Evening star., 1923-06-07
BY LEILA MECHLIN,


With the Freer and the Corcoran
! galleries. the National Gallery Of Art.
| the Library OF Congress. with it's
great mural paintings, sculpture and
its division of prints, the Duncan
Phillips Gallery and the various
artist organizations. Washington is
fast becoming one of the principal
art centers Of the United States. And
this, as the capital city, II should be.
No city In this country Is quite SO
much a work of art as Washington,
because 1t was originally planned
along artistic lines and in an artistic
manner by a French engineer. Maj.
LEnfant. under the inspiration and
supervision -of George Washington
and Thomas Jefferson who were both
admirers Of classic art. and who ap-
preciated the value of expert advice
in such matters. The city of Wash
ington today owes much OF it's pic
the artistic instinct of it's original
planners. For this reason ii has
much TO attract artists, and its art
life since the earliest days, when the
city was little more than a settlcm G Mt
in wilderness. has always been on a
American portrait painter. whose por-
traits today have brought as high as
$4,000, spent several years in Wash
ington in the early part Of the nine
teenth century. when Madison was in
the White House and Dolly Madison
the leader of Washington society.
Not only did he paint all Of the celeb
rifles and the fair ladies of that day,
but planned to establish an art mu-
scum here, which dream, however,
never came true.
Notable Corcoran Collection.
The Corcoran Gallery of Art was
established in 1874 by W. W. Corcoran
Of Washington in the red brick struc-
ture on the corner of nth street and
Pennsylvania avenue, which has now
become q government building. In
1897 the handsome white stone build
ing on 18th street between New York
avenue and z street was erected and
opened with a brilliant reception the
evening of February %. This gallery
contains a very charming collection
of modern paintings. chiefly Ameri
can; casts from the antique. Barye
ture by Contemporary American
sculptors. Notable in the collection
OF American paintings are Church's
Niagara: Mother and Child by
George de Forest Brush: a landscape
by Willard Metcalf. entitled May
John Singer Sargent; Girl in
Brown" by ]. ]. Shannon. and George
Inness' Sunlight in the Woods" to
mention only a few. With the for
The Wood Gatherers." by Corot;
The Passing Regiment" by Detaille;
The Helping Hand" by Renouf, IA
milier through reproduction, and The
Family" a peasant picture, by L'Her-
mite. The Corcoran Gallery's COL
early American school-Stuart. NAL
bone, Vanderiyn and others. 1t is
wonderfully charming collection,
made UP Of pictures that one likes
not only to see, but to study-pic-
lures of intimate charm and real in
terest.
Biennial Exhibition.
In this gallery every other year Is
held an exhibition Of cotemporary
American painting. representing the
works Of artists from ali parts OF the
United States. at which time $4,000
and gold, silver and bronze medals
are distributed In prizes, the former
Clark Of New York. From each of
these exhibitions additions are made
purchase to the gallerys
permanent collection. besides which
numerous sales are made. In other
words. to an extent, these biennial
exhibitions are to this country what
the Paris Salon is to France.
The Freer Gallery is a compare
lively recent acquisition. having only
been opened to the public May 9. 1t
Is the gift Of the late Charles L.
Freer of Detroit, who provided the
funds for the building and it's endow-
ment. as well as the collections which
are contained therein. 1t is a small
intimate little gallery. built around
a picturesque court. and contains ori-
entail art, works by Whistler and
paintings by a few other American
artists. The oriental department is
uncommonly rich. containing rare and
examples of Chinese. Japan
ese and Korean painting, pottery,
sculpture and bronzes. So fine, in
fact, and so unusual is this collection