Evening star., 1935-12-01
Bv Leila Mechlin.

December Is. This painter Is one
of an outstanding group OF modern
lists whose modernism. strangely
enough, takes the form of stark real
ism. Wearying Of beauty in nature
and in art, these men have chosen for
transcription not merely the common
place, but the ugly, and have set 1t
forth with amazing and in some in
stances engaging vividness. Their
paintings are like the bitter dose
after a surfeit of sweets. The second
prize in the international exhibition
held by the Carnegie Institute, Pitts
burgh, this year was awarded to
Charles Burchf1eld, for a painting in
oils, entitled, The Shed in the
Swamp" dreary enough scene, but
well drawn and interesting in pat
tern, forceful. The invitation to ex-
hibit in the Corcoran Gallery Of Art
was given, however, prior to the re-
ceipt of this honor.
Burchfleld was born in AShtabula
Harbor, Ohio, in 1893, and as young
man studied in the Cleveland School
Ol All. ne ID d 1llClIlOCI VI Ol1C Sa1uC1.
dean Society of Painters, Sculptors
and Gravers, which has endeavored,
through regulation, to force art mu-
seums and other art associations to
pay rental fee to artists whose
works they exhibit, but without sue
cess. His paintings are included in
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the
Brooklyn Museum, the Albright Gal
lery. the Cleveland Museum, the Mu-
scum of Modern Art, the Whitney
Museum, the Phillips Memorial Gal
lery and other notable collections. In
an essay on "The Many -Mindedness
Of Modern Painting" Mr.. Phillips re-
fers to Burchfield as one of the Amer
leans whose starting point Tin art)
Is whimsical observation of the drab,
the commonplace, the painfully ia
iniliar," and elsewhere in his critical
writings he declares him to be i'm
mune to foreign influence" which is
undoubtedly true.
Two years ago, memorable eX-
hibition of Burchfield's early water
colors, produced between 1916 and
1918, was shown in the Phillips Me-
mortal Gallery. In these paintings,
it will be recalled, he endeavored to
give expression to experiences and
emotions not commonly regarded as
paintable-such as feeling bestirred
by the night wind, church bells ring
ing, the song Of the Katydids, a dead
sunhower. In these the painter was
using new language of his own in
vention, but before long he gave up
the adventure and turned with evident
determination to the obvious-facts.
A few of the water colors in the cur
rent exhibition are of the early Pc
riod-sLch for example as Maple
Trees after a Summer RAIN" in which
the artist has endeavored to indicate
things felt rather than seen, by super
imposing the real visual image on the
sound image as set forth in line
"Sunfowers at Dusk" and Moon
Through Young Sunflowers," both
tread upon the skirts of fantasy
pleasantly and somewhat dramatically,
but not again does the power of
Imagination seem to have achieved
sway.
There is possibility of discovering
beauty in the most commonplace sub
Ject, and he who makes such dis
covery and manifests it, enriches the
world. In studying the water colors
of Mr.. Burchfeld, it is hard to be-
Iieve that he is in pursuit OF beauty,
for even in one Of his largest, latest
and handsomest works, The Last
Ray" magrAScent broad view of
mountain landscape and clouded sky,
his rendition is cold and emotionless.
This being the case, what can one
say of his Burning Muckland," Back
Alley" Wires Down." If in the
works of nature he finds no beauty,
how can he be expected to find it in
the works of man? What reason has
any one for perpetuating ugliness
other than to exploit his own Prov
ess? Is not this a prostitution Of
talent? It would seem so-and the
greater the artists ability, the greater
the shame.
Daumier used his art to show up
weaknesses in contemporary life In
the French capital; Hogarth painted
pictures which exposed to ridicule
social evils of his own day and gen.
Grafton In London; pictures such as
Burchfield paints should inaugurate
cleanup campaigns and the improve
ment in aspect Of our small town and
city outskirts, but they were not exc
cuted with that intent. What could
be more extensively dreary than the
pictures he gives us of 'Ohio River
Town." or Waiting for the Trolley?"
Certainly such outlook and environ
ment could not be other than depress-
ing and crime producing. What has
become Of all our civic improvement
societies?
Some may say that subject matter
has no Importance in art, and to an
extent this is true, but the treatment
Of subject matter is essentially within
this field and the choice of subject
matter is, without question, indica-
tive Of an artists leaning. A diStin-
guished Spanish scholar, writing on
modern art, has recently called atten-
ton to the effort that is being made
to dehumanize all forms of artistic
expression-to unrelate art to life.
But on the other hand, there is q
distinct trend today toward illustra-
tion-the storytelling picture in all
its lateramess. In fact, one Of the
Burchfield paintings, now on view in
the Corcoran Gallery Of Art, 1.-THE
Parade" Is as literal and visually ac-
curate as any Photographic transcript
ton Of a given scene. No wnoder we
are confused and ask what Is truth
what is beauty?
1T Is quite possible that the un-
= grammatical use Of the words
beauty and beautiful, has been largely
responsible for destroying their mean
ing and appropriate use. The "City
Beautiful and the "House Beautiful,
as slogans, were worn threadbare even
before beauty and parlor were illegally
wed. But why, for this reason, Danish