Evening star., 1923-10-12

-
paintings by contemporary European
| artists is now on view in the Cor
! coran Gallery OF Art. This exhibition.
hich opened on October 3 and con-
tinues through October 21. comprises
sixty works by the leading artists OF
! France. Great Britain, Italy. Spain,
Sweden, Belgium, Holland and Denmark
selected from the twenty-second inter-
national exhibition of the Carnegie
Institute, Pittsburgh, held last April.
May and June.
These works were selected abroad
by juries of artists OF foremost rank.
In France, for example, the jury was
composed of Maurice Denis, George
Desvallieres. Ernest Laurent. Henry
Ierolle. Henri LIE Sidaner. Henri Mar
tin and Lucien Simon; SO there is no
doubt that the groups in each instance
-'''v be considered representative.
Furthermore these sixty pictures were
| s.Iected from the larger numbe'
shown in Pittsburgh by the directors
! of the various American museums
wherein they will be shown. Thus
! they may be supposed to be the best
| of the best
The Corcoran Gallery of Art Is the
| first of the museums outside of Pitts
| burgh to show them. and the exhibit
| is the first genuinely International IN
character that has ever been shown
here. For the display of the collec-
ton the semi-circular special exhibl-
gallery have been given over, and no
sooner does the visitor step into either
of these rooms than he or she is
aware of foreign atmosphere; OBJ
viously these paintings are not by
difference readily felt, but difficult to
explain. That they are better than
American works cannot be said; IN
many instances they are not as good,
and yet they possess a quality whlch
the works Of our American painters
do not have. For one thing, they are
! less casual
These foreign painters seem to the
! American observer to be very serious
minded and rather intense. Probably
! this reflects the present mood OF Eu-
! rope and the terrific tension under
! which life for the past ten years or
! more has there been lived. To an
! extent, however, 1t brings to MIND
! the different attitude that Europeans
| jority of Americans--an attitude
which reckons art a part Of life
| rather than a non-essential.
I These are not pretty pictures. In
! some instances there is little beauty
| to be found In them save that of
strength and character. but the artists
| who have painted them have appar-
/ entity had something to say.
/ In Pittsburgh each nationality had
! a separate gallery, but in this smaller
[ nossible. and here the works of
! French and Swedish and Spanish
| artists hang side by side. But in most
| cases they are distinctive and the
nationality can be discerned. The
| British works are very British: the
! dinavian spirit; those from France
are essentially French. and the Ital-
| ian and Spanish cannot. be mistaken
as coming from northern countries.
OF all, the Spanish are perhaps the
most colorful. viriIe. individual. 1t
was so in the international exhibition
at Venice In 1922. but Spain, with
the exception of Sweden. perhaps, has
been less merged with other nations
than any country in Europe. In re-
great artists-Zuloaga and Sorolla
Zuloaga is not represented in this
collection at all; Sorolla by only one
example painting lent by the Car
counted among his best, lacking the
qualities of brilliancy In color and
spontaneity of technique that disting-
uish Sorolla's works. In the Sorolla
style is painting entitled Drawing
the Boat" by Enrique Martinez-Cu-
bells Y Ruiz. "The Lace Makers" by
Zubiaurre, is a typical Spanish work,
colorful and fine. A powerful and
| unforgettable work is a painting of
a convict sitting on the cot in his
Spanish painter whose name is
quite unknown in this country-Ed-
uardo Chicarro. a. portrait Of AM
bassador Cyrus Woods, by Sotomayer
lent by the commonwealth of Penn
sylvania is another notable contri-
| button from Spain.
France has the largest representa-
ton numerically, there being eighteen
French artists represented, provided
olga de BoZnanska, q Russian long
resident In Paris, be rightly so listed.
Among the French exhibiting are
! no less distinguished painters than
Besnard, Menard, LIE Sidaner, Forain,
rice Denis. De Monvel sends an in
gratiating portrait of his mother In
the Whistler tradition, an old lady
standing beside q homely chair and
| seen against a gray, picture-hung
wall. Maurice Denis contribution is
a curious composition entitled Moth
erhood." an outdoor scene with fig-
all bathed in a ruddy pink light
Denis 1t will be remembered. Is one
of the leading mural painters OF
France. and has made especially no.
table contribution through the me-
dunn of theater decorations.
Half way around the semi-circular
wall in the special exhibition gallery
thangs Pierre Laurens' painting, enti-
tied THE Widow" awarded honor
able mention in the Carnegie Insti-
itute's exhibition; an enormous can
vas. showing a mother pushing a lit
tie chap in a curious French peram
bulator, both sharply silhouetted
tagatnst broad. iow-iying landscape
Had the picture been one-fifth the
b. ~ 4