The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-06-29
ELUDES
SINCEREQUESTERS
At ART CLUB FETE

II you stand on the outside OF .
picture looking in, it's an old-fashion-
ed painting by some poor misguided
Raphael, or Corot, or Rembrandt: but
If the picture makes you feel like you
are on the inside looking out-then
you may be assured it's a real fu-
turist production and just Us up 10
date as a machine gun on an aero
plane.
After spending yesterday evening
discussing What Is Futurism?" the
Arts Club reached no formal decision,
but the above definition was carried
away by most Of the seventy-five pres
emit.
The evening began with q dinner
spread on a long table on tho lawn in
the rear of the club house. at =O17
I street northwest, and thu discus
sion Of futurism was Ushered in with
the demitasse. Mrs. John ]. White
presided.
Chary of EHpOusaIS.
Apparently there was a llttlo dis
appointment when it developed that
no one present would admit being a
futurist, and some of the speakers
frankly admitted they didn't know
what futurism was.
Miss Jessie MacBride. who discuss
ed "Futurism in Music" admitted
being a modernist. but that was as
far as she would 20.
She pleaded guilty to liking "a big
sweep of line and lots Of color" talk
ed knowingly of dissonances, De-
Busy, and "hysterias of apprecia-
tion," and concluded by saying she
wanted an argument and asking
somebody to differ with her. Nobody
volunteered.
Herbert Bruncken, introduced by
Mrs. White as a regular poet, started
out well and everybody thought they
were going to get some real Futur-
istic info" right from the source.
But he wound up by saying that the
future of futurism was mostly in the
past.
Quite a PrO-German.
When he was telling how Msrinette,
high priest of futurism, had said we
should cut loose from the past by
destroying the Roman Forum, st.
Marks at Venice, and burning all the
old art galleries, Mrs. White gasped.
"Ah, yes" said she. He was a pro-
German"
Mrs. Nina c. AIlender, widely
known as an artist, was called on to
discuss "Futurism In Painting" and
began chronologically by saying the
futurists first broke out in Italy in
1910.
1t seems one Of their original ideas
was that a person looking at a pic
ture should be a part Of the picture,
and not a mere spectator.
Mrs. Allender amplified this by say
a. nafrsfnp If n hall
cony should be a part of the curtains
and of the house across the street,
but didn't say whether she should be
the front door or a dormer window.
Mrs. Allender concluded by saying
there were no real futurists in
America
just GLImn Beans"
Bertram Bloch was asked to tell
about futurism in the drama, but he
said that was still in its infancy, and
seemed to have started and stopped
with Kremberg's play, Lima
Beans" Mrs. r. Keith Forrest was
called on TO tell how futurism had
affected pageantry, but in response
frankly admitted she had discovered
no such animal"
S. Leeds, late OF New York, and
now representing the London Daily
Mall here, said futurism represented
the emotion of space" and was
roundly applauded.
Mrs. Bush Brown said there had
been revolutionists and pioneers in
art long before the futurists, and II
wasn't fair for any one school to
claim all the credit for progress.
The evening concluded with two
futuristic dances, Line and Force"
and The Garbage Pail Lid" They
were interpreted by Miss Lora King,
Miss Katherine Drain, Don Walker
and Howard Treat, clad in paper-dec-
GRATED costumes that would have set
Bakst wild with envy.