Evening star., 1936-11-21

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it cannot be denied. Especially i'm
pressive are some of the great cartoons
showing the careful and very profess
sional manner in which these COM
missions have been carried out.
Among these, works by Crimi,
Marsh, Free and Lea are most notable.
And beautiful indeed, are the draw
ings by Leon Kroll. shown as studies
for, and in conjunction with, his
murals, the Triumph" and the De
feat of Justice" purposed for place.
ment in the Department of Justice
Building in this city. These drawings
alone declare this artist a master.
THERE are no less than 10 full-size
mural paintings. completed, ready
for placement, included in the present
exhibition. Some of these, through
scale models. may be seen as in the
environments for which they were cre-
ated Obviously, such a showing must
reflect contemporary trends. What
are they? First, perhaps, emphasis on
the fact that we are living in q ma
chine age, and, second, interest in the
common man and his preoccupations.
Now machinery may both free and
enslave; in motion it may possess not
merely power, but rhythmical beauty;
but machinery as adjunct to, or back
ground for, the mechanic. has Ger.
tainly little significance and no con.
tinuing interest. 1t does not decorate
that is not its purpose. And yet
many Of these young mural painters
have chosen the machine shop as
their theme, with the result that their
compositions are restless, and, in very
short space, fatiguing.
If the story of life is worth telling.
surely it is worth telling beautifully,
md in relation to universal truth. A
master can glorify any subject; the
real artist is he who. seeing beneath
the surface. manifests more than the
average eye may see. Strangely
enough, in this day of abstract art
and OF sur-realism, We have turned,
it would seem, in our mural painting,
to pure Illustration. and for the most
part satisfied ourselves with rejecting
life as in a mirror.
To be sure, art has always reflected
life, and always will, but probably
never before have we been so earth
bound in this respect as now. Gone
are our dreams, faded our visions. and
without these, life. we must admit,
becomes unendurable. The word
beauty" today Is taboo. but beauty
with all its lntangibility is a very real
thing and we can not do without it in
life or in art.
No one would wish to take from
these courageous and capable young
painters, represented by mural paint
ings and designs in this exhibition,
one atom Of the praise and credit they
deserve, and so richly, but we should
like them to give us something which,
once seen, would add to our own
stature, and would lead to our better
understanding of God and our neigh
Dor. This does not seem unreasonable
when for all time their works are to
be given placement on the walls of
our public buildings.
After all, what is a mural painting
for? In the early days, murals were
commissioned that the story of the
gospel might be made known to the
ignorant who could not read-the
walls of the churches and converts
and monasteries were used as the
peoples picture books-the paintings
were illustrations on a large scale.
Lately again, art has been used for
propaganda, but not of great religious
beliefs, but rather of political and So
cial convictions, and without ap-
preciable result, or at least without
benefit to the masses. Oddly enough.
now that book illustration has almost
completely gone out, we take to COW
ering our walls with gigantic illustra-
tive paintings. And to what purpose?
Are We setting down in imperishable
material a record of life as lived today
for our own delectation, or for that of
those who come after US? II the lat
ter, is it as warning or examples? Do
we thus wish to record our civiliza-
tion-or lack thereof? What virtue is
there in any activity, especially that
which is supposedly inspirational,
without underlying thought?
N OUR present-day program of So
cial reform, community of well be-
ing, equality, justice, security for all,
We naturally turn with utmost con-
Germ to the least privileged, the labor.
ing man, the unknown soldier, the
woman who tolls with her hands; but
need we picture this class as unheroic
and utterly unlovely? Certainly such
are neither, of necessity, homely nor
vulgar, and 1t is as such that MANY of
our contemporary mural painters pre-
sent them. What is lacking In some
Of the most technically competent of
these works is spiritual content: the
people depicted are spiritless, bodies.
but no minds or souls. Rembrandt,
Velasquez, Goya, Daumier, Forain,
did not depict the common people.
even when in some instances exposing
their foibles. OF course, such genius
Is rare, but the attitude of such men
is not inimitable.
Undoubtedly this Is not only q ma
chine age, but an age of vulgarity, but
why publish this fact on the walls Of
our public buildings2 Such may
flourish for Q day, but it has not i'm
mortality.
Mr.. Forbs Watson, In his introduce
ton to the catalogue Of this exhibi-
ton, says that this work here shown
is mot addressed to esthetes who
cherish the misunderstood" but to 1.-THE
community in general" and is there
fore Collectively understandable"
Through its objective clarity" he
claims. cit gains its potentialities to
bring hontogeneity to . heterogeneous