says. adding, FOR 1t seems to
me that most artists who have gone to
rE.d Nit h t1.I
they have been told to see that they
have looked at the land with a foot rule.
a translation and a dictionary. and they
have often been 1nterfered with by these
aids
There is much truth in this state
ment Mr.. Pennell went to Greece open
eyed and open-minded. and the impress
sions he received were vital and vera
cious. His mode of expression. more
over. is no less spontaneous and direct
F. Hopkinson Smith. in his recently pub
lished volume, In Thackeray's London"
extolls the virtues of charcoal as a
medium of artistic expression There is
none like it. he says; none which affords
such wide latitude and yields such happy
results Not only Mr.. Smiths drawings
of London. but Mr.. Pennell's of Greece
go to verify this high opinion. Char
coal has a texture. richness quite its
practiced by a master the result is very
near the origina'. Among the temples
pictured is the Temple of Juptter-a beau
tiful example of the inimitable art of
Greece.
With these Autographs are shown some
etchings by Mr.. Pennell. but. interesting
as they are. they seem less satisfying
than the large transcriptions in the
stronger medium. Probably they are no
less we'll done, but the medium seems
less suitable in this instance to the
subject.
Mr.. Pennell is. of course, first an
etcher and then photographer. His first
etchings were made as illustrations for
one OF the magazines and were Of old
world subjects-French cathedrals and
other architectural themes. The COM
mission for this work took him abroad.
and though he returns from time to time
to America he has now for years made
his residence in London He is a MEM
bcr of the Society of Painters, Sculptors
and Gravers of London. of which Whs-
tier was first president-succeeded by
Rodin. He has received high awards
from foreign governments in recognition
Of the merit of his work. He is repre-
sented in the Gallery of Modern Art at
Venice, iii the Gfizi in Florence the
Luxembourg in Paris and In other ma
ional collections. And yet he is above
all sincere American, delighting in the
spirit of cur time and national life, dis
covering and making manifest to all the
beauty in the skyscrapers of New York
and the belching factory smoke of Pitts