Evening star., 1937-05-08

special committee, headed by Mrs.
Davis, with Mrs. George Garrett as
vice chairman such arrangements had
been completed, and the lower floor of
the Metropolitan Club, H and Seven
teenth streets, would be remodeled as
a gallery, where in to hold displays.
The first of these exhibitions, assem-
bled and sent to Washington by the
Museum of Modern Art in New York,
will take place in November, and five
others will follow in monthly success
sion during the Winter. Meanwhile, a
Film Society of Washington" has
been formed, with Mr.. Robert Lincoln
O'Brien, formerly head Of the Tariff
Commission, as chairman, which will
make available here the Film Library,
unique Of its kind, assembled and
administered by the Museum of Mod
ern Art.
In attendance, and chief speaker at
the meeting at Mrs. Dwight Davis, was
the president of the Museum of Mod
ern Art, Mr.. A. Goodyear, who told of
the inception of this institution. It's
purposes and development The Mu-
scum of Modern Art, he told his atten-
tive listeners, was established in 1929,
to bring to the attention of those Of
alert and curious mind, works by con-
temporary artists which possessed
originality and showed progress. This
museum. he explained, unlike other
Museums which function largely as
repositories of art, tried and assured,
does not guarantee the merit of the
works 1t exhibits, but to the contrary
admits that many so shown have but
passing significance. 1t provides, he
declared, testing ground, and its pur-
pose Is to stimulate further effort in
the matter of investigation. In this
respect he made comparison to a SCI
entlflc laboratory and admitted that
the chance OF epoch-making discovery
was equally slim.
The Museum Of Modern Art was
established in New York with galleries
IN Fifth avenue skyscraper, in 1929.
with only so members. For the first
year all effort was bent in demonstrat-
Ing It's serVlceability, and memberships
were not solicited. However, the at
tendance at Its exhibitions amounted
to $4,000. The membership is now
1000; last year 1t not only carried out
an extensive program of exhibitions in
lts headquarters, a remodeled resi-
dence in the vicinity of Rockefeller
center, New York, but circulated
throughout the country 81 exhibitions
which were shown, in all over 200
times. Next year it will have it's own
building, costing over q million dol
lars, and branches in numerous other
cities.
A unique feature of the Museum
OF Modern Art is the fact that it can
nave no permanent collection, for as
soon as work ceases to be modern"
COR, we may interject, becomes ortho-
dox) 1t has no place in such an 1nsti-
tutlon. The museum has. however
possesslons-a collection of modern
paintings left to it by Miss Lilly Bliss
OF New York and a collection of
works by present-day artists of Amer
lea. given by Mrs. Rockefeller. Grad
ually, Mr.. Goodyear said, these will
be distributed among other museums
IN which art that is historical finds
suitable placement.
Two OF the trustees of the Museum
OF Modern Art are residents of WASH
1ngton-Mrs. Roberts Woods Bliss and
Mr.. Duncan Phillips. At the meeting
last Monday Mrs. Bliss spoke briefly
IN appreciation of the exhibitions the
museum has set forth and the purpose
they have served in broadening and
stimulating interest in artistic experi-
mentation and occasional achieve
ment. Certainly the gathering and the
speeches betokened unusual interest
and foreshadowed good things to come,
1t Is difficult, if not impossible, to
evaluate any movement of ones own
tlme because of the lack of perspec-
tive, and the modern movement in
art has been, and is still, peculiarly
perplexlng to the average lavman.
Inc fostering of this movement up to
the present time has not brought
forth any notable result; no great
genius has emerged, no great work
been accomplished. But this Is not
to say that it is negligible-that there
may not be outcome. For those who
nave recognized the genius of Van
Gogh (Whose works the Museum of
Modern Art has circulated) despite
MS tortured soul and weaknesses. the
to see his drawings and
paintings has meant much; but Van
Gogh's genius came into existence
through great travail, not through in
lenslVe cultivation-is inexplicable, his
own. The exhibition of "Sur-rea1isn
and Fantastic Art" which the Museum
OF Modern Art is now circulating.
after successful display in New York.
taxes experimentation out of the field
OF art into that which is psychological
and metaphysical, and to the public
appears absurd and ridiculous. If
the doors of the scientists laboratory
were thrown open to the public the
oeWllderment would be much the same
IL IS difficult problem the Museum
OF Modern Art has assigned itself.
put the art lovers of Washington NAV
oe glad OF an opportunity to observe
at nrst hand and possibly assist in its
solution.
Corcoran Popular Prize Ayard
reflects Attitude of the Public.
HE attitude Of the public toward
art-at least the art of paint
lng-is reflected in the vote cast
Tor the painting best liked in the
Corcoran Gallery of Arts Fifteenth
Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting, which, by the
way, closes tomorrow afternoon. AS
the result of this balloting by visitors
during the current week, the popular
prize of 5000 was awarded to a
painting by Fedor Zakharov OF
ballet girl, "Ballerina," a full-length
figure, with other figures in ballet
costume seen through a doorway in
the background. The second largest
number of votes was cast for a
Alice Through the Black
Bottle" by Charles s. Chapnan-a