Evening star., 1937-10-09

Smithsonian Institution vew years
ago and highly commended. but the
extraordinary skill distinguishing his
work now on display puts 1t in a class
entirely its own.
Art. like beauty. is difficult to define
but easy to recognize when once seen
At glance these drypoints by Mr.
WaShburn proclaim themselves the
work of one rarely talented and ex-
.ceptionally trained. one whose vision
is unerring. taste supreme, hand
obedient.
The portrait heads are OF peoples
met in many lands. working people of,
perhaps. lowly birth. but of character,
not merely persons, but personalities,
vital-real. Wit the utmost simplicity
and subtlety, Mr.. Washburn has por-
trayed them. set them before us, given
them. as did Rembrandt his Dutch
contemporaries, Immortality. To see
an artist turn from portraiture OF
such caliber to the rendition Of land
scape with apparent ease is astound-
ing. Twenty years ago Mr.. WASH
burns etchings of places and build
ings were sensitive and poetic. but in
the landscapes he now exhibits there
is epic AS we'll as lyric quality, dignity
and strength as we'll as sheer beauty.
There is also great variety in
handling. II line alone seemed to
suffice he has found it sufficient. But
when velvety shadow in mass makes
the picture, he employs it with no less
skill. Among the landscape and SUBJ
ject prints one may stumble across
or Whistler. but study the print more
closely. 1t will be found not an echo
of past master. but the expression
of one Of today. simple and frank and
essentially personal. This is art of
very high order, so rare and so fine
that it defies analysis and disarms
criticism. Its production, further
more. seems to have been completely
without self-conscious thought or ef-
fort and therein perhaps lies some OF
its charm and tremendous appeal.
Exhibition of Woodcuts by
LGnkeS Sponsored BY
Wells College Club.
IN INTERESTING contrast to the
drypoints of Mr.. Washburn. be-
cause of the great diversity of medium
used, are the woodcuts of j. ]. Lankes,
set forth simultaneously in the
Corcoran Gallery OF Art.
A drypoint Is made with q needle
on a copper plate. like an engraving
without its rigidity. like an etching
but unbitten by acid A woodcut is
made with knife or graver on wooden
block. In the one the lines cut in the
plate hold the ink. In the other this
function is performed by those left
standing on the block. The woodcut
came into existence with the discovery
Of printing and has a very definite
relation to the printed page, especially
to hand-cut. outstanding type. 1t is
one Of the oldest of the graphic arts
and was practiced by such great
masters as Durer and Holbein.
One of the greatest contributions
that we in America have made to the
art of the world is in this field. For
in the latter half of the last century
4 number of American makers OF
Uoodcuts for book and magazine illus
-rations developed the white line
OF wood engraving to a height
It had never before reached Chief
among these innovators were Timothy
Cole and Henry Wolf. neither now
living. But these and other American
wood engravers of the past century
gave their time and efforts to re-
the work OF others. Since
then there has arisen a school of
who have used the wood
cut again rs a medium of original ex-
preston. Outstanding among these is
]. j. Lankes, Al of whose prints are
now on view in the Corcoran Gallery
Of Art. under the auspices of the
Wells College Club of Washington.
The difference between a wood cut
and a wood engraving is that the
former is cut with the grain on a wood
block with knife, while the latter
is cut with graver on such a block
against the grain. A simpler diff
however, to keep in mind,
is that wood cut, as a rule, shows
Of black and white with few
structural lines, whereas the engraving
is chiefly linear.
Linoleum is sometimes substituted
for wood In the first instance. Both
methods call for simplicity Of design
and almost poster-like directness on
the part of the artist. Not infreouently
both methods are employed on the
same block, in which case they be-
come almost indistinguishable.
Half way between Thomas w. Mason,
our outstanding wood engraver today.
and Charles Smith, a most clever con-
maker Of wood cuts, stands
Lankes, whose prints have some of the
Of the first and the SIM
plicity of the second. In this goodly
are such well-known artists
and makers of wood cuts As Rudolf
Ruzicka, Asa Cheffetz, Rockwell Kent.
Glare Leighton, the last of England.
All of these have employed the wood
cut as a medium for illustrations, max
ing, invariably. original prints, and
adapting them to the accompanying
text. Mr.. Lankes has thus illustrated
books, among them "West
Running Brook" and New Hamp-
by Robert Frost, Spring
and Upper Pasture" by
Charles Malan, and The Goodhues Of
Sinking Creek" by w. R. Burnett.
Since 1917, Mr.. Lankes has cut over
nine hundred blocks. Among his own
writings which he has illustrated are
Virginia Wood Cuts" tsome of which
are included In this exhibition and
"A Wood Cut Manual" an authorita-