Evening star., 1925-05-24

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4 4 exhibition in the Corcoran
Gallery of Art. This portrait
is TO be permanently placSd rs a me-
mortal in the Mercersburg Academy,
in which the Presidents son was t,
student at the time of his death. IL
is a three-quarter length. and shows
the lad seated In a high-back chair
with his hands on his lap and his face
illumines the features and sharply
outlines the face against the back
ground. 1t Is a vivid. an intensely
vital Characterization. Mr.. Meryman
has succeeded not only in presenting
likeness but personality. This por-
trait has spiritual quality, and it
shows-and will show for all tlme-a
hoyish boy of outstanding figure ard
fine features: q boy who was bound to
make friends among boys. yet one
who had insight and ability for
thought; unusual mentality. All this
Mr.. Meryman has expressed in his
portrait, which is good In color, we'll
modelled. finely rendered. And this is
the message the portrait Will hand
down to other students of MERGERS
burg Academy. AS has been said of
MacMonnies' noble statue of Nathan
Hale. this memorial will cause the
most excellent memorial, for ii
memorializes not alone the individual
but his ideal characteristics. The por-
trait will be formally presented and
unveiled at the commencement eXer-
cises, early in June.
THREE notable artists of foreign
birth have been working in Wash
ington during the past week. Mes
trovic. the great Serbian sculptor, has
been modelling a portrait bust of Sec
retary Hoover: Waldemar Rannus. an
American sculptor of Esthonian ex-
traction. has been modelling portraits
of the Esthonian Minister. Antonius
Pip, and Prof. Speek of the Library
of Congress; Count Spare of Stock
holm has been painting a portrait in
oils of the Swedish Minister.
CINCE the death of Rodin. Mestrovic
has been universally declared the
greatest of living European sculptors.
This is his first visit to America. He
came last Fall with an exhibition of
his work. which was shown first in
the Brooklyn Museum, attracting very
wide attention. and then, divided into
rvo collections. began to tour the
museums in this country, one section
going as far as the Pacific Coast. He
Is essentially what may be termed an
original man. His work is unlike that
of any other. and it is strongly marked
by the individuality of his race. His
earlier works possessed primitive sim
plicity and his later works follow in
the same tradition, but are more
sophisticated. Much has been written
about him. and few have ever in their
own day received so much attention
or so great a claim. The portrait
which he is doing OF Mr.. Hoover is
done not as a commission but as a
tribute to the splendid service which
Mr.. Hoover rendered to foreign ma
tions during the great war-a distin-
g1Iished compliment not only to Mr..
Hoover but to America. Mr.. Mestro-
vic has been occupying during his
stay in Washington Mr.. Bush Browns
studio. which was generously placed
at his disposal by the sculptor.
THE Esthonian sculptor. Woldemar
Rannus, has been in this country
FOR 10 years. His art studies were
tinued in Paris. As Prof. Speek puts
IL. Mr.. Rannus is a fine sculptor de-
veloped out of a Workman stone
cutter. He is still a member of the
Stone Cutters Union in New York
and he makes the major part of his
living at this trade, but he has had
excellent artistic training and pos
sesses unusual talent. When he was
a student in the National Academy of
Design he won an award and high
commendation by his instructors. He
Is a member of the Society of Inde-
pendent Artists. and his work has not
a little of the characteristics which
set the work of Mestrovic apart. His
portrait of the Esthonian Minister is
strongly and simply modelled. 1t was
done in the Esthonian Legation while
The Minister was at work. Mr.. Rannus
carves his own works in marble
stone and wood. His wooden sculp-
lures are unique and particularly in
teresting. He is now to do a portrait
bust of the president of the American
Federation of Labor. William Green.
= n
TOUNT SPARRE was an associate
- and close friend of Anders Zorn
the great Swedish artist whose etch-
ings are of supreme interest and an
exhibition of whose paintings was
lately held here. He has come to
this country chiefly to secure at this
time accurate data for an elaborate
catalogue of Zorn's works, which. at
the request Of Nine Zorn, he is pre-
pairing for publication. But he is him.
self painter of no little attainment.
BY special invitation, a group of his
recent paintings was shown this Win
ter in the Brooklyn Museum of Art
and highly commended by the director
of the museum and other discriminate
ing critics. 1t is greatly to be hoped
that this same group, including his