Evening star., 1926-05-16

withdrawn, and it is gratifying to see
some Of the old friends back in their
places. No change has been made ir
the Ralph Cross Johnson and the
Harriet Lane Johnston rooms, which
were not displaced. The hallway or
middle gallery has been rehung with
additional pictures lent by the Ralph
Cross Johnson estate, and the little
end gallery is filled with additional
gifts from the Johnson collection
while opposite are TO be seen q group
of works originally brought together
by the late Henry c. Perkins of this
city. The far end galleries are given
over to fine examples of the English
school from the MacFadden collection
temporarily deposited in the National
/ Gallery, while in the other galleries
chiefly the center and side rooms, are
disposed American works from the
| William T. Evans collection.
No one could visit this exhibition
without realizing the great need there
Is today of a suitable building for a
National Gallery of Art.
THE fine arts department of the
District Federation OF Women
| Clubs, of which Mrs. Ellis Logan Is
chairman. reports a full program OF
activities during the past season. Art
pilgrimages were made to the various
galleries and exhibitions. Distinguish
| ed artists acted occasionally as IN
, terpreters. The attendance mounted
| to several hundred, every club in the
| city being represented, besides guests
and strangers and, on Saturdays
many children.
| Included in the program was the
{ u ,.i ct nl.hCQnfR0
keith'S Theater in December, under
the Bible department of the District
| OF Columbia Federation of Women S
| Clubs, at which Mrs. Ellis Logan was
| the speaker and a series of pictures
| of the Nativity were through the
! medium of the stereopticon set forth
| During the season several etchings
| and paintings were purchased from
the collections by members of the
clubs.
| A y interesting catalogue has lately
I "A been issued OF the John Barton
Payne collection of paintings, given
| by Judge Payne of this city to the
Commonwealth of Virginia in memory
of his wife and mother. This collec-
ton, which comprises 3 works of art
| is housed in the Confederate Memorial
| Institute, Battle Abbey, Richmond, Va
| The collection comprises paintings by
great masters, such as Francesca
Francia. Canaletto, Guido Reni, Mere
welt. Poussin, Rubens. Andrea del
Sarto. and. among the later-day
| painters, Healy. Arthur Dawson, Gill
bert Stuart, Chester Harding, Raj
| faelli and Walter McEwen. The
frontispiece is a very charming paint
| ing by Mr.. Healy OF Mrs. Payne
seated before her easel painting a por'
trait.
Judge Payne owns and has here in
his office in the Red Cross Building
one of Carl Melchers' modern Ma
| donnas. and also d very choice and
beautiful collection OF etchings by
etchers Of the highest standing.
= X 4
TT is customary for the American
l. Institute of Architects each year
to designate number of its members
as fellows" this designation invarl
ably being made on account of sue
cessfIll architectural achievement. dis
| tinction In their art. Among those tC
whom this honor was given at the
recent annual meeting of the institute
here in Washington was Victor T.
Mindeleff of this city. Mr.. Mindeleff
is the son Of an artist, his mother
having been q distinguished painter
of miniatures. He has been a prac'
ticing architect in this city since his
youth. but he is also well known as
painter. In the Cosmos Club and
the Army and Navy Club have hung
from time TO time examples of his
beautiful floral decorative panels.
These invariably have been painted in
water color in a way quite the artist s
own. With that love of flowers and
skill of craftsmanship of the Japa-
nese, Mr.. Mindeleff has painted flowers
from nature in a. way that the masters
of the Orient would have admired. As
rule, the center of his panels show
flowers in naturalistic arrangement
sometimes with, sometimes without,
still life objects. Almost invariably
however, subsidiary panels set forth a
conventionaliZed design. of which the
flower represented furnishes the unit
His panels of magnolias and of iris
are particularly beautiful, and as a
technican he is practically unrivaled
The only occasion for complaint is
that his production is only occasional
and that his works appear so infre'
quently in current exhibitions.
y X X x
THE Corcoran Gallerys popular
prize, as announced in these
columns some days ago at the time
of the award, was by vote Of the visi
tors to the gallery during the week OF
May to 9, given to Carl Rungius for
his painting, 1.-The Mountaineer." This
painting, which hangs in gallery F
on the side wall, represents a man on
horseback on the summit of a rocky
eminence; behind him, climbing the
height, is his pack horse The horse
and rider are sharply silhouetted
against the clear blue of the sky. Not
a green thing is in sight, neither a
blade OF grass nor a tree, but the
! picture tells a story, and it is the
story telling picture which invaria bl,