Evening star., 1936-03-01
ART PUTS TO SEA
IN QUEEN MARY
Noted British Artists Bring
Rare Talents to Dec.
crate Liner.
epecial Dispatch to The Star.

may take an up-to-the- minute course
in representative British art. All that
Is necessary is to saunter through the
ships various public rooms observe
and remember. For from sun deck
verandah to the c deck main restau-
rant the liner has been embellished
and adorned by men and women whose
names are familiar in every West
End drawing room. The character
of the work which will be on view
for Americans, when the ship arrives
In New York June ranges from
the classicism of Phillip Connard to
the sculpture of John Skeaping and
the paintings of Edward Wadsworth,
exponent of surrealism.
For the general public, the new
liner has IL decks; for the art student
interested in murals, sculpture, carv-
ings and moulded glass, there are four:
Sun deck, c deck, promenade and
main, with some arresting bas-reliefs
in metal by Rebel Stanton on A deck.
But the chief galleries" are the
dozen or so public rooms of the prom
enade deck which extend in a mag
nificent sweep from the smoking room
forward to the observation lounge,
directly under the bridge.
Consider, for the moment, that
you're on top of the sun deck, walk
ing aft to the verandah grill. This
clever room, with many paintings by
Doris ZinkeiSen. is combined a la
carte restaurant and night club, in.
innate and interestly planned.
It is in the grill that color change
effects are accomplished, for the first
time in any ship. by microphonic con-
troll. As the music of orchestra or
singers alters in pitch, the lighting
colors are subtly varied. There are %
windows. Doris Zinkeisen. we'll known
for her smart settings and costumes
for Cochrane's London revues, has
covered the remaining areas with some
1000 square feet of paintings in her
brightest manner. Her work here has
an infectiously gag and theatric
quality.
The moulded glass and the etched
glass panels in this room attract at
tention, but if it's question of time.
one ought to go forward and see the
gymnasium before descending to the
main restaurant on c deck.
The main restaurant, quickly reached
by one of the ships 81 elevators. is
the largest room ever built in ship.
1t extends the liners full width and
upwards through three decks. Arts
tically it offers the work of six people
among them Bainbridge Copnall, the
young painter and sculptor whose
murals and carvings for the new Royal
Institute of Architects Building are al
ready famous; Macdonald Gill, Walter
Gilbert and the distinguished member
OF the Royal Academy, Phillip Con-
nard.
Sea Lore in Pinewood.
For the port and starboard bulk
heads-walls to you. and lofty ones
-Copnall has carved IA panels of pine
wood which portray highlights of
shipping history from ancient Egypt
to time not reached His carvings,
especially the symbolic ones signifying
moods of air and ocean, are intensely
1maginative-and his work generally
conveys strong emotional overtones
while keeping close to realism. His
bold, sure treatment lets detail sug-
gest itself. Many of these panels are
10 to IL feet in length overall and all
have been applied high on the walls
OF the vast room.
The great cast-bronze double doors
In the center of the room and the
fanking doors are by Walter Gilbert
and Donald Gilbert. For the central
doors the main motifs. skillfully COM
bined with the incidental patterns also
suggestive of sea lore, are stories of
ancient mythology directly related to
the ocean-the figures of Castor and
Pollux, the Sirens, the Hesperides,
Aphrodite and others.
Diners in the restaurant will look up
at decorative map painting of the
North Atlantic by Macdonald Gill,
architect and muralist. Across the
map. q model of the ship will show
the huge liners steady progress across
the trackless lanes of the Atlantic.
Passengers may easily determine the
ships latitude and longitude at any
time. At the aft end of the room is a
striking canvas symbolizing travel IN
its various forms-an admirable ex-
ample of the work of Phillip Connard
of the Royal Academy. whose paint
ings are in Windsor Castle and nu-
merous galleries throughout Great
Britain and Europe.
Ascending to the promenade deck
and entering the cabin class smoking
room, one notes at once that here
fewer concessions have been made to
the modern spirit. Two decks high
and pleasurably proportioned, 1t sug-
gests the sterling comfort of a typically
English club. There is large fire.
place which burns real coal, and flank
ing 1t two carved and pierced panels
in limewood by James Woodford, who
shares honors with Copnall for his part
In the r. I. B. A. Building.
Woodford's screens-male and fe-
male figure composition in relief-and
other screens and panels in the room,
also by him, which carry out mascu-
line themes. have largely been sug-
gested by the solidity and traditional
character of the place.
There are sconce figures utilizing the
Jack, queen, king of cards and the
joker, and vine leaves, cereals and
tobacco fronds forming the motifs Of
the panels for the electric light fittings.
The essentially artistic energy of Ed
ward Wadsworth appears to equal ad-
vantage in his famous ship paintings
and In the nice but somewhat oblique
sense of humor shown in his surrealist
'marine" at the aft end.
Leaving this room, and moving for
ward on the same deck. one enters
the so-called "small" ball room, with
its parquetry dance floor, "a by 80
feet, and the same fascinating color.
change lighting effects Of the verandah
grill. Again, as in the grill, the scheme
Of the room itself-gold cleaning
through silver, etched glass at the win
- l. e..