Evening star., 1928-11-27
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

heading: prizes and Apologies
which is significant of the editors own
attitude toward art for Freaks Sake"
1t says, in part:
when we go to see the new exhibi-
ton of American paintings and sculp-
ture, which opened at the Art Inst1-
tute last Thursday, we must take our
most tolerant and broadminded atti-
tude with us. For If we don't we are
apt to see our former complacent and
conservative art knocked out Of plumb.
The new and unusual, or what we
speak of today as modern art, has en-
tered this show and almost e-empted
1t Coming to the Potter Palmer
gold medal prize winner, to which $1,000
is added, the wonder grows. Here is
rough painting of the left end of desk,
with the drawer out a few inches.
Above, on the compartment. stands a
sugar bowl, pear, an empty flower pot
and a bit of fruit lying on crumpled
napkin"
Oh, how very poetic! An American
hustler had had his lunch on his desk
and was too busy to wash his dishes
or fold his napkin to show that he
was coming to the next meal. How ex-
Quisitely modern" in its "lines" and
composition! "A pattern!" A conceptl
~ SO6 tIc 91,OVV anu SOlo AhcudA!
That $1,000 will buy many lunch at
cafeteria for the hustling artist, If
not for the business man! No more
lunches amidst his correspondence
But here is the art editor talking
under that heading, prizes and Apollo
gies." He explains: Again we must
study the low tones and subtle passage
of color. the painting of form as the
father of a new movement. Cezanne,
fwS& - 1aAs wr4AwW-
point" Is that art?
But was Cezanne father" Of the
freaks? He could really draw! He
could really paint
There happens to be in Washington
just now the famous French portrait
painter, l.. Theo DUDE, who was asked
II that group Of unwashed dishes and
crumpled napkin represented modern
French ideals of art. M Dube is
never severe in criticizing another
painter, and at first he said that 1t
all depended upon how well the pic
ture was executed, but then he modi-
fed it by confessing that that is not
a picture at all, but a STUDY
suitable drill for the artist, but un-
suitable to be called picture"
Reverting to the magazines "Prizes
and Apologies" there is another para
graph: Mr.. Karfiol tries harder to
develop his figures in a poetic mood
then he does to get them into exact
construction. The things for which
he has become known and for which
he has been given prizes are not the
sort of things that can be taught"
Thank Heaven! They are not con-
tagious
That last statement Is comforting
no danger that Karfiol will teach his
poetry" without construction" to
students-perhaps.
But at the Corcoran Art Gallery in
the exhibition now showing this same
Mr.. Karf1ol receives the Clark prize
without apologies), amounting to
$4,000 cash. for a painting Of three
persons sitting pensively at table in
the open air. One of the group is
young man in bathing suit and the
last stages Of tuberculosis. as shown
by his emaciated calves. The young
lady in the center is fully clothed ex-
cGpt as to her bare feet-No 10 shoe
required and of surgical architecture,
for hers are club feet in construction
What has anatomy to do with the
poetry" of such a gathering on the
shore while waiting, perhaps, for a
Snore olnner 10 arrive?
X 4 -
So that is modern" art! No pre-
tense of construction" no skill in art
anatomy. or drawing, not an inkling of
composition. no inherent beauty. and
OF course. no anecdotal weakness of a
theme. And 1t is such as this that
pushes aside for the private collectors.
the nouveau richie patrons, the conserv-
ative art. unless it be the curious art Of
the primitiveS.
There is a straining always for the
"new"-an unlimited striving for the
original" Yet even in the sister arts
1t is recognized that Originality" with
out beauty is an art crime. Gren-
vile Kleiser in his book Training for
Authorship" illustrates this defect by
saying that If at dinner the servant
secures originality" by bringing to the
table mess of vegetables or meat in
bucket, 1t would indeed be original.
but not legitimate art or literature.
There is jazz in music, taking the
place Of the lark,s serenade to dawn. but
is that music? There are in jazz many
limitations Of nature-cow's bawling,
rooster-crowing for example-but il
does not rate as sonata.
Compare the Clark prize canvas with
Dube's magnificent portrait of President
Wilson in the National Gallery of Art.
and balance the big-footed maiden and
the emaciated brainless youth upon the
beach with the character study of the
man who had reached the pinnacle of
responsibility, but who retained the
calm mastery of the Nations problems
Portraiture like that is the highest type
of art One is genuine conservative
art, the other Is held as jazz" but
modern"
lCopyriGht. 1928. bs Paul v. collinsJ