Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-25
MODERN BELGIAN
ART REVEALS RACE
Capital Connoisseurs Pay
Homage at Private View
of Special Exhibition.

Diplomats and men high in public
| life mingled with connoiSSeurs, arts
patrons and lovers and representatives
of residential society In paying homage
| last night to a school of art which
| springs direct from the vitals of a
people richly endowed with artistic
! temperament, the occasion being the
opening private view of the special
exhibition of contemporary Belgian art
installed in the Corcoran Gallery and
scheduled there to remain until Novem-
Der 80.
Only absence from the city prevented
! the attendance of President Hoover on
this the first affair of its kind to be
sponsored by any President. in which
capacity he serves jointly with the King
of the Belgians The exhibit, gathered,
transported and displayed under the
auspices of the recently formed Euro
pean and American Art Committee, of
which Frederick Starr Is chairman, was
conceived In the spirit of international
friendship and is but the first of SINH
lar series, the next on the schedule, in
all probability, being the transmittal
of cotemporary American exhibit in
Belgium.
HOOver's Selection Is Appropriate.
1t is considered most appropriate that
Mr. Hoover, whose efforts accomplished
so much for Belgium during the dark
times of war, should be co-sponsor with
King Albert of this gesture of national
amity. It is also logical that the exhi-
bition should have opened in the
National Capital, more than 500 of
whose residents were last night the
guests of the trustees Of the Corcoran
Gallery.
There was no receiving line and but
small evidence of formality. The in
tereSted spectators moved slowly and
appreciatively through the two large
salons and the one corridor set apart
for the display, lingering over paintings,
sculptures and specimens of the graphic
arts contributed by Belgian artists and
amateurs. Later in the evening the
gallery's permanent collection and the
wing housing the w. A. Clark art col
lection were thrown open to those in
attendance.
The handsome illustrated catalogue
forming an essential accompaniment to
the display was prepared for the COM
mittee in charge in collaboration by
DR.. Christian Brinton. its vice president,
and M. Louis Pierard. member of the
Belgian Parliament, who is in charge
of the exhibit.
Art Is Funda mentally Racial.
Although the oldest work of art in
the present display dates from only
about two decades ago, yet it is pointed
out in DR.. Brinton's foreword that for
the actual termination of modern Bel
gian art it is necessary to glance much
further back and that the art of this
sturdy nation is a fundamentally racial
expression. The general public, asserts
M. Pierard, is virtually unaware of the
astonishing richness of the school of
painting and sculpture which is the
pride of cotemporary, independent
Belgium.
Taking into consideration its actual
population" states this representative
of the Belgian government, there is
perhaps no country which, in less than
a century. has produced so many artists
of outstanding merit as has Belgium.
There is no capital where one finds so
many art galleries as in Brussels, where
exhibitions succeed each other without
ceasing from October to June"
The present display. which includes
nearly 200 separate items. which will
later make an extensive tour of other
art centers of the United States and
which has been described as cross-sec-
ton of the best in recent Belgian art,
will receive q critical analysis in next
Sundays Star at the hands of the art
editor of this newspaper.