Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-20
BY LEILA MBCHLIN.

r INTEREST," focused during the past
week on the exhibition OF the
independent Artists and Sculptors.
which opened March Is in the
Carlton Hotel. where 1t may be
seen until March 81.
v.hich is set forth in the banquet room,
I'm the basement of the hotel, Is 10
give every aspiring artist, whether
amateur or professional, an opporti-
nity to show his or her work. There
was no iurv of selection, no commit
tee of invitation, and the works that
were sent in are displayed importantly
the hanging of the paintings pelns III
alphabetical placement according 10
the last names of the artists. Inc
hall has been divided by screens INTO
three small galleries with an open
corridor to the left. and the paintings
have heen placed on these screens
and on the walls In three, and in some
cases four, rows, frame to frame.
The impression which the visitor
receives Immediately upon entrance Is
somewhat similar to that given 20 or
80 wears ago by the exhibitions OF the
local societies set forth at the Cos
mos Club and later in Woodward
Lothrop's improvised gallery, or, IN
fact. the exhibitions OF the Natlonal
Academy of Design held in the old
Twenty-third street building, New
York. In those days 1t was custo-
mary to line the walls with paintings
TO set forth as many as the walls
would hold-and woe betide those
whose works were "skied" Walls
were higher in those days than they
are now, and then II was not an I'M
usual sight for an exhibition visitor to
be seen with a pair of opera glasses IN
his or her hand. One does not neeu
to carry opera glasses TO the eXhibl.
ton of the Independent Artists ana
Sculptors. though it might not be
bad plan if one looked in the wrong
end and thus acquired distant vision
There is something to be said In
favor of such lavish feast. A lady
leaving the National Museum was
heard to lament the waste of wall
space noted in the halls given over to
the National Gallery display. They
saw" she said that they have many
paintings in the basement. Why do
not they put them on the walls? There
is plenty of ROOM" But the public
as a whole, though it may be shy to
admit it, does love a feast, a "groan-
ing board
The exhibition of the Independent
Arts and Sculptors is declaredly DEM
ocratic. All exhibitors are on the
same footing the public must choose
for itself This is not particularly
to the advantage Of the artists, but
X lis exceedingly entertaining for the
public. See this exhibition without
reference to the catalogue. Look up
your choice and thus verify your
judgment. The layman CHANGING upon
a handsome bronze mask of mans
head in this exhibition and exclaim-
Ing. Now. that is fine: cannot AVOID
a real touch of Recommendation
upon discovering, by reference to the
catalogue, that the work instinctively
acclaimed Is by none other than
Daniel Chester French. The same
revelation Of instructive good stand
ard will occur when one comes across
a painting of Lilies in the Garden"
by Ellen Day Hale, hung obscurely
In a corner in the middle gallery.
Obviously, the hanging Of this exhi'
bition creates difficult test for any
work of art. The old saying that we
are known by the company we keep
is true in art as in social life, and
there is no denying the fact that the
good paintings look less good and the
poor paintings look a little bit better
when shown en- masse indiscriminate-
ly as here.
Quite a number of the works set
forth i'm this exhibition (Which. Incl
dentally, is nor nearly as independent,
DIS WIN vi do CAIAkA1S as PAODNS3y
some hoped it would bel. have been
shown before. For instance, we find
here Cameron Burnside's painting,
Autumn Evening, Chapel Point;
M. Lesley Bush Browns Afternoon
on Lake George; Eben Comins'
"John" and Sunday Edition; figure
studies by Mary Kremelberg Gibson;
a landscape and a still life by Lucia
b. Hollerith; two landscapes by Ben
son b. Moore; a picture of Perugia
by Marguerite c. Mum: two paint
ings, I'm the Alleghenies" and Barns
in Winter" by Marjorie Phillips; a
flower painting and a picture done in
Paris by Elsie Brooke Snowden, and
a landscape by Eva Springer, all of
which, if we are not mistaken. have
been shown previously in local exhi-
billions.
A few OF the paintings exhibited
have been lent by the Phillips Me-
mortal Gallery, presumably at the re-
quest OF the artists, as there were
to be no invited works. These in
clude 1.-THE Circus Ring by Clifford
Beal; "Huisseau sur Cosson," by Ed
ward Bruce; Quebec" by Preston
Dickinson; boy" by Karfiol. and My
Shanty," by Georgia O'Keefe, all OF
which, it may be said, appear much
less engaging in this medley than
they did when given more dignified
showing at the Phillips Memorial Gal
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