Evening star., 1937-04-04

automobiles parked everywhere
vistas and obscuring the landscape. NJ
LEnfant would be so disappointed if
he were here.
The COrcOran Gallery
Is = Mass Of Color.
The Corcoran Gallery Of Art, mind
ful of the season, has burst forth In
the most colorful, gorgeous exhibition
OF paintings it has hung in some time
AS one walks through the IA rooms
allotted to the Fifteenth Biennial Ex-
hibition of Contemporary American
Oil Paintings he is impressed with the
feeling of light and life on every side
An atmosphere of warmth and feel
ing of appreciation. 1t is like going
into the broad sunlight of June day
after the depressing exhibitions of
drab canvases, contorted, deformed
human shapes and bizarre, grotesque
landscapes to which the public has
been treated during the past decade.
The impressionistS, the post-impres-
sionists and then the moderns-the
last the National Capital will have for
years to come-depicted in murals on
the walls Of the new public buildings
Mrs. Lahey's Portrait
A Wonderful Likeness.
When lettering through the galleries,
stopping to examine more closely a
picture or admire a distant vista. one
does not think or know what gigan-
tic proposition it has been to assemble
and complete an exhibition so that the
public may be able to see it in all
its perfection and enjoy it as whole.
gerode, director of the Corcoran Gal
lery, must 60 the real credit for put
ting on the show. He is past master
In the art and is wonderful in sensing
the feeling of the public as well as
the patrons of art. The Board of
Trustees in setting forth the purpose
of the present exhibition points out
that g. 3" it is the aim of the Cor
Coran Gallery of Art to present to
the public, with the close co-opera
ton of our jury, an exhibition OF oil
paintings by living American artists
which accurately reflects the trend
Of contemporary painting in this
country; which illustrates as completely
rs possible what American painters
OF today are doing; which is broad and
truly representative in its scope and
character, and which includes the
best available works exemplifying the
different schools and phases of paint
ing as they now actually exist" The
exhibition is confined to pictures not
before publicly exhibited in Washing
ton. 1t seems to be the practice of the
gallery to choose the jury from differ
ent parts of the States just as it is
to select the pictures for the exhibi-
tion so that geographically the country
may be represented. Mr. William j.
Glackens, was chairman of the jury
OF five this year-his realism is de-
lightfully portrayed in his picture,
"Coasting, Central Park" not in this
exhibition, of course. Mr.. Rich
ard Lahey director Of the Corcoran
School OF Art, was a member of the
jury, by the way, he has charming
portrait of Mrs Lahey which greets
one when entering a main doorway
Of one of the central rooms. A sophis-
ticated figure - bewitchingly digni-
ned and found to be wonderfully like
the original, who, when acting as host
by it.
Two thousand canvases were sub
mitted for the exhibition and from
this number only something like 460
could be chosen The infinite pains
OF the jury in going over and over
the subjects; the jurymen taking
them as body and then separately
Finally, when the selections were
made and the long rows Of pictures
were set up against the wall, each
juryman wrote his choice on bit of
paper and dropped it before the pic
ture. 1t was dreadfully exciting to
get Miss Emily Millard, secretary to
the director of the gallery and man
ager Of special exhibitions, to describe
the process one morning when she
was caught out in the atrium attend
ing to some of her duties.
Arranging a Big Picture Show
Is Not All Beer and Skittles.
It's not all beer and skittles when
1t comes to deciding about the ar
rangement on the walls of several
hundred pictures of all shapes and
sizes. There must be continuity as
to size and contour; subjects and
treatment have to be considered and
then the tout ensemble. There must
be paintings of just the right size and
proportions as we'll as merit to hang
at the end of the long vistas in the
gallery and facing openings. This Is
where Miss Millard's wonderful ex-
perience comes in. She sees also to
the arrangement of the garlands of
laurel with which the walls are so
classically decorated and the great
white pillars in the atrium are en-
twined. Then when the stage is all
set during the first days of the ex-
hibition she acts as hostess and an
swers questions of timid young artists
whose wings are just sprouting When
they ask it she gives them a little