Evening star., 1924-05-04

N
~ ings by a group of American
~ artists which opened at the
Corcoran Gallery of Art on
April 26 and will continue through
May Is is of rather a bewildering
character. There are twenty-nine
paintings by fourteen cotemporary
American artists, all of high stand
ing and all save one, Morris B. Prem
dergast, who died very lately, liv
ing and producing today-men who
have in almost every instance re-
ceived high awards at the hands of
their confreres and who are reckoned
by critics Of established standing as
of foremost Importance. Yet there is
scarcely a picture in the collection
which possesses what the average in
dividual terms beauty, and few show
in their rendition those qualities
which for generations have been re-
garded as betokening works of art
These are painters of the modern
school. What do their works signify.
For one thing, a turHing away from
weak prettiness, FROM the picture
card type of painting rhich is W
substance of things rather than their
expression, an effort to interpret ire
in new terms in order TO assure VI
tality. So the pendulum In lts Ions
swing has inscribed a wide arc. Per-
haps 1t is necessary to go 70 such
extremes in order to shake the Co
temporary school of painting OUT oi
old ruts.' . rbo
staged the armory exhibition OF
modern art in New York some years
ago, which, as some critics cialm' mas
done more to stimulate thouehl anu
to turn the attention of the Worlo
uron painting than any otner event
The two paintings by MI Dawes IN
this collection were lent by the
Phillips Memorial Art Gallery, which
has just issued a monumental Volume
in honor of this painter and IN
appreciation of his work. From the
same notable collection have come
=. Prendergast and one of the two
examples of the work of Augustus
Vincent Tack, "Entombment." Mr.
Prendergast's paintings derive their
charm through subtle color relation
ships; Mr.. Tack's are notable both
for color and design. 1t is Mr.. Tack S
second contribution, Mountain
I.andscape-Near Laggan," which is
the one really beautiful painting in
this collection, a painting which in
terprets the beauty of nature and
gives to the observer subtle trans
lation of a lovely vision. Rockwell
Kent is represented by a single
example. "Berkshire, winter" He
is a strong painter, pronounced in
dividualist, one who loves the wild
places of the earth and Journeys far
to revel in them. He has passed
winters in Alaska and he has drifted,
continually facing death and barely
ac- n ms N n
in the hazardous waters of Terra del
Fuego. Whatever he paints is
touched by the tragic drama of the
wilderness and possesses an almost
brutal strength. Ernest Lawson has
inherited from the French impress
ionist school, but his works as rule
lack the smiling tranquility which one
finds commonly in the works of
Monet. They belong not to France,
but to America. and to the age which
demands substantially.
Clifford Beal, George Bellows. Ge-
rome Myers and John Sloan are all
New York painters and to great ex-
tent limit their productions to pic
lures typical of New York life. New
York is a vast metropolis and one
can find almost every phase of life
lived therein. 1t is the life of the
East Side, the life which has little
prettinesS and many problems which
these painters in most instances have
chosen to set forth. 1t may be well
for the public to know it, but it is not
pleasing to look upon, and the strange
thing is that these painters have
found evident pleasure in its tran
scription. Furthermore. the tran
scription in each case is what might
be termed a crude impression. Curl
ously enough, these painters have
gone so far to avoid the errors of the
pictorialists of the past century that
they have closed the circle and are
themselves committing practically
the same error-the error of stress
ing the thing represented rather than
concerning themselves with beauty of
representation. In fact, at times
these painters seem to deliberately
choose vulgarity in order TO haunt II
in the face of the world. One of the
faults or affectationS of the modern
ist school is a disregard for correct
ness in drawing, purity or color and
grace of expression. The modernists
are deliberately incorrect, clumsy,
ugly. and thus by insulting the sensi-
hilities of the sensitive they empha-
size their own independence. No
doubt they are sincere, and in all
probability they are performing
service, but that their works will be
accorded merit and held in high re-
gard by future generations, 1t is i'm
SossibIe to believe, so long as beauty
in nature persists and makes univer-
sal appeal.
X X
THE Carnegie Institute. Pittsburgh.
l. is holding at this time its twenty
third international exhibition of
paintings, the only international ex-
hibition of paintings held in this
country. The exhibition comprises
37s paintings, 124 of which are by
American painters, the remainder by
contemporary painters of France,
Great Britain, HOLLAND, Belgium, Po-
land. Czechoslovakia, Russia, Sweden,
Italy and Spain. There were special
iuries of selections for the United
States. Great Britain and France. For
the other continental countries selec-
tion was. made by the director of the
department of art of the Carnegie
Institute, Homer Saint-Gaudens,
Frederick Carl Frieseke, an Ameri-
can painter residing in Paris, and
Guillaume Lerolle, son of the dis
tinguished French painter.
The purpose in the selection of the
foreign exhibits was to bring to the
United States a representative show
ing from each country that we might
get in touch with the pronounced
movements in art in Europe. For this
reason the exhibition takes on special