Evening star., 1917-03-04
NOTES OF ART AND ARTISTS

A collection of drawings and etchings
by J. Andre Smith. an American etcher.
IL now on view in the Charles Dayton
galleries on Connecticut avenue.
J. Andre Smith was born in Hong
kong, China, in 1880. From the time he
was seven until he was ten years of
age he lived in Germany. The next three
years were spent in Boston. but since
he was thirteen, with the exception OF
absences occupied by travel in Europe,
he has resided in New York. In 1898 he
entered Cornell University, and in 1902
he graduated from the College OF Archi-
lecture. The following winter he spent
in an architects Office in New York, re-
fellow in architecture. From 1904 to
1906 he had the privilege of travelling
as the recipient of the Cornell Untver-
sity travelling fellowship. Since 1908 he
has, however, devoted himself exclu-
sively to the work of etching.
Curiously enough. with this training
and under these circumstances Mr..
Smiths treatment of architectural
themes is not on the whole inter-
esting nor engaging as his rendition OF
landscape subjects. He is an admir-
able craftsman and an accomplished
ings are apt to be a little too exact,
too much in one plane, too unrelieved
by the play of light and shadow and
lacking in spontaneity. They are admir-
ably illustrative and very true. but in
their rendering the architect seems TO
transcend the artist.
Mr.. Smiths landscape etchings are,
on the other hand, peculiarly sensitive,
artistic and charming. Far better than
the majority has he grasjed In this
al Il of sub ND
value of the elimination of detail. rem
dering with the fewest number OF lines
broad and sweeping effects insistent
with the feeling of nature.
Such an etching is his Hampstead d
Plains dry-point done in 1913. in
which. as Nilsen Laurvik once said in
an article on this etcher's work, pub
lished in the Print Collectors Quar-
terly, 'The wide expanss of sky and
slightly undulating plain have been
Invested with pictorial interest solely
by means of his skillful treatment"
Such also are the plates "A Bit of the
Emerald isle. Cottage in Ireland"
and "on the somme" None Of these,
etching. Evidently. Mr.. Smiths style
is undergoing somewhat Of change:
instead of placing sole dependence
upon line he is resorting more to the
in the plate "Night-San Gimignans."
His Doorway of the Doge's Palace" is
also to a great extent a study of detail
in deep shadow, vigorous piece Of
work showing much subtlety and
beauty.
Among his most recent etchings are
thirteen comprised in this collection. a
large number of which are of land
scape subjects and very attractive. In
this group is The Friendly Road"
beautifully rendered: 'Raches of the
Sound" a picture of the Connecticut
shore. very true and expressive. and
"Housatonic Valley" a panoramic view
of farmlands. interpreted with excep-
tional skill.
Mr.. Smith is self-taught as an
etcher. but there fs in his work here
and there an indication of those
masters he has studied and for whose
works he has evidently great admira-
ton. For instance, his treatement of
trees Is by no means unlike that of
Seymour Hayden. who knew tree
anatomy.
The drawings shown are in charcoal
and colored crayon, and have mostly
been made in or about New York
There is delightful drawing of the
Hudson flecked with busy little boats,
side drive. entitled Boats and Things"
There is a view of the Pennsylvania
station in the process Of erection. pic
lures of skyscrapers and billboards
ana the ike, Dut somehow the houses
do not give the sense Of bigness which
they actually possess. nor do the city
pictures have that atmosphere of the
city which is SO insistent. They are
toy houses-miniatures. puppets-by no
means the thing itself.
. Again. however. the highest praise
can be given to his view, From Park
Windoy." and to a park view showing
q group of trees c"Giants of the Park" ;"
the latter is called). beautiful. sensitive
drawings, true to nature and keenly
artistic-the work of a master drafts
man and an artist.
1t is an interesting exhibition, and
one which all who can should see.
There are at the Dayton gallery at
present several etchings by Miss Ga
brielle Clements of this city. who is
perhaps better known as a painter of
mural decorations and easel pictures
than as an etcher. though in this latter
field she has attained a real distinction
among etchers. One of the plates eX-
hibited is of canal at Chartres. which.
curiously enough. is precisely the same
view which Charles A. Platt etched
Miss Clements shows the buildings to