Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-27

PORTRAITS OF MEMBERS OF r
MADE in RED CHALK BY MR.. |
EXHIBITION.
sculptor, has lent TO the exhibition his
portrait bust of his distinguished UNI
Gle, Henry X. Brown, the sculptor
and of former President Woodrow
Wilson. 9.
THE Landscape Club exhibition will
well repay a trip to the new
Mount Pleasant Branch Public Library
but the library itself is a work of art
of which Washingtonians may well be
proud. 1t was designed by e. l.. TIL
ton of New York. In it he has sue.
ceeded in producing not only a fine
building, but one possessing individu.
atty and an atmosphere of charm. In
actual fact, this building Is not large
but it gives within an impression of
spaciousness and hospitality. Its deco,
ration is in excellent taste. Down
stairs are three large reading rooms,
and rooms in which any one would
delight to read, the institutional air
being entirely removed, and intimate
friendly sociability being substituted
in it's place. Upstairs are the chill.
dren's room and rooms for the libra
rian and her assistants. In the chill
dren's room is an open fireplace with
a tiled mantel representing various
Mother Goose rhymes. Off the main
room are two little hooks. up a couple
Of steps, with windows--just the kind
to enliven imagination and to prove
coZy. An inclosed outdoor staircase
for use in emergencies gives another
nf IA At 4.
ending near the street in a clustered
section similar to that which the great
Richardson gave Trinity Church, Bos.
ton.
The reading room in which the
Landscape Club is now exhibiting has
French windows curtained within and
with window boxes without. In short,
art Is to be found in every corner--the
design of the building, it's decoration,
Its adaptation to use.
A. extraordinary exhibition has
been put on and Is now in prog
ress at the Arts Club of Washington,
POLY street--an exhibition comprfs
ing the works Of three men declared
ultra modernists" by Mr.. Comins,
who arranged for the showing. Two
OF these men are Neutrality-suspicious.
and one is a New Yorker. They are
Stuart Davis, the New Yorker, whose
paintings are to be seen in the upper
room; Earl Bragg, an ex-Walter
Reed soldier. and Prentiss Taylor of
Washington and New York, designer
Of costumes for the tlleater.
Mr.. Bragg is represented by a
series of unique Examinations
dragons of a most animated and un-
usual type, which might we'll have
come from the interior Of China and
belong perhaps to the land which
Alice found when she went through
the Looking Glass" Mr.. Bragg 9
dragons are well drawn, remarkably
colored and thoroughly understand
able. He has undoubtedly originality
and that genius which recognizes the
necessity OF taking pains.
Prentiss Taylor's theater costumes
follow weakly the tradition Of Bakst
1t is as hard for the uninitiated,
however, to interpret such technical
costume designs in terms Of reality
as 1t Is to interpret architectural
drawings In terms OF buildings. They
may be good; they are certainly ex-
treme. The type of mind, however,
which would seize upon the essen
TALLY vulgar and scandalous apochry.
phal tale Of Susanna and the Ell
ders" for ballet and pictorial inter
probation on the stage would likely
produce this sort Of costume sort
inherently repulsive. though possibly
technically good.
Stuart Davis paintings make an
ultra-mOdern gesture. but they lack
those qualities of simplicity and d.
rectness which single out as worthy
the works Of some Of the leaders of
modernism. No one who IL forward
looking would willfully discourage
originality or put down, * 1t were
possible, new forms Of expression,
for such give evidence Of art and in
telligence. Such evidence cannot be
found, however, by the present writ
er, in the works of Mr.. Davis. That
they should be presented as repre-
senting this movement, in which
there Ia much that is meritorious,
seems unfortunate. Bad drawing and
clumsy technique cannot possibly
produce worthwhile artistic express
sion. 1t is through these mediums
that Mr.. Davis endeavors to deliver
his message.
Modern life has undoubtedly GER
tain aspects which are unattractive,
but II one chooses to look closely
enough or sufficiently far afield 1t
Will DC 1Ouuu LtlhL IHOucEA AA0 IUudy
possesses more beauty than ugliness,
and 1t is it's beauty, not its ugliness.
which commends 1t. Why besmirch
ourselves with the declaration that
vulgarity and ugliness are the ear
marks and badge of our own time.
| particularly when it is not true?
y n 4
| A r the Enrich Galleries. New York.
"A from March 2 to 10, Lydia Bush
Brown (Mrs. Head). formerly of this
city. now of New York. will hold an
| exhibition Of silk murals. Mrs. Head
has an uncommon color sense. as
well as a feeling for decoration. She
has gathered themes for her silk
| murals in many out-of-the way
places, and has employed them well.
X y X
1.-THE Washington Study announces
- a series Of afternoon lectures on
- A-A -