Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-01
GROUP GIVEN VIEW
OF MEXICAN ART
Ambassador De Teller Heads
Visitors at Private Cor
coran Showing.

ing Of a special exhibition of more
than 200 examples of native Mexican
art organized for the American Fed
Grafton OF Arts for exhibition in vari-
Gus cities of the United States.
The Corcoran Gallery was kept open
an hour and a half beyond the usual
hour yesterday to permit its guests to
view the exhibit before the public OPEN
ing today Officials of the gallery said
that this special exhibit, which will
remain here until April %, affords the
citizens of this country perhaps the
greatest opportunity ever presented to
learn what their Mexican neighbors
have done and are doing to cultivate
the fine arts After its showing in
Washington, the display will open next
in the Milwaukee Art Institute at Mil
waukee, Wis.
Officials in Attendance.
Among the officials who attended the
private opening were Secretary Of the
Treasury Mellon; Francis White, As
sistant Secretary of State; Justice Har-
Ian F.. Stone of the United States Su-
preme Court; DIR. Leo s. Rowe, director
general of the Pan-American Union;
DR.. John C. Merriam, director Of the
Carnegie Institution and others inter-
ested in the arts and the gesture OF
friendship between the TWO American
governments, for which the exhibition
primarily is intended.
Diplomatic visitors included the Min
listers Of Venezuela, Guatemala and Aus
tria, and other members of the Mexican
embassy.
Viewed by 10000.
They wege received informally by F.
A NJ k1a q
Federation of Arts; G. Powell Mimi
gerode, director ard secretary of the
Corcoran Art Gallery, and Count Rene
D'Harnoncourt, student and patron Of
Mexican arts, who assembled the col
lection and is acting as its curator.
Since its first showing in this coun-
try at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York, October Is to November
g, the collection has been viewed by
upward of 10000 persons. 1t has
been shown previously in Boston, Pitts
burgh and Cleveland.
The exhibition was praised by Mr..
Whiting, who said its great significance
sis that it shows the strong native art
feeling which has persisted in Mexico
despite the European influences which
have lasted for so many centuries. One
of the most important phases of the
exhibition is that it enables Americans
who have not been to Mexico to have
for the first time some idea of the
beauty of the native Mexican art" he
explained.
Oficials of the Corcoran Gallery of
Art likewise stressed the Importance of
the display, which they characterized
as international 1t was seen as an
appropriate medium of strengthening
good will and appreciative understand
ing between the two North American
republics.
The Mexican government, it was said,
had lent its moral support in collecting
the fine examples of weaving, pottery,
metal work, pictures and other articles
and had been most generous also in
contributing many things from its own
national museum.
To Remain in U. S. IL Months.
Announcement was made definitely
today that an extension Of time for
keeping the exhibit in this country has
been obtained from the Mexican gov
eminent. It is to remain IL months be-
yond next June and will be shown par
ticularly in Southwestern and West
Coast cities, where a numerically strong
Mexican eleTnent lives.
Many examples Of the modern minor
Mexican arts were purchased outright
for the United States showing, officials
explained, and these are to be reas-
sembled after May, 1892. for exhibition
IN smaller centers.
Ohicials said at least SO requests had
been received already for such show
ings, indicating the widespread interest
that is being taken in the collection.
In deep appreciation Of the merits
OF Mexican art, Dwight w. Morrow,
former American Ambassador to Mexico
City, conceived the idea of an exhibit
that would give the American public
an opportunity to know this art In its
most important manifestations. To
realize the project he consulted with
DR.. Frederick P. Keppel, president of
the Carnegie Corporation Of New York,
and, at the time, also acting director Of
the American Federation of Arts.
Saint Gaudens Took Part.
AS a result, Homer Saint-Gaudens
director Of the department Of fine arts
Of the Carnegie Institute Of Pittsburgh,
was asked to survey the field in Mex
leo and to outline the scope Of the ex-
position. He spent a month travelling
through Mexico from Guadalatara to
Oaxaca in an effort to understand not
only the genius of Mexican art, but
also its practical application In both
fine and applied forms.
Through the Offices of Ambassador
Morrow, Count d. Harnoncourt was sug-
gested to Mr.. Saint-Gaudens as the
man best fitted to develop the details
Of this eXpoSition-to choose and col
lect the objects and TO organize its
initial setting forth from Mexico City.
Count d. Harnoncourt is a young
Austrian, an artist, who has spent the
past five years in Mexico. He Is a
profound student of Mexican art In all
its forms and an enthusiastic collector
Many Of the examples to be found in
this display are from his own private
collection.
1t was through his ingenuity and per-
sonal supervision that the exhibition
was arranged in the Corcoran Gallery
Of Art, occupying two large rooms on
the second floor and wall space on the
stairway and corridors for many of the
rugs and blankets.
Owing to the wide variety Of the
] 200 or more examples, officials said it
was one of the most difficult exhibitions
to arrange that they had known in
years.
The present exhibition particularly
represents an attempt to organize the
achievements of the last two decades of
struggle Of Mexico to nurture true and
individual culture. Examples Of the
modern arts, wholly Mexican in charac-
ter, represents what Count dHarnon-
court refers to as the conscious" phase
OF the exhibit. In the other room are
displayed the Unconscious" art of the
natives, including many rare and an
Gent examples loaned from the National
Museum Of Mexico and the State
Museum In Guadala lara.