Evening star., 1925-04-05


Kautz Read for the following inter-
esting personal note concerning
Baroness Maydell and her art:
"A reflection OF the quaint por-'
traiture of a hundred years ago, sur
viving today in many IAN ancestral
gallery, Baroness Maydell brings to
her work a living quality never be-
fore found in black and white. Her
art, like all others, cannot be sepa-
rated from her history and environ
ment. Eore than any other 1t has
been subjected to unique influence.
"As a young girl in the seclusion
of one of the great landed estates,
where the Winters were long and
visitors rare event. her talent
ripened as talent only can where time
is unlimited and the mind in peace
Even then she found expression in
the silhouette form, the relic of
bygone age. So pronounced was her
gift that she was sent away to profit
by the instruction of such teachers
as Baron Rosen in Riga and Ivan Bill
ibin in the Imperial Art School in St
Petersburg.
Maturing slowly in the serenity
of Baltic rural life. gaining con-
summate finish in the best academies
OF Europe, the art of Eveline Won
Maydel is above all rooted in the
heart of the Baltic people. To un-
derstand her one must understand
them.
Like all minorities who have
struggled through the centuries
against the encroachments of alien
races, the Balts have developed dis
tipctiye national traits and a culture
which has served model for all
of Eastern Europe. So pronounced is
ha
resemble one another in 4 marked
degree and understand without the
need for words the same code of
loyalty and love OF simple things.
This origin and these influences
explain the charm that lies in her
portraits of children as. we'll as her
sensitive treatment of age. Her art
and her heart are inseparably in
tertwined in the destiny of her peo-
pie. She creates more beautifully
because she creates for them.
Marriage in 1914 apparently ter
minated what promised to be a bril-
liant career. Little did she realize
under what cruel necessity her talent
and her education would serve nor
what depths understanding the
years of vicissitude would bring to
her fragile art.
1T was this need that gave her
the courage to come alone and un-
introduced to strange country.
Expatriated from her home, her heart
aching for others like herself she
accomplished the feat of bringing
to the notice of American art lovers
her delicate and special gift.
A T the Arts Club, 2017 | street,
three exhibitions open today.
The first is a group exhibition of
small paintings by four Baltimore
artists, Louise West, Margaret NJ.
Law, Anne Chandlee and Mary w.
drummer. On the second floor. in the
front room, will be seen oil paintings
by Marguerite c. Mum, a member of
the club and regular exhibitor with
the Society of Washington Artists
and the Washington Watercolor Club,
while in the Library will be ex-
hibited sketches made in the streets
of Baltimore, entered for the Balti-
more Sun annual prize and selected
from $50 making the original exhibit
ton.
At the regular club dinner next
Thursday evening Mr.. and Mrs. l.. NJ
Leisenring will be hosts. On the
evening of April II Mr.. and Mrs.
Arthur F. Musgrave will welcome the
guests, and on April q Mr.. and Mrs.
Cameron Burnside will hold the same
position of honor. On Tuesday eve
ming, April Z, memorial service for
DR.. Mitchell Carroll will be held, Mr..
Bush Brown presiding.
More and more the Arts Club is be-
coming a local art center and a
meeting place for those interested in
all artistic activity.
4 X X x
A COLLECTION of porcelain stat
"A uettes by Mrs. George Oakley
Totten, jr., of this city is being ex-
hibited in the Grand Central Caller
les, New York, attracting much ia
vorable attention. When the COL
lection was shown here in the Cor
coran Gallery a prominent New York
sculptor saw it and was so impressed
by the merit and unique charm of the
work that he personally arranged for
its display in New York.
These statuettes were made by
Mrs. Totten in Sweden, and though
she has done quite a little clay mod
cling since she came to this country
and became the wife of Maj. Tot
ten, the well known local architect,
she has not continued the same kind
of work here. Last summer Maj. and
Mrs. Totten spent some time with
Mr.. Binns of the New York School of
Clay Working and Ceramics and to a
great extent mastered the mysteries
of porcelain making. 1t is their hope
later on to set up kilns and a little
factory here in Washington, a con-
summation greatly to be desired
There is a piquancy about Mrs.
Totten's statuettes which is delight
fui and which is not frequently found
in the works of our own American
artists. 1t is a precious gift and one
which should be allowed to find free
expression.
!, X X X
4 SMALL collection chiefly of fiat
( silver for the table, by George
Jensen, the Danish silversmith a
master craftsman, is now on view at
Jane Bartlett's. Jensen is one of the
foremost silversmiths of the world,