The Washington herald., 1922-05-14

A-Sars opportunity TO view I'M
poEtant works of Americas lead
ing PAINTER. who died just a year
ago. 10 presented In the Abbott H.
Thayer memorial exhibition at the
Corcorsn Gallery of Art, which
opened with private view on
Tuesday and will continue through
out. the month. There are forty oil
paintings and over 100 water colors
and drawings lent by nineteen diff
ferefft owners.
Portraits. landscapes and SYM
bolie conditions are included from
the. artists best paintings. Some
! Of the early studies are also of
much interest. as the water color
drawing of q trout, made when
| Thayer was only IL. In later life
his study of protective. coloring in
animals was of Importance to the
government In camouflage effects
during the war. This love of nat
ursl history became an absorbing
investigation with Thayer and is
continued by his son, Gerald
Thsyer.
--- --., Angel Figures.
The works by which Abbott
Thayer Is hest known are his SYM
bolhc angel figures. No modern
painter for the past 200 years, It
is said. has succeeded in producing
thea erect of naturalness In the
winged, Agure attained by Thayer.
Several of these subjects are in the
exhibition. One Of them. the Ste
veRson memorial, lent by John
Gallstly, Esq, of New York, pre-
sents an angel sitting on a boulder
inscribed Vaea, the mountain in
Samoa where Robert Louis Steven
son was buried Another, The
Anga Tof Dawn" is a dominant hg-
ure standing on a mountain top,
TOUCHED with the rising sun. The
model for this picture was Mrs.
Gerald Thayer. who has been in
Washington with her husband. Alb
bott Thayer's son, placing the ex-
hibition- She also posed for the
Girl Arranging Her Hair" a
beautiful picture in q rare, old
hand-carved italian frame. reported
to be a Sansovini. The artist, so
Mrs. Thayer tells US, liked to rep
resent women engaged in some nat
ural activity. Another subject for
which she posed. and one which
lsone critics have called the best of
the exhibition. Is The Lady in
Green Velvet" three-quarter
tength composition of medieval
ehaEacter.
While It would be unfair, II not
untrue. 20 say that any one work
Is the best, since there Is the
quality of perfection about, all of
Thayer's work, yet many have pre-
|fernat eshe "Figure. Half Draped,"
from n rare model who posed for
st. Gaudens and other noted artists.
1t Is q seated half-nude, with so
spiritual a quality In the face and
figure. and such rare flesh tones In
the painting that one returns to
study. It again and to marvel at
the secret OF its deep repose. This
picture recently sold in New York
for one of the highest prices ever
brought by an American painting.
100000. 1t is lent anonymously.
~ Boy and Angel.
The BOY and Angel" Is of pecu-
liar interest. since it is the COM
pleted composition shown here as
a sketch two years and a half ago
in the Biennial of Contemporary
American Painting, when 1t re-
ceived such high praise. Townsend
Martin, of New York, posed for the
boy and the picture is lent by the
Thayer- This may possibly
tSe considered Thayer's best work,
)as IL is perhaps his last. He had
lcentemplated for many years an
lother composition of Mother and
Child with Angel" for which he
left several pencil sketches. on ex-
thibitJpn here. but death came be-
fore he could paint ii. 1t was his
tcustom to make many preliminary
&ortant pictures.
A number of portraits in this ex-
Rhibition represent some OF the ar
pictrFas including an important
selfEportrait and a portrait of Alice
Freeman Palmer, lent by welles-
I leyH College. besides a number of
other loans. Several landscapes
alss add to the interest and reveal
Athengreat versatility of the painter.
Ths place of honor in the hemi-
cycle Is assigned to one of these,
lent by the Thayer estate. Winter
Sunrise, Mount Monadnock." a
Ia Hc CdnNds III DfOdu, simple treat
ment sud brilliant cOloring. repre-
l sentins-the study of years in the
region Thayer loved so well. An
othsr of Berkshire Hills" lent by
kTinothy Cole, Is in the artists
farHer style and was engraved as
Wood cut by Cole
Thayer. who was born in 1s49.
bad his studio for several years in
New York City after his return
from Paris, where he had studied
with Gerome and other masters.
Thea he removed to Scarborough,
butt in later life he settled in
Southern New Hampshire. near
Mount Monadnock, his great in
spiration.
Some Works for Sale.
Besides the paintings there are
many drawings by Thayer. studies