Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-11-17

kl8uk Amo1bC4n o<OS&S VoI0 COM.
m1ssioned captains and sent overseas
last March TO serve as official artists
with the American expeditionars
force al the front One hundred ano
ninety-si1 sketches made by these art
lists will be placed on exhibition In
the Corcoran Gallery of Art Tuesday.
November 10. and will remain on view
until Thursday the 2Sth- This col
ton represents the entire output OF
these artists returned to date. 1t Is
understood. however. that still NOR.
work of possibly more elaboratt
character is at present held for exhibit
ton purposes in France.
The eight artists holding these com
missions are J. Andre Smith, etcher
George Harding. William ]. Aylwaro
Wallace Morgan, Ernest c. Peixotto
Harvey t. Dunn, Walter j. ENRICH
and Harry E Townsend. all of WHOM
are better known as illustrators tha
as painters
The purpose of the War Departmen
IN appointing these official artists was
not merely to secure pictorial record.
of the war superior to those obtain
able through the medium of photog-
raphy, but to obtain material whic.
through the medium of the perioNca
press could be used to keep the activi
ties OF our Army graphically befor
the American public. Naturally, there
fore. in selecting the artists, prefer
ence was given to men who had ha
experience in magazine illustration.
The task given these artists was ali
enviable one, but tar from easy. The
artist had to become a military man
and part of the great disciplined
army, subject to orders, under COM
rnand. Furthermore, he was trans
60 far
surroundings; he was brought face to
face with the tragedy of war.
When Joseph Pennell went to France
more than year ago to make Sc
ries of Autographs of war work in
France, at the invitation of the
French government. he found condi-
tions such that he frankly admitted
defeat, and after a few weeks trial
left the country without having &C
complished his purpose. The drama of
warfare is SO oyerpowerinS. so much
bigger. SO much more profound than
any who have not witnessed 1t can
realize that it almost defies pictorial
Interpretation, belittiing in the ar
lists own eyes his accustomed activi-
ties and past achievements.
There is no doubt that out of the
great war experience will come-in
fact. may have already come, some
great emotional works of art, but il
would be absurd to suppose that an
artist could on the instant of enter
ing the war zone be moved to produce
a masterpiece of painting. If, there
fore. the collection of 1876 sketches by
the American artists at the front. to
be placed on exhibition at the Cor
coran Gallery next Tuesday. seem az
a glance trivial in character, these
extenuatinC circumstances and condi-
tons should be kept. in mind.
One of the most interesting of the
groups included in this exhibition is
by George Harding, whose illustra-
tions have appeared for some years
in our leading magazines and have
been shown annually in the exhibit
tons In the Pennsylvania Academy az
Philadelphia Mr.. Harding is an artist
Of exceptional ability. and even the
slight sketches which represent him
in this exhibition have virility and go
Another large group is the work O.
Andre Smith etcher. His are small
architectural studies. for the most par
OF French towns more or less injure
by the enemy. Many are in color.
third group is nv Wallace Nor
gan: n fourth by William 7. Awkward
one Of the ahIest illustrators We
have: fifth by Ernest c. Peixotto
painter and author. as well as illus
TRAITOR.
The War Department is Showing
everything that the artists have sent
and at the CONCLUSION OF the exhihi
tion here the collection viii be show
in New York in the allied war salo'
opening in the American Art Gal
Ieriee on Esd street December 9 and
continuing for fortnight or more
Later they will probably he sent or
tour TO the various art galleries of
the country under the auspices of the
American Federation Of Arts.
+*
An exhibition of etchings made fr
Slam by Cadwallader Washburn is
now on view in the Dayton galleries
Oh Connecticut avenue.
MT Washburn is one of the fore
most of our American etchers H
was born In Minneapolis. studied a
the MaSSa chusettS Institute of Tech
nology Boston; the Art Students
League, in New York. under Sorolla
in Spain. and Eesnard, in Paris. He
has travelled much and has made a
practice for some time or spending his
winters in Mexico.
About a year ago he went to Siam
and spent four months exploring and
etching in that comparatively untfav-
eled country. His first impression Of
Bangkok was disappointing, but when
he got into the open spaces of the city
and beheld the temples with their pic
tercsqUe gables, the pagodaS and Ia
pcrtng prachadees standing out from
lthe verdant jungle foliage. he felt
fully reraid for his long journey and
he now declares the ancient architec-
tnral structures of Siam. her temples