Evening star., 1937-05-29
By Leila Mechlin.

ny ActtU IlCIHIIHs
TWO special exhibitions of prints
were opened in the Corcoran
Gallery of Art this Week-one
Il general exhibition assembled
and presented by the American Art
lists Congress. the other etchings by
single distinguished etcher, John
Sloan.
The former, to which the gallery Of
special exhibitions has been assigned,
Is entitled America Today" COM
prises 100 prints in different media
and is said to be Nation wide in rep
resentation. Collectively it sets forth
a horrifying picture Of contemporary
life, and If this is America, one may
we'll flee our shores.
According to the announcement in
the catalogue issued by the American
Artists Congress, this exhibition,
which is one of 30 such shows shown
IN cities throughout the country may
as whole be characterized as 80
cially conscious
1T reflects" we are told, "a deep
going change that has been taking
place among artists for the last few
years, change which has taken many
of them not only to their studio win
dows. but right through their doors
into the street, into the coal mines,
steel mills, factories More and more"
according to this statement, the ar
lists are finding the world outside their
studios increasingly interesting and
exciting and filling their pictures with
their reactions to humanity about
them rather than apples or flowers"
That the artists represented in this
exhibition are in the sternest sense
realists, and have unfinchingly set
forth what they saw, is impressively
evident-hut how awful the sights and
with what possible pleasure can they
have made their transcriptions? Ex-
citing and interesting, it is said, but
what type of mind can crime and
degradation so affect?
OF THE 100 prints in this collection
now on view, there are only 3, or
5 at most, that have in them the
slightest element of beauty, or make
the least pretension of interpreting
that which is fair to see-lovely. To
the contrary, what these artists have
chosen to set forth as seen from their
studio window or door" 1--WE hope not)
are such subjects as "Lynching," the
head of q man with a rope around
his neck, choked or choking; group
OF "Gangsters and Detectives" tndis-
guishable one from the other; a crazed
fool, Insane Asylum, No. T.; mob.
'In Times of Peace; drunken sailors,
"Shore Leave; human wrecks, "Dere-
iicts"; an old hag with onions in her
lap, Spring; a bestial white-collar
employer at his desk, ''Dictation,"
and so on ad infinitum. Almost with
out exception, it is the ugly, the vul-
gar, the degenerate as we'll as the
tragic which is depicted-and not Of
necessity, but by deliberate choice, as
typical OF America today.
And it is not done, it would seem,
with sorrow, pity, tenderness, fellow
feeling or even momentary horror,
but as a spectacle exciting, interest
ing-for which some one else is re-
sponsible. Occasionally, but very sell
dom, q note of humor creeps in or
bit of satire becomes discernible, but
for the most part, if these printmakers
have experienced any personal reac-
tions, they have not found expression
in their works. Sad, ugly, dreadful,
disgusting-even perhaps true-these
prints do not seem purposeful or
meant to mend conditions. They are
not the work of reformers, but of ire
sponsible bystanders who have found
in them grist for their mills-good
erist, because shocking and unusual.
But is it good grist? Let us for a
moment consider the economic side
To quote again the statement in the
catalogue, which is for our informa-
ton: This revolutionary change
Urom apples and flowers to lynchings
and human derelicts) occurring among
the artists is finding its complement
in a changing attitude on the part Of
the growing public toward the print.
Many people are now learning to re-
gard the print not only as a wall deco
ration, but also as a form of contem-
porary expression twas it ever any,
thing else?) on the wall or in the port
1olio.'
Very true, but expression is, after
all, only means to an end-not an
end In itself-and the public much
more than the artists is interested in
the thing expressed. Why, therefore,
the ugly print? For such there is
just one excuse, which is that 1t is
50 well done that the subject becomes
Of no consequence. However, in the
last two or three hundred years less
than q score of artists have attained
to such heights for the
artist of today it is a dangerous
experiment. And, what is more, people
do not buy that which makes no ap-
peal. Taste varies, and is by no
means impeccable, but the majority
crave beauty and do their best to &C
quire 1t. To gloat over the ugly Is in
itself q sign Of depravity.
MANY Of the works shown in this
exhibition are competently done
well drawn, and clearly expressed, but
this Is mere technical achiever ent
The work which is touched with genius
even family is very different mat.
ter
One work in this exhibition is SC
touched, and perhaps two others. This
is a lithograph by Rockwell Kent Of
a man and woman on height above
the world. looking into space and ask
ing the question, And now where?'
work adhering to the universal; anc
its companions in merit are little
wood engraving by ]. ]. Lankes Of 9
commonplace country scene beauti.
fully interpreted, Spring Twilight,
and an etching Of Subway Excava-