Evening star., 1914-04-18

4 a Gallery of Art next Thursday
evening with d private view and
reception This exhibition will consist
of marine paintings by William F. Hal
sail of Boston. painter who has given
more than fifty years of his life to pic
turing the sea. There is no phase OF
sea scenery. no aspect of ships or boats.
unfamiliar to him, it is said. and one
| can well believe that he is fully con-
versant with his subject
! This painter was born in 1s41 at Kirk
dale England. near the mouth of the
/ Mersey. and went to sea when he was
ONLY twelve years old. His first voyage
was as a cabin boy on the Ocean Rover
! from Portsmouth to East India ports;
later he made voyages to Australia and
| to the African coast as we'll as to other
nearer places and at the age of sixteen
he became second mate He went to
Boston a short time before the civil war
broke out and took up business as
fresco painter; but he Immediately en-
listed in the navy and served two years
in the North Carolina blockadinS squad
ron. After that he resumed his work in
Boston. Painting signs and studying at
the Lowell Institute School of Design.
ictures of yachts and other vessels
painted for their proud owners. together
with his natural love of the sea. served
| to direct his career in a congeniai chan
mel, and thus the sailor and fresco paint
| er became the marine painter of subse-
quent years.
| The most important picture Mr.. Halsall
ever produced is in the estimation of
William Howe Downcs, the veil known
critical writer, his large, historical can
" a rom inc f1n hat
in pursuit of the Spanish cruiser Cristo-
bal Colon during the famous naval en-
gagenent off Santiago de Cuba, i'll 1898.
This picture, which will hold conspicu-
GUS place in the exhibition here, has oc-
cupied Mr. HalsalI for several years in
termittentIy. and has but recently been
completed To collect his data for this
composition and assure absolute histori-
cal accuracy. Mr.. Halsall went to Cuba
with letters from John D. Long, former
| Secretary of the Navy. to officers of the
Oregon Once there he made a complete
and careful study of the ship. conversed
| with officers and crew. examined the
coast. the mountains. the sea and all the
| surroundings. During the painting of
| the picture he received constant and In
! valuable criticism from naval officers. in
| Guiding the commander of the Oregon;
| from naval architects and designers; so
| as a historical document his picture is
{: certainly to be relied upon as accurate.
I The picture is admirably described by
| Mr.. Downes as follows:
| THE particular episode chosen for de-
\ hneatfon by the artist shows the Oregon
| In furious pursuit of the fleeing Cristobal
| Colon. few miles to the westward of
! the hsrbor entrance of Santiago. The
| canvas is ten feet high and twenty feet
] wide The Oregon is in the foreground
| slightly to the right of the center of the
| composition. She is under forced draft
! the smoke pouring up in d dense cloud
from her tunnels. and the powerful fab
ric trembling under. the strenuous pro-
| pulsfon of her engines as she plunges
| forward. churnine the deep-b blue Carib-
bean waters into a wonderful seething
| wake of emerald and silver. The rush
| of the battleship is felt with extra
| ordinary sense of actually. The heavy
| guns in the forward t,irret are being
| fired, as the Spanish cruiser. afar at the
left, strikes her colors ard turns in des-
| peration to lay her bones on the Cuban
| beach. shell from the Oregon has
| the Spanish vessel. throwing gIeat
! column of spray high in the air. The
background shows the mountainous shore
! of the south coast Of Cuba. softened by
\ miles of intervening atmosphere. 1t is a
I very dramatic and stirring ptcture-an
| authentic historical page in the naval
| history Of the United States and a re-
| markahlc picture of a modern sea tight"
| This Is not tho first naval combat that
| Mr.. HaIsail has pictured. The First
| Fight of tho TroncIads the battle be-
/ tween the Monitor and Merrinlac which
| was purchased by Congress in 1856. is his
work also, but the later painting is said
| in many respects to be far superior.
/, Fifty-five other paintings of the sea are
! to be shown with the great picture of the
| oregon. These have been painted from
! time to time as opportunity afforded
! some on the Pacific ocean. others in trop-
| ical seas, but the great majority off the
! coast of New England. The sea is pic
tured in many moods, no one less true
than another. and in almost every in
! stance there is a boat somewhere within
the range of vision. suggesting man S
| mastery of the elements and giving a
| touch of human interest
| The exhibition will be open to the public
from Thursday April %, to Thursday
May IS. In the new building of the Ma
tional Museum. 10th and b streets north
west. 1t cannot fail to attract universal
interest.
4 A exceedingly interesting account OF
\ the work done toward decorating the
Dent School by the League for the Dec
ora ton Of the Public Schools was given
by the principal of that building Miss
Hopkins. at the annual meeting of the
League short time ago The first step
Miss Hopkins explained, was tinting some
of the walls. which had been white but,
becoming marred and soiled, had assumed
dull gray tone. Tints were chosen an
applied under the direction Of Miss Grace
Lincoln Temple, chairman of the deco
ration committee.
The walls in sunny rooms were tinted
soft light green. others buff, brown and
cream Curtains were added to regulate
and modify the light, few pictures
judiciously selected and two casts al
| ready owned were satisfactorily replaced
One of the pupils. boy. exclaimed to his
!. teacher: why, it don't look like school