Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-11-05
NOTES OF ART AND ARTISTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
An exhibition of water colors by Rear
Admiral Charles Henry Davis opened
in the special exhibition gallery Of the
Corcoran Gallery of Art last Wednes-
day, to continue through November 10.
Rear Admiral Davis was born in Cam
bridge, Mass. in 1s45. In 1851 he en-
tered the navy and was in active serv-
ice for forty-six years, attaining flag
rank in 1904 and retiring by operation
of law in 1907. The following year he
began painting in water colors. In 1910
he exhibited for the first time.
He is entirely self taught. During his
active career in the navy he had no
leisure for anything more than casual
and elementary work in drawing ana
painting, for which, however, he has a
natural taste. That he has done so
much and SO well would go to disprove
the suppositfon that at the age of sixty
mans usefulness is over.
The exhibition in the Corcoran Gallery
of Art comprises no less than seventy
eight pictures, the majority of which
are landscapes painted on Conan1cut
Island. the township of jamestown.
r. l., In the vicinity of Admiral Davis
sumner home. They are sincere bits of
work. carefully drawn, good in color
and very characteristic of the place.
There is one series of nine pictures all
painted in the same orchard near
Jamestown. each giving a different view
point. To those who have spent their
summers in jamestown all of the pictures
In. this exhibition will be Of the utmost
interest In addition to the Rhode Is
land landscapess~th there is group of
pictures painted in Washington, one in
the garden Of the Pan-Amerfcan Union.
one on the canal at Georgetown, an
other In the Botanical Garden. each a
genuine portrait of the place. Admiral
Davis has exhibited not only in Wash
| ington, but in Boston and Newport
William NJ. Chase, whose death a
little more than a week ago came as
shock to many, was to have been the
chairman Of the Corcoran Gallery jury
| for its approaching biennial exhibition.
| He Is represented in the Corcoran
Gallery by painting. Fish," great
! cod, which was done in London some
years ago and was the first of a series
| Of such paintings which brought Mr..
| Chase exceptional renown. He has told
| the story of how this picture was
| painted and 1t is well worth repeating.
Mr.. Chase was staying at Hammer
| smith, and hurrying into London one
| morning he CHANGED to glance at
| fshmonger's market in passing. There,
on "a clean white marble slab. lay
magnificent cod, the coloring of which
was so fascinating that he decided he
! would like to paint it at once. For
/ getting his errand he sought the fish
/ monger and inquired il he might rent
| the fish. At first the proprietor of the
shop demurred, explaining that 1t must
| be sold before night. but after while
| they came to an agreement Mr.. Chase
was to have the privilege of painting
| the fish just where it was for two
/ hours, after which time, If he still had
need of it, he was to buy 1t. 1t took
| a little more than two hours to do the
work, but so interested had the fish
monger become In the picture that he
/ told the painter not to hurry. agreeing
| to take his chances of selling the FISH
| The charge was one shilling, and the
| picture was subsequently sold to the
/ Corcoran Gallery for $4,000. The next
/ time Mr.. Chase was in London he
! called on the fishmonger and told him
of his good luck. and offered to make
| him further remuneration, but the Of
fer was not accepted.
Time and again Mr.. Chase was asked
whether 1T was really true that he
| painted that picture In so short a time,
J and his reply invariably was that 1T
| represented not single afternoons
| work, but the work of fifteen years.
| 1t Is not. most certainly, beautiful
| subject. and had the painter had less
\ II
work might have been quite true and
| sincere, 1T would have lacked the great
value that it possesses. This is one of
| the pictures of modern times which
will hold its own in any collection OF
| work by the great masters, and 1T goes
| to show that after all ii is, as Saint
| Gaudens once said, mot so much what
| the artist does, but the way he does it
| which counts"
| =
! Miss Bertha L. Perrie has brought
back with her from Provincetown a
| quantity of work done during the past
summer Miss Perrie is best known as
| a water colorist, but all of her recent
paintings have been in oils and are
strong. direct and convincing. She has
| several pictures Of the little town,
showing its crooked streets. its queer
| old houses, its sturdy wind blown trees.
| She has other sketches. showing the
boats at anchor by the wharves. And
| in addition to these some pictures of
| the Hawthorne class at work and some
| figure studies painted outdoors in the
full light of the midsummer sun.
Especially interesting is life size
study Miss Perrie made of an old fish
erman wearing blue smock-a man of
the real down east" type. with clear.
blue. far-seeing eyes and firm under
jaw. 1t is only a study. but it is a
most excellent Characterization.
The Art and Archaeology League will
| hold it's first studio assembly in the
studio of John Ross Key. in the Cor
| coran building, Saturday. November IS.
at pm.
Under the auspices of the league
Prof Fiske Kimball of the University
of Michigan gave an illustrated lecture