Evening star., 1924-04-06

present month, including
Japanese paintings and wood block
prints by co.emporary Japanese artists F:
collection of oil paintings by
Mrs. Lila Cabot Perry Of Boston.
decorated fabrics BY Lydia Bush
Brown and paintings in oil by J.
Stewart Barney and May c. Marshall
After the war and before the earth
quake Japanese artists enjoyed Pc
riod of extraordinary prosperity. Due
in part to the fact that Japanese art
has found appreciation in this coun-
try and in Europe, and that occidental
collectors have been giving high prices
for the works of the Japanese masters,
the Japanese of wealth during these
years turned fayorably> to their own
painters and commissioned and pur-
chased works with a generosity and
laVishnesS said to compare with that
of the Italian patrons during the
period of the Renaissance. SO sharp
was the competition and so keen the
interest, so admirable the market al
home, that Japanese artists show ed
little interest to exhibit in this coun-
try or elsewhere. But now all Is
changed and there is danger that the
inspiration which patronage brings
4 ~
a sense of appreciation will fade out
and be lost.
AS time is reckoned it is not long
since Japan's door was opened to the
western world. 1t was the United
States that induced this opening. The
result has been an inpouring of
western influence, an influence quite
as alien to the Japanese as is the
oriental to us. For hundreds of years
| the art of China, Korea and Japan
had flowed along one channel, and the
| stream was pure, but with the in
| coming of the new influence IL was
! diverted and its waters mingled with
| those derived from a diff aren't source.
This meant the introduction of west
ern methods in painting, and though
some assimilated these rDethods with
| marvellous adaptability, others used
| them but clumsily. The result was
not the best, and this the Japanese
! artists themselves recognized, SO that
| in the past few years they have been
| turning back to their own tradition
! and have been painting in the spirit
| of the masters of their own school
| This is exemplified in the work Of
| the artist who has brought to Wash
| lnSton the present exhibition, HiroShi
| Ioshida- When Mr.. Yoshida was here
! twenty years ago his work was en-
/ tirely in the western method Occa-
Sionally he still works in this meth
7
! OF excellence. but the painting he is
/ doing today is in the tradition OF the
| Japanese painters of the past and has
a decorative quality and individuality
| all its own.
! The same motive brought about the
revival of interest in the Woodblock
| print When Helen Hyde went TO
Japan some years ago and studied
Woodblock printing she was accorded
frst prize by the Japanese for her
! accomplishment, for she, even better
| IMAM they, had caught the spirit of
/ the great Japanese block printers and
manifested it in her work. The
Z japanese block printers of TO-DAY,
I represented in this exhibition. are
indeed Vleing with the masters OF the
/ past.
Tomorrow afternoon at 4:3o o'clock
! Modern Painting in Japan" He
speaks English admirably. He is not
! only an accomplished artist, but q
scholar. and whatever he may have to
say Will be without doubt authorita-
tive, thought provoking and of inter-
est.
/ 1t is earnestly to be hoped that this
exhibition will be we'll patroniZed, for
/ the Japanese artists are at this time
suffering great hardshipS and priva-
! tlon, and they must be relieved il
their art. which is of great value not
/
| world. is to be kept alive.
! = :: :.
MRS. LILA CABOT PERRY, whose
paintings arc to be seen in the
! upper gallery at the Arts Club. is the
secretary of the Guild of Boston Ar.
lists, and both painter and poet, hay
/ ing published a book of charming lit
! tie poems and being contributor to
/ leading American exhibitions. She
/ has lately been exhibiting in Boston,
and the art critic of the Transcript
4 has called attention to the fact that
her interests have been by no means
/ local. for though she has taken an
! active part in organizing the guild,
! she resided for q number of years
abroad, studied at the Julian and
/ ColaroSSi academies and with Alfred
Stevens, and while in France came
under the genial leadership of Monet
and Identified herself with the i'm
preSsionist school, the work of which
| she was instrumental in INTRODUCING e
| to this country. CONNIE nting on her
| Boston exhibition, Mr.. Perkins said
| Studies which may be spoken of as
! portraits, in the usual sense, do not
appear here, although Mrs. Perry has
painted many and called attention
to her ability to gain at once the es-
7
complicated in light and color, re-
| marking particularly her versatility
! Mrs. Perry herself will be present
/ as guest of honor this afternoon be-
! tween and 8, when Miss Laura Yer
ran will be hostess
:: 4
/ 4 ANNOUNCEAIENT has been made
quite generally that the Phillips
Memorial Gallery, which usually is
open only on Tuesday. Saturday and
Sunday afternoons, will be open every
afternoon from > to g o'clock until
! April &c This is partly on account OF
( the exhibition Of recent decorative
paintings by Augustus Vincent Tack
! temporarily on view in the library on
! the first floor. and partly to accom-
modate the large number of visitors
| in Washington at this season of the
! year.
! The Tack exhibition is made up
/ chiefly of loans, but includes a mum :
| Der of paintings by this master re-
| Gently acquired by the Phillips Me-
| mortal Gallery, among which special
mention may be made of a panel en-
| titled. THE Voice of Many Waters u
There are sixteen of Mr.. Tack's works
| included in the collection, half of
| which are subject pictures, the other
| half decorative compositions of an
| extremely interesting and novel char
| acter, works lovely in color, making