Evening star., 1937-04-18
CAPITAL NATIVE
T0PA|NT ECLIPSE
Fastest, Most Exciting Job
of Career Is Due
June 8.

Charles Bittinger, 34O3 o street, q
native Washingtonian and former
president Of the Arts Club, is going
TO do the fastest and most exciting
Job Of painting in his long career on
June 3. On that date, on a tiny
island In the South Seas, the interna-
tionally famous artist will paint =
picture Of the essential features of
total eclipse of the sun in the very
abort time Of four minutes.
AZ q member of the National Geo.
graphic Society-United States Navy
expedition, which will observe the
eclipse from the Phoenix Islands, in
the middle Of the Pacific Ocean, Bit
finger will attempt task which has
been performed successfully only q
few times before. Four minutes is
an extremely short time in which to
paint even the essentials of a pic
ture, but the eclipse will last only
that longapproximately and once it
Is over there will be no chance to
get the model" to come back for
another sitting
Painting a picture Of an eclipse is
Important for science as well as for
art. Not only is an eclipse of the
sun one Of the most beautiful and
awe-inspiring spectacles known, and
therefore well worth preserving on
canvas, but an exact record of the
colors Of various features of an eclipse
Is important to scientists who study
the sun.
Sky to Be Painted in Advance.
Though Bittinger probably will paint
faster and with greater concentrat ton
than ever before during the brief
time OF the eclipse, he actually will
not have to paint his entire picture
In four minutes. He will paint four
partially complete pictures in advance,
one with a purple sky another with
blue sky, another blue-green and a
fourth gray. He believes the sky Is
certain to be one Of these four colors
during the eclipse.
Each Of the preliminary pictures also
will have, in its center, the black disk
Of the moon already painted in, 4
inches in diameter. Around the moon
in each picture Bittinger will paint
tentative representation of the corona,
the pearly halo surrounding the sun
which is visible only during total
eclipse. Astronomers know in advance
that the corona this year will be
roughly circular.
When the eclipse begins, Bittinger
will note the color of the sky, and
then choose that one of his four pre-
liminary canvaseS which has a sky
of the same color. Then on this
canvas he will finish" the painting
He will quickly correct the shape and
color of the preliminary corona to
conform with the actual corona, and
then paint in the prominences, the
great flame-nke tongues of hydrogen
gas rising from the suns surface which
are visible around the edge of the
moon during an eclipse. Recording the
exact color of these prominences,
usually red or pink, will be one Of
Bittinger's most important tasks
Paints to Be Ready Mixed.
There will be no time to mix paints,
Of course, so the artist will have mixed
In advance a whole series of paints in
all the shades Of red and other colors
which he might conceivably need.
These will be arranged 50 that he can
md the right ones even in the semi
darkness, little brighter than moon
Light, which will prevail during the
eclipse.
Bittinger will not use "color short
hand" to make notes Of colors during
the eclipse and then paint his picture
afterward, as has been done by some
artists who have painted eclipes with
less time than he will have. He be-
lieves it highly important to place the
colors in relation to each other while
the eclipse is in progress, in order to
achieve correct effects.
This is not the first time that Bit
finger has done art work in the in
terest OF science. He was engaged in
camouhage studies during the World
War and has assisted in camouflage
experiments at the Naval Research
Laboratory and in studies Of color
standards 1T the National Bureau of
Standards. In the Franklin Institute,
Philadelphia, are some unique murals
painted by him with fluorescent paint.
When seen by daylight one set Of
pictures Is visible in these murals, but
when they are seen under special
artificial light, containing ultraviolet
tight, the ultraviolet brings out COL
ors not visible In daylight, and an
entirely different set of pictures ap-
gears.
Bittinger has received many med