The Washington herald., 1922-02-26
Swiss Minister and Wife
To Entertain at Dinner
Secretary of Agriculture and Mrs. Wallace
Will Entertain In Honor of President and
Mrs. Harding Late In Week.

the most unusual of modern Torce-
lains have recently been on exhibit
tion at the Arden Studios. They
are the work of Dutch artist,
from this nation famous for por-
celains. In some respects they are
the most diversified, most witty and
pictorial of any collection of this
delicate ware that has been dis
played in New York in recelS tines
They are as realistic as the Danish
porcelains, but conceived with
greater imagination: each figure Is
a definite personality expressed
with a rhythmical quality OF mind
and a great appreciation Of appro-
pirate gesture and pose, So that
they become racially, as well as
individually, true.
SEE PAGAN CHARM
IN NUDE PICTURES.
The nude figures are adorably
seduisant. aIluring. with a pagan
charm of complete unselfconscious-
ness. The Intentionally naive, tnar
has had so great a vogue in Amer
lea. has become a little boring with
the most Sophisticated nations IN
the world straining over ar: as an
infant does over the first rubber
ring. Why should not the arus.
say what he knows and feels or
appreciates about life, instead of
trying to imagine how a chief in
the Uganda or a child in the nurs-
cry would handle brush or ca sci ?
A naive product from a naive mind
is delightful: a primitive pr11uct
from an overcivilized mind inji-
Gates mental distortion.
Mrs. Oakley Totten. Junior. the
Dutch sculptor who designed the
lovely porceIains at the Arden Stu
dios, is genuinely cosmopolitan. To
her the nude in art is just an op-
is. or the tiger. or the little Chi
nese musicians. Color she uses with
a happy extravaganza.
Her very modern porcelains of
our Southwestern Indians reveal her
versatility. especially IL seen in con-
trast with her mincing ladies from
the Victorian court. the proud Span
ish beauty. and the languorous grace
OF the woman with a pet tiger. A
glance at the little, white. cloaked
figure tells one that Pierrot has
again lost Columbine, for the mo-
ment-poor Pierrot.
"a reaction from machine-made
|-Oduction. begun about a decade
ago. has brought about a definite de-
side to possess and use examples of
finer craftsmanship. There was a
recrudescence OF interest in wrought
iron, engraved brass, wood-carving
boolbinding and other crafts, but
almost without exception the de-
mand in this country was that arti-
cles of utility should be made beau
tiful. 1t was a revival OF the old
Guild spirit of Europe.
The new and sudden interest in
nne porcelains, which seems to
have come about in the last few
years. is quite another matter. The
| question OF usefulness does not en-
ter into It at all. 1t is wholly q
matter OF decoration. the extent to
which cultivated people wish to
feast their eyes on sheer beauty
This same interest has extended
| into a much wider sale Of what is
called the easel picture, and the use
OF sculpture for the garden, as well
as for the home. In fact, with the
great increase of our wealth, the
fine arts are beginning a period OF
much greater activity, and OF
money-making, for that matter
The credit for much of this is, per-
haps, due to the intelligence OF
architects and decorators in this
country. people who take very Sc
! rfously the making beautiful of the