Evening star., 1920-04-04

At the Library of Congress there
! is now to be seen most interesting
collection of prints. engravings, lith-
ographs and etchings, about 100 in
| number. acquired by the print di-
vision during the past two years for
the library's permanent collection, AS
the acquisitions were made to fill
gaps in an already comprehensive
collection, the showing is extremely
varied and the exhibits do not evil
dence special relationship, so far as
medium or dates are concerned. For
the purpose of display they are ar
ranged alphabetically, according to
the surnames of their makers. To
an extent, however. this lends to the
visitors enjoyment. 1t is not al
ways conducive to pleasure to have
ones feast too orderly in arrange
ment. An occasional surprise lends
relish. Such a collection as this Of
1ers the visitor opportunity for ex-
ploration and discovery. and it also
OFTEN gives rise to unusual COM
parisons. the works of some OF the
most modern men being placed side
by side with those of print makers
OF past centuries, AS a result one
IS brought to realize that. although
form may vary as well as method,
art is the same.
10 the average person prints" has
duli and prosaic sound, but there is
IN truth no more fascinating pursuit
than that of print collecting and none
more democratic. In a lecture on
Prints. the Commonest Form of Art
circulated by the American Fedora
ton of Arts. William NJ. WINS. jr..
curator of the department of prints
or the Metropolitan Museum. has said
that unfortunately a certain kind of
print collector in speaking of his
treasures has used three or four ad-
Jectives so lavishly that he has almost
succeeded in making people think
tnat prints are something different
from what they really are, that they
are are. W6nth while only TO the extent
tnat they are very old or very rare,
very nne or very expensive. This, Mr.
WINS declares. is great pity, for
none of these qualities has anything
Whatever to do with human interest or
artlstlc worth which are the only
Kind worth having" The fact is. as
thls authority points out, that with
lie" exceptions the prints which today
command the creates prices or are
most highly regarded by students or
collectors were little thought of whe n
originally made and offered for sale
TO the unappreciative public" The
nnest and best japanese prints were.
we know, originally sold at a few
cents. and few of the engrayinrs
that are rarest today when first issued
sold for a song. The same process is
still going on. and those who have
the taste and judgment can build IN
worthwhile print collections at yerv
little cost.
AS was said before great variety
marks the collection now on view at
the Library of Congress. Included in
it are a number of exquisite nortrait
engrav1ngs by Robert NanteuiI the
portrait engraver of Louis XIV, whose
name has long been synonymous
among connoisseurs and print col
iectors with greatest excellence sat-
talned by the lost art of line engray-
ing. There is group of Charming en-
cravings OF figure subjects by Will
liam Morris Hunt, one of our Ameri-
can artists whom we dare to call
great, and whose influence on Amer
lean art was both potent and benefi-
cent. Hunt, it will be remembered
was educated abroad. studied under
Couture and later came under the in
fuenee of Mil1et His work, however.
was extremely individual. academicaI-
ly sound and artistically fine, evi-
dencing fine craftsmanship and high
ideals.
There are some portraits in this
collection in mezzotint. others inter-
preted through the medium of lith-
ography. Not the least lovely of the
latter are reproductions of drawings
Dy Sir ThomaS Lawrence. There is a
delightful photographic print of Sir
Gaahad by George Watts and an
extremely interesting portrait by
Lawrence of Thackeray. In the midst
OF these rather sober subjects one
comes across color dry-point, "The
Tramway." by Mary Cassatt. showing
two women and a child in a French
street car-an extremely clever rem
dering. There is a color etching of
excellent quality by George Sense
ney. The Landscape" and a very
pleasing aquatint by Sir Frank Short,
the Britisher.
War Autographs by Pryse and
Pears. British artists. are included in
this display. The Pryse subjects are
figures and elementally tragic; Pears
subjects are ships and rather splendid
in their full rigging. Dulac, Bran
gwyn and Grieffenhagen are repre-
sented by brilliant war posters. Eu-
Iac's Poland" and Grieffenhagen's
"Alsace- are magnifcently
decorative as well as Immediately
engaging.
There are two series of lithographic
prints of landscape subjects, TYPICAL
ly American, quite different in char
acter and extremely fine-one of rug
ged western scenes by Birger Sand
zen of Kansas, the other by Bolton
Brown of New York of eastern sub
jects, setting forth mood rather than
form-moonlight and cloudy evening
effects.
An entirely different treatment of
landscape themes is noted in a group
of mezzotints by Adolphe c. Meyer. a
British engraver. Notable also in
tho collection ia a series of extremely