Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-28
WHISTLER. BY James LAYER. New York:
COSMOPOLITAN Book Corporation.

COSMOPOLITAN Book Corporation.
PACE in the Library of Congress,
! together with the lovely Freer Gallery
on the Mall, offers exceptional ways
for acquaintance with James McNeill
Whistler, artist and man. But, even
TO the most earnest and assiduous, Whistler is
hard to catch. No middle ground within his
nature where plain folks can walk in any
measure of security. And to such uncertainty
even the chroniclers the Whistler theme
have added. Excess appears to follow the
man-excess of adulation on the enc hand, OF
derogation and abuse on the other To be sure,
the tender twilight pictures stay fixed. those
night moods of the Thames-au prose by day.
Yet, everything said Whistler to the average
calls for an impreSario And here he is, pre-
Eentiug that man, mercurial, unexpected, now
and then quite impossible in an orderly world,
going his own way. Setting his own standards
Df behavior, laying down his own laws of con-
duct, adopting picturesque and even bizarre
appearances quite regardless of a gaping and
CenSorious world. But here, too, is the genius
again setting standards of art for himself,
breaking sacred laws, smashing ancient
idols Always the rebel, usually the poseur-and
unfailingly the artist. No, James LAYER does
not give such unqualified praise of Whistler.
He modifieS the greatness here and there with
some Judgment drawn from many cases that
BhaveS of trifle from the unadulterate quality
of the Whistler art.
This balancing, this mpersonal examination,
this resistance to the mans prodigious person.
atty while the artist is being examined set
forth, clarified, so to Speak-all this is that
which gives surprising value to readers on the
way to James Whistler by way of an aStute
Critic, by way also of cultured and appreci-
tiVs human being. fascinating book. Yet
Whistler book is bound to be of dazzling con-
tent The point to this one, that the author
has kept his own head while traversing the
wonderland of this artist and amazing man.
Stories mnumerabe go along here to embody
Whistler. to deliver him alive to interpret, to
set him in order as well as this be done, for
the better understanding of readers-readers of
man and readers of art
With James LAYERS whistler" deeply I'M
heTstandng guide is provided for us who go,
often and often, to the Freer Gallery, for the
StTcnge personal partaking that one feels before
tne sensitive and trembling and questioning
b,cuty of the Whistlers which so clearly call
firm that unique treasury of art in the Capital
City.
FAMOUS FAMILIES OF MASSACHUSETTS.
Two volumes. Illustrated. BY Mary Caro-
line Crawford Boston Little Brown & Co.
StT AYING of the warp" was, in earlier days,
good deal of household ritual. When
the hand-loom, set up in corner of the warm
kitchen did its bit in providing cloth for
garments. blankets carpets and other vhatnot
pI household gear the laying of the warp was
p function of delicacy and consequence For
Dpon its quality, upon the precision If its
b acement, depended much of the value of the
''sruit of the loom"-its durability and its
beauty of smooth finish. This book by Mary
Crawford reminds one of that by-gone example
OF household industry. Here, lined in an
Dr ierly system of parallels, are many of the
old and famous families who, working TO-
gether and in unbroken sequences set the
foundation of the Bay Colony and patterned
nn9n it the wool of daily life which has made
Massachusetts, what it is today
adams, Endicott Winthrop, Lowell, Cabot
i've all know these names, out of history
books, out of later press accounts But these
Hcre not all. There were others. About two
Score illustrious Puritan families all told are
given out by this indefatigable author, who
put certainly five years in spreading the
Foundation of much of New Englands present
place in the great commonwealth of the United
Sites.
Fathers and mothers, children and grand
ElrIdren-such the formula of a work like
tllis. Monotonous? Not at all, surprisingly
net at all. The wonder is that cut of so
much of imposed uniformity there could be SO
nuch also of interesting variety. New Eng
sand will read the book in genuine interest
OF the personal sort. Historians will come to
look upon it as an Invaluable source book for
EIlsir own research purposes. At the moment.
bowever Miss Crawford's study is bound 10
take a prompt and important place in the
rthday celebration of Massachusetts, now
ats way. The 3OOth anniversary.
Listen to Oliver Wendell Holmes a minute:
POther things being equal in most relation
ships, 1 prefer a man of tonily"-one with
Eour five generations welded into his max
Sng. Well, here he is, md here they are
. most interesting and important part of this
country.
The illustrations-Copleys, StuartS, a Van
Dyck ami so on-add greatly to the historical
and interpretative value of the study IS a
whole.