Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-27

xhs Abbott Thayer exhibition Illus
t1xttng protective coloration in ma
tWA which opened in the Corcoran
Gallery yesterday. is distinctly unique.
Tho artist has painted his pictures
not only with pigment. but in several
Instances with feathers In not few
cGses stuffed birds are attached to the
boughs Of the painted trees by wires
put through the canvas. The object.
of, coufse. is to show that nature rec
ognizes the value and resorts for pro-
lection to camoufage.
Had a lesser artist done this same
thing the results would not have been
so Interesting. Even with stuffed
birds perched on the branches of a
painted tree. a Thayer landscape is
sense of pleasure because of the art
with which it has been executed.
There are some charming bits of
painting in this exhibition. One. for
example. of a rabbit amid brown gray
foliage. In many instances these
to look and look to discover the bird
or the wild creature which, when once
discovered. is very frankly visible. =
The camoufage used by the Army
- DdSCo upon Cnc Same tneOTy,
matching the colors of nature and
spotting these colors in such a way
that outlines are lost.
For ships the plan of matching ma
lures colors has not proved SO sue
cessful. as the ship which would be
the sea, becomes distinctly visible
when on the horizon line, and a color
which would obliterate in sunshine
would be clearly discernible on a
gray day. Hence the dazzle system"
has been resorted to for naval
which have crossed the ocean with
troops and food and fuel have been
painted like crazy quilts with big
patches of varied color having black
outlines, SO that while plainly visi-
BILE as ships. they make exceedingly
bad targets.
Away back in the days of the Ital-
ian renaissance artists were not
merely painters, but scientists, en-
gineers and scholars. Mr.. Thayer,
therefore. in applying science to art,
or art to science, has not been Great
ing a precedent, but carrying on a
very old tradition.
Xxx
More than $4,000 Italians, headed
by the most prominent American resi-
dents of that nation in this country,
have signed petitions to President
Wilson requesting him to give sit
tings for a portrait to be presented
to the Italian government as token
of what the Americans OF italian
birth have done in their effort to
support Italy and the allied cause in
is Giuseppe Trotta. and it is proposed
that the painting be hung in Italy's
National Gallery.
Giuseppe Trotta is a resident of
Flushing. Long Island. He studied
at. the Art Students League New
York. and also at the school of the
National Academy of Design. He is
a young man, but his work for some
years has attracted favorable atten-
tion and he has received quite num-
Der of medals and awards. His paint
ing is of distinctly conservative
type. Italian in sentiment and more
than promising. He is good drafts
man and skillful technician, an artist
worthy of the honor which his COM
patriots crave for him.
The Philadelphia artists lent assist
ance of a substantial kind in the re-
cent liberty loan campaign. At one of
the fetes held on the roof garden of
the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel portraits
by various Philadelphia artists were
offered as premiums to purchasers of
bonds. Those who subscribed $4,000
could have their portrait painted while
they waited, provided they were pa
tient enough to give two or three
hours sitting then and there. The
smaller subscribers had the privilege
of being done in chalk or crayon by
less distinguished artists. but also ION
the spot" Bonds of 100000 carried
with them orders for finished portraits
painted in the artists studios. Over
$1,000,000 was received in a short time
under these inducements.
Among the artists volunteering were
Leopold Seyffert, H. r. Rittenberg. AL
bert Rosenthal, Adolph Borie, Jessie
Wilcox Smith, Alice Kent Stoddard.
Violet Oakley, F. Walter Taylor and
others.
1t was, it will be remembered,
through some such scheme as this, at
an auction sale held in the early days
of the war, in England. for a great
war relief fund. that the painting by
Sargent Of President Wilson's por-
trait for the Irish National Gallery
came about.
X X
A bill has recently been introduced
into Congress authorizing the Secre-
tary of the Treasury ito refuse to
permit the expectation Of any work of
art purporting to be gift made by
an individual or organization to a for