Evening star., 1937-11-20

~ the Museum of Modern Art
Gallery of WASHINGTON, a
seventeenth AND H streets NV. {
strategic loCap ton, and finely appoint.
ed rooms, Here. if anywhere, paint.
ings can be seen to their best adyan.
tage and presumably with utmoS
pleasure to the visitor.
Twenty nine paintings of five mod.
ern French painters, no one of whom
is still living, compose the initial dis.
play, selected, it is understood anc
sent to Washington with the eXCep-
ton OF single example, by the par.
ent organization in New York Eight
Of the CanVaSSeS have been draWr
from the Museum of Modern Art
own permanent collection, others have
been borrowed from private collector!
and dealers. the list of the former
being headed by A, Conger Good.
year president Of the Museum oI
Modern Art Obviously it is an IN
tereStng show For the initiated II
furnishes material with which tc
strengthen or revise convictions, while
for those who have had slight per-
sonal contact with the art OF this
school. 1t VIII be revealing IN the
extreme.
There are certain questions which
can never be satisfactorily answered:
one of these Is why are these painters
great, on what foundations do their
regulations rest? OF the five here
represented Renorr alone speaks in
-o1f
of his work, together with its charm
and beauty, III most instances being
obvious to all. But the four others.
studied IN such relationship. beWIlder
and confuse
Over the mantel IN the large GAL
lery hangs a very typical Renolr. lie
Piano. lent by Durard- d-Ruel, a por-
trait of two little girls intent upon
their music. a lovely canvas painted
with the evident delight ana fine feel
ing Of this great French master
Nearby, to the right. hangs another
child portrait by this painter, La
Petite Margot Berard." lent by
Stephen c. Clark, eXoulsltely rendered
with cOnSummate skill and utmost
tenderness. There is something very
appealing in RenouS Portrait, +"
lent by William Taylor an un-
finished work dated 1874. when the
painter was only SO and very sig
nlflcant of temperament and charac-
ter. OF all the 10 Renoirs in this
exhibition. "Au Moulin de Ia Galette," ."
lent by John Hay Whitney, is the
most elaborate composition. compriS-
ing many figures-a scene in one of
the famous cafes, with dancing and
Jolllty, painted in 1876 as a study
for larger canvas now in the Louvre
Toulouse -LautreC painted the same
subject, but with infinitely less gayety
and skill. No one, perhaps, ever
painted couples dancing as well as
Renolr, who in such representation
gives US not only consciousness of
rhythm, but the delight experienced
by the dancers themselves.
IT is pity that in. this Introductory
exhibition Of modern art the high
standard of the best is not maintained
throughout. One laments, in this
particular. the inclusion of a nude
by Renoir, painted in his old age.
which is contrary to his ideal of
beauty; in short, vulgar and inferior
in execution. In his later days Renor
was paralyZed, but he kept on paint
ing, his brush strapped To his wrist.
Il have seen two miracles" said Ellie
Faure, the Battle of the Marne and
the aged RenoW painting"
A most interesting inclusion in this
exhibition is self-portrait by Paul
Gauguin, lent by William Taylor.
and dated 1874 (the same year as
the Renoir) This is essentially in the
Old tradition, painted as did the great
Italian masters, with glaze upon glaze,
applied to the opaque undercoat. 1t
fairly glowS with color, as from
within; the surface is so fine it tempts
the sense of touch, the drawing is
lmpeccable, and what is more, We learn
from it something of the man himself.
the spirit within. This was done 10
years before the painter sailed for
the South Seas. declaring that civiliza-
ton was the disease of art and that,
having lost their savagery, artists no
longer had strength to create.
The examples of Gauguin's Tahitian
paintings which are included in this
exhibition witness the ease with which
hampering restrictions of custom and
tradition can be thrown away. Com
pairing his canvas painted in 1888,
Keeper of the Pigs" lent by Widen
stein (too late to be catalogued), with
his Tahitian works, one must admit
that the downward trend had set in
before he gave up banking and his
native land. But in the Tahitian cam
vases there is more individuality and
strength, the glamour of the South
Seas environment was apparently felt.
Is this, one asks ones self. sufficient to
assure immortal fame? Was not the
very rare talent which found express
sion in his early self-portrait bartered
for the traditional mess of pottage?
MYTH Gauguin is invariably asso-
ciated the name of Van Gogh,
an utterly different personality, fanat-
ical, Immoral, rather than immoral:
eager to show kindness, to do good,
agonizingly temperamental, completely
unbalanced. No painting by Van Gogh
but reflects his troubled mind and, at
the same time, his intensity of feeling.
His Sunset Over a Ploughed Field"
lent to this exhibition by Robert
Oppenheimer, through the courtesy of
the Museum of Modern Art. is one of
-