The Washington times., 1936-12-21

Rogers or Calvin Coolidge, Aston
Knight is devoted to that quaint
and picturesque corner of France
we know as Normandy. Normandy
whence Guillaume de ConqueranG!
sailed forth to seize England ana
produce a long line of kings whose
blood is carried today by tne
young man who has set all Britain
and her empire in uproar.
Aston Knight loves to paint MOI"
man scenes-the charming. WIND
ing rivers, the crumbling old mills,
the fields of flowers. But now ana
again this luSty master OF color
end design-and how he loathes
all those fake MISUNDERSTANDING
around his own United States ana
produces canvaSeS that are Wholly
delightful. He is exhibiting these
DAYS here in New York, ana the
versatility Of this sterling Amer
lean painter Is thus interestingly
revealed.
VERSATILE
From the grandoise Yosemite,
with the late afternoon light glow
ing on the towering cliffs as seen
from the wooded gloom OF the val
lev. he can turn with equal interest
to the Beaver Dam marshes" OF
Long Island and achieve a little
gem in the varied play OF grays ne
finds there.
Other canvases that make ap-
peal are the rugged Pacific
Coast (CarmeD," with the surge
of the ocean before ones eyes and
in ones ears; "The Coast Of Mexi-
CO." with it's fine moving sky.
"The Columbia River" Bridge
water, W.T., "A Colliery at Wilkes
Barre. Pa" and after a Shower
Honfleur, Normandy"
So much for a glimpse Of the
mans work. But to me, in talking
with him about life and the cos
mos and what makes things tick,
his personality is well-night over
powering.
He was a terrific detestation Of
art fakers-the sly fellows who de-
file the great altar Of art with
their wretched angularitles and
their senseless curves, their stupid
prisms and their general obSceni'
ties. These so-called ''moderniSts, "
who cancel their lack of ordinary
talent by the most downright af-
frontery. The whole tribe that
does idiotic things with children's
blocks and old rags and calls it
painting.
He seems never to change, Aston
Knight.
"Rot," he says. "AIl damned
rot! The fellows don't know
how to paint, that's the size Of
It, They are like children max.
ing mud pies and pretending
they have feast. It's too silly
to talk about and the damned
freakish thing is dying of NAL
nutrition. Painting is painting,
my boy.
"You can't make a monkey of
art. You can't put your fingers
to your nose and make diSre"
spectful signs at God Almighty.
1t Isn't done.
"Of course, the day of meticu-
lOus detail in painting is done
with, and that is a good thing.
In a sense we all are Impression
ists,' if that is what the modern
istic freaks call themselves, but
we who call ourselves honest
painters really try to capture
Nature in some one of her au.
thentic moods. We don't try to
make the grand old girl look
like a rock pile or a problem in
algebra. We don't try to kid
the public or jest with lie bon
Dieu!
POWERFUL MAN
Photography killed detail in
painting-the detail that MeiS-
SOnier and Detaille and those
old boys loved down to the last
button and frOglace-but it
didn't absolve the painters from
painting the truth of what they
saw as they saw it,"
At So he is a whale of a man
powerful, with a mental activity
and restlesSness which accord with
his bulk and strength. One of the
biggest heads ever set upon hui
man soulders belongs to him. He
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