Evening star., 1937-02-27

liver and it was to this end that she
strove, therefore she was not content
merely to set down what she saw.
Painting to her was primarily a me-
dium Of expression and whatever
study she gave to the subject was
with the object of acquiring greater
facility and thus increasing her
power. For considerable number of
years there was prejudice against
indoor painting, and to an extent we'll
founded. To render correctly from
memory visual impression is enor-
mously difficult and for this reason
such renderings are frequently out of
key, artificial, if not false. But, if it
can be done, it is the more significant.
Miss Macintosh is perhaps at her
best in her paintings of Ireland, which
very graphically manifest the ro-
mantle the romantic allure of the
Emerald Isle In one large canvas
she shows in the foreground typical
little cottage with its white walls,
dark roof, high garden wall. with,
beyond. green fields sloping gradually
up to the high horizon where hills
and sky meet the sea which marks the
island boundary. There is another
canvas in which ridges of pure white
marble make startling contrast with
the blue-green grass and sky, and are
offset in turn by huge patches OF deep
purple blossoming heather. A third
painting in this group is a twilight
scene in the rather drear hills; night
is rapidly descending. and, scarcely
perceptible, in the foreground is a
woman riding a donkey with bags,
perhaps of fodder, swung across the
saddle.
Among the Gloucester pictures is
one of an approaching thunderstorm
seen across the inner harbor ana
looking up to the town as 1t climbs
the hill. The effect here is dramatic
and excellent. There is very charm
ing passage in a painting made near
Rockport in which, beyond the still
water in the foreground, is seen
group of houses behind a scene OF
trees. 1t is these passages which give
vitality and lasting interest to Miss
MacIntosh's works.
Of the pictures for which studies
were made on the coast of Maine per-
haps the most interesting is that OF
gulls circling over the inshore water.
In this she did not make the too
common mistake of defining the birds
accurately. but rather has contented
herself with indicating their move
ment, the feeling of bouyancy, and
their ability to ascend. The feeling OF
the sea and sky and air is very per-
fectly interpreted in this painting. 1t
manifests, more than many, the artists
extraordinary power of perception.
Miss Macintosh, we are told, was
strong character, a leader and or
ganizer, one who was more unafraid
than courageous" but also dreamer
with reserve strength and inner depths.
All this finds in a measure express
sion in her painting. That she had
genius for friendship would seem to go
without saying. Marian Macintosh
died at Gloucester last September after
very brief illness. She was a
graduate of Bryn Mawr and for many
years a teacher in the Agnes Irwin
School, formerly of Philadelphia. now
of Wynnewood. She had always en-
thusiasm for painting. but only in
later years could give herself un-
restrictedly to it.
Harrison Cady's Drawings and
EtchingS Haze Humorous Turn.
IN QUITE different vein but in no
wise conflicting are the etchings,
drawings and water coiors by Harrison
Cady which simultaneously are being
shown in the reception room, dining
room and hall of the Arts Club. The
majority of these are pictures of life
in the Kentucky and Tennessee noun
tains to which Mr.. Cady has given
slightly humorous slant. Could any
thing be funnier than the etching
entitled The Crossing at Short Toe
Creek" in which one sees against
mountain background family cross
ing stream on narrow bridge at the
bottom of the gulch-the pater
familias walking, the madam, pipe in
mouth, riding mule with three off,
spring clinging on behind and one
safely ensconced before? Mr.. Cady
treats his mountain landscapes not a
little as the Japanese printmakers
treated the landscape of Japan, with
great simplicity and flatness-but in a
way perculiarly his own-and a way in
which he persists even when employing
color. When an artist has found so
congenial theme as in this instance
the mountain regions of our Ap-
palachian range and has invented so
original way of Interpretation, there
is always danger of being forced into
repetition and formula. But these
evils Mr.. Cady has happily escaped,
and his Rockport pictures are no less
pleasing than those of Lonesome
Gap" and its environs. To those
whose memory goes back quarter of
century or more these drawings and
etchings by Harrison Cady recall the
stories of Charles Egbert Craddock of
the Great Smoky moi 1tains and their
Anglo-Saxon inhabitants-also the
folk songs preserved by these people,
collected and made available by
Howard Brockway and Lorraine Wy
man. There is less "moonshine" with
fewer "feuds" in these mountains than
there was, out the mountaineer still
persists.
The CLINT of humor which illumines
some of Mr.. Cady's mountain draw
ingS comes to full flare in his etchings
entitled, The Bishops Dilemma" and
"Fanchon and Doll" The latter are
two fat ladies" of the circus seen
seated on bench behind the scenes,
resting and making-up. Apparently