The Washington herald., 1921-11-20

:
of their powers in the active life of
our nation. the name of Oberber dt
IL beginning to sound in the earA
Of the devotees OF the fine arts as
= leader in portraiture.
He has crystallised the modern
spirit of America in the rich de-
velopment Of a style which bids fair.
to command the attention of coming
generations of artists for many
years to follow. and no doubt the
future will witness the establishing
Of many schools where the handline
and Technique peculiar TO this truly
great man will be widely known
and studied. He is a true path
finder along the dificult road TO
the founding of real schoor oS,
modern American art
Oberhardt is a son OF Au.r,c.
born In prosaic New Jersey. 4, thu
little town Of Gutenberg, septem,
Der %. 1882. He showed talent Al
an early age and his display a,
talent instead OF bringing down the
parental slipper brought tear. =,
JOY and surprise to his father and
every means the family could su,-
ply were bent towards giving young
William an opportunity to deveIon
his latent possibilities. 1t MAKE,
one shudder to think of the many
such great men who are lost to the
world because of misunderstandIne
and discouragements at home
Wins SCHOOL Pri.es.
Williams father, Obliged 70 ,orsso
an opportunity TO cultivate hi, owE
talent in this direction because ~
the poor fortunes of his family. de-
termined that his rapidly budding
son should not suffer the same fate
Although 1t meant many SACRIFICES
at home the boy. at the age of IL
entered the National Academy n,
Design. Here he won the biehe,t
prizes In drawing and portraiture,
and after three years left New York
for Europe, where he continued his
studies in the Munich Academy ar
Fine Arts.
The European experiences of the
fast-deyeloping genius embraced a
manifold and heterogeneous class of
work. He studied under Carl Mari.
the famous American professor at
Munich. to whom all travelling
Americans make pilgrimage. and
also learned a great deal from Lud-
wig Horterlich. the impressionist.
Later he spent considerable time
absorbing the style and technique
OF the old masters in Northern
Italy.
Produces New Realism.
AT the time when his studies were
completed realism was q stranger 10
art and he pioneered its introduc-
ton into the field of illustration
when he received his first contract
from Scribner's only a month after
his return from Eur-re. The attic
between the pretty idealism and the
new realism of that day was Just
beginning. and other and lesser de-
voices swung into the field behind
ooerhardt- At times the way was
hard and recognition slow to mate
rialize, but the TRUST stuck TO his
guns until slowly but surely she
| power and force Of his Character
izations began to stamp his work
unique, original and worthy of real
| fame.
Every piece of his portraiture 4.
| individual. Not one Of the charac-
ter studies resembles another. The
portraits are not flat, nor dead, nor
yet stiff. Everyone speaks and
lives. They are the men caught on
the tick of time with the breath of
life and markings of character den-
nitely outlined. Yet his delineation
Is so keen. his sense OF values so
| profound and his feeling for the
balance of his sitter so sympa
thetic that 1t never takes more
| than an hour to complete his most
dinicult sketch portraits.
| Did War Publicity.
| During the late great conflict the
| Society of American Illustrators
under the able leadership of Charles
Dana Gibson. placed their services
| at the disposal of the War DEPART
ment. organized into a body called
| the Division of Pictorial Publicity.
A highly patriotic service was rem
| dered and at the conclusion of tho
war the government asked that the
portraits of the men thus engaged
ne placed on record as a permanent
exhibit in the national archives of
, the War Department. wiIliau N,
| Oberhardt. as a member of the or
| ganization, was commissioned tn
make the portraits of the more inn
| portant members
During the past year, through the
efforts of David Roberts and his
assistant, Miss. Helen Wright, in
the prints division of the Library
of Congress, the entire lot Of
twenty-five heads. portraits OF
George ]. lillian, Herbert Paus To-
seph Pennell. John E. Sheridan.
Arthur Train, Douglas voiK, Ma
thaniel Pohsette-Dart. William A.
Rogers, Frank J. Sheridan, jr.. H. r.
Webster. H. Dewitt Welsh, Walter
Whitehead. ]. Thomas Willing.
Kendall Banning, Chass Gilbert.
F. De Sales Casey. F. E. DAYTON,
Charles B. Falls. Charles Danna
Gibson. Ray Greenleaf, Fred q.
Cooper, Herbert Adams, Israel
Daskow. Edwin H, Blashfield and
August w. Hutaf, have been placed
on exhibition on the second floor
of the Library Of Congress, to thu
left of the main stairway.
Exhibit worth VISITING,
Many OF these men are familiar
to Washingtonians and the entire
exhibit is well worth an evenings
visit to one of the arts treasure
houses of the world, the Library of
Congress.
Mr.. Oberhardt has been in wash
| ington recently for the purpose of
attending the armament Limitation
conference and it is expected while
he Is visiting here that he will have
as his sitters many of our best be-
loved and widest KNOWN national
and international figures. 1t is said
that President Harding, Secretary
Hughes. Chief Justice Taft, Senator
Lodge. Uncle Joe Cannon, and many
of the visiting notables are sched-
uled to sit for the famous portrait
| a rtiSt