Evening star., 1921-10-30


ings by John Taylor Arms is now on
exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery OF
Art.
| Mr. Arms was a Washington boy.
He was born in this city in 1887. the
| son Of the late John Taylor Arms He
studied architecture at the Massachu-
sets Institute of Technology, grad
uating in 1911. For five years he
practiced his profession in New York
city, during which time he mage an
occasional etching When the United
States enter ed the great war he went
| into the service Of the government.
At the close of the war Mr. Arms de-
cided to give his entire time mere
after to etching. 1t was only in 1919.
therefore. that he entered tne ianhs
of the artists. and in less than year
! his reputation as an ctcher was flrm-
, ~ established. He has had. indeed.
phenomenal success and his work has
merited distinction.
| Up to January, 1919, his output con-
sisted of fifteen plates of architectural
subjects, showing careful and pains
taking handling of medium" and
competent knowledge Of craftsman
ship.
Almost directly upon taking up
| ,tching as q profession Mr.. Arms be-
gan experimenting in aquatfnt and
with such Interesting and excellent
I result that he has made specially OF
his medium of expression. Within q
year he produced twenty aquatintee
plates and others nas have followed aps or;1 IN
.nally printed In black and white: but
later in color with excellent effect
may be seen in the present exhibi-
ton.
| An aquatint has been described as
1 Inn
| lions" As rule, the subject Is etched
in outline, then the plate is covered
! With a layer Of resin dust and sur
| face tones are secured by varied eS-
posures of parts to acid action. MT MT;
| Arms uses this method with the full
| latitude that it allows, securing his
effects with line and tone, and with
tones superimposed as planes without
linear definition. His work Is ex-
! tremely sincere, serious and OF sound
I merit. 1t liz moro than clever. and
what it lacks in spontaneity it more
han makes up in correctness. Clever
| Sork often pals upon too intimate
acquaintance; work of this caliber
| gains through familiarity.
=. The subjects that Mr.. Arms has
chosen are unique, interesting and
| varied. One Of his aquatints shows
| single Easter lily as cleverly drawn
and as finely rendered as anything
that oriental artist ever produced.
SOTk SVluSNStu6 oHSST bSuaby W AAaS'
There are other aauatints OF flowers
and of floral designs very Japanesque
in their suggestion. yet Mr.. Arms has
never come under the direct influence
of oriental art nor made a special
study of it. The similarity. there
fore, can only be accounted for by the
fact that all art Is based on the same
fundamental principles.
Most attractive Of Mr.. Arms. aqua:
tints are those OF boats, bird-ltke and
elusive on Swiss Na ana Varh 1ts!ian tinss
"The Sarah jane" Is an ordinary
usual background Of New York sky:
scrapers. Thsre Is quite . series Of
ssss. Go%S g.ss ssss anssss
yet strong end frank. There is
nothing either ereininate or exotic IN
Mr.. Arms work.
The Japanesque element IS evil
dencsa again, g,,Ia most streans,Hy ST sHouin- II sa
ar tree silhousttsd against 2 back
mountains and neHntein lake.
Included in this collection is a su-
little ,hsn sssYsnsint; ;psSss no
Mont Mont Saint Michel" sisins. with
ssse5a.ixs sfsr; :sa .eidese iaes1e sense
No less ensssing are bis saaatint!s.
0avOrlnS OK tnN war, tlno otSotlSH.
ter" and the as. C.s on Patrol" The
frst two are Of airships, one high UP
in a cloudless night sky, the ether
maneuvering through searchlight
avenues, three great fingers pointing
upward. The last two are boats. one
seen plunging headlong through the
sea, the other an exchange Of signals.
| two submarine chasers meeting at
night and exchanging messages by
means Of a signal code through the
signaler probably measures no more
than half an inch in height. but it is dis
tinct and full of action. These two In
particular are rendered with the anaz-
Ing simplicity which the post impress
sionists strove for, but rarely obtained.
Turning again from aQuatints to
the etchings one hlds variety In
treatment as we'll a. in theme. There
are several of. trees boldly wrought.