New-York tribune., 1919-02-23

is pleasantly enough compensated for
at the Fine Arts Building. In place OF
the usual display there in February we
have the annual show of the National
Association of Women Painters and
Sculptors. This follows the exhibition
of the Allied Artists, and, like that
affair, it wakes reflections on the i'm
portance to every organization of q
certain number of strong individuali-
ties. Organization by itself does not
seem to accomplish overmuch. This
association, for example, does not leave
in its ensemble the impression of in
teresting vitality which we used to get
IN earlier days from, say, the Society
of American Artists: But the associa-
ton might fairly retort that neither is
this impression to be had any more
from the Academy, which absorbed the
Society. The truth is that we have to
reckon here simply with one more mis-
cellaneous array of paintings and
sculptures, some of which are good.
The special merit the association might
still claim is that of good hanging.
With the aid of borrowed furniture,
stone seats and so on, the galleries
have been given an unusually good gen.
eral appearance. There is, perhaps,
another point to be emphasized-th
encouraging average of capable work
manship.
mo ,tn~ oc II,
again like the Allied Artists, make
much of the sketch idea, giving the
middle gallery altogether to small, in
formal notes. They form an agreeable,
if unimportant, collection. Incident
ally, they point to the weakness of the
exhlbition-the presence in it of too
many pieces, which, though larger in
scale than these casual memoranda,
are not any weightier in substance. We
revert to our search For the personal
equation, expressed with ability. 1t
comes out, happily, in more than one
treatment of the figure. Witness the
delicate tone in Mrs. S. S. Wise's
Young Knitter," the SAVIOR of origi-
nality in Mrs. Edith Magonigle's grace
fully decorative "Falconess," and the
humor in her Oriental "Jack and Mrs.
Sprat." One of the first of the more
indvidualized painters to assert them
selves is Miss Martha Walter, with her
Large Yellow Umbrella on the Beach"
She is as capable as she is animated;
| there is as much technical breadth as
there is brio of feeling in her work.
The exhibition justifies itself in di-
verse aspects-in the vigorous cattle
pieces by Miss Matilda Brown, in the
romantcism of Miss C. w. Parrish's
Days of Minstrelsy," in the fairly
brilliant shipyard studies by Miss
Anna Fisher, which are equally per-
suasive in their robust, confident style
and in their glowing color There are
also some open-air painters represent
ed, who are exceptionally rich in tai
cnt and character-Miss Marion Bull
lard, contributor of winter scenes:
Miss Jane Peterson, who sends typical
Gloucester subjects, and Miss Felicie
laJGlV
proclaimed itself in more than one ex-
hlbltlon with eXhilarating effect. Note.
too, Mrs. Florence SMELLS "Cheerful
Little Street." charming picture, and
Miss Dixie Selden's "Still Life" which
is little gem of color and texture.
But If there is one category which
leads all the rest, it is that of por-
traturc.
Mrs. Rand's three portraits of DR..
Walter B. James, Mr.. Douglass Rob-
lnson and Mr.. Joseph H. Choase, ir.,
are positively stimulating in their keen
accuracy of characterization and their
fine, authoritative craftsmanship. Miss
Mary Foote is equally successful with
men and women, her "Lt Umberto Co.
letti" and her Mrs. John Alden Car
penter'-the first sombre and the other
almost blithe in color-both disclosing
the same fluent and firm command of
her instruments. Miss Beaux sends n
head and shoulders Of Mr.. Robert
brandegee, one of the most freelv
handled and one of the strongest por-
traits she has ever done, and there are
capitally clever things in this field by
Miss Josephine Lewis, Miss Ruth A.
Anderson, Miss Clara T. McChesnev.
Miss Martha Walter, Miss Camelia
Whitehouse and Miss Gladys WiIes. De-
cldedly, the painters of portraits, formal
and informal, and "decorative," carry
off the principal honors.
The exhibit of sculpture, viewed at
large, is interesting and yields, on
closer examination, some good mo-
ments in the fountain figures by Miss
Janet Scudder and Miss Harriet Frish-
muth. The latter's nude, too, "The
Thread of Life" is spirited, we'll MI od-
elled bronze. Miss Frances Grimes
sends in her "Nauscaa" a relief of
unusual loveliness-and skill. Miss Ma
RE APPEL exhibits a fine bust of young
man, "The Bronze Head" and Mrs.
Annetta j. st. Gaudens reveals a subtle
charm in her small relief, "Mrs. G. B.
F." which we are sorry to miss in her
large, symbolical tympanum, "Salva-
tloA.' Miss Lucy Perkins Ripley, who
las won the Barnett prize with "The
Inner Voice." deserves it for her tech