Evening star., 1938-02-20

Hospital in Warrington. It was she
who conceived . bold plan to make
the Red Cross q semi-ofacial relief
arm Of the Government. Mr.. Taft,
who was Secretary Of War at the
time, gave her his most ardent sup
port. Her talent for organizing and
her ability to execute were never
more clearly demonstrated than when
it took her Just half An hour to mobil-
ize Red Cross relief for the Messina
earthquake sufferers. It was after that
extraordinary achievement the Italian
government in 1909 decorated her
with the specially made reproduction
OF the ancient crown known a the
ancient Roman civic crown. She has
received decorations from . majority
Of the nations Of the world and 10 the
most decorated woman In America.
Mr.. Basdatopoulos
Paints Celestial Skies.
After all it was luck that We were
able to attend the review Of Mr.. Will
liam Spencer Bagdatopoulos' solo
water color show at the Natural His
tory Building on the 4th, for when
we did 60 4 few days ago We had the
pleasure Of almost private view, with
the artist as most delightful cice-
rome. We had heard that he could
entirely complete q water color in
10 minutes. AS it Is the age of ma
chinery We thought there must be
some catch. But as We gAzed on the
heavenly skies of California, the Car
mel Coast" the adobe houses, the
Grand Canyon, the Hindu Temple In
India we felt that after all inSpira-
tion was only momentary and that an
artist to portray the soul Of his sub
ject had best do 1t quickly. Mr.. Bag
datopoulos says he works directly from
nature. and great speed IL necessary
to catch fleeting cloud or . fast
changing sky.
He was born in Zante, one of the
Ionian Islands, Of English and Greek
parents, and said he had studied in
both Holland and At the Academy at
Athens. His accent Is British; his
eyes are English blue eyes, but his
way Of seeing things and expressing
himself is that Of 4 man Of no par
ticular country but Of all the coun-
tries in which he has lived. He has
painted in Egypt, Palestine. Constan-
tinople He knows his India a only
an Englishman can, but the one or two
pictures of Indian women exhibited
had a Grecian atmosphere about
them - perhaps unconsciously. He
spoke Of his admiration for Japa-
nese art: the rapidity with which
japanese painter worked. China, Co.
chin-China. Dutch Indies, Malay
States and Burma have al contributed
to his brush. But after all it must be
California that has won his heart,
for he described in detail the charm
of the country and the ever-chans-
ing landscape.
The show at the museum will be
there until the 27th. The exhibition
consists almost entirely of paintings
Of that Western State, with a few In
dian scenes, and q simply wonderful
portrait study of "The Swan'-from
Pavlova. We saw only one
Of his portraits. An oil painting of
the late DR.. Holmes, which hangs in
the ofilce of the director of the Natural
History Building-which Is better
known as the New National Museum,
1t Tenth street and Constitution ave.
nue.. His main forte Is portrait paint
ing and he has painted many privately
owned portraits in this country.
The Republican Ladies'
Step Out.
The Republican ladies certainly
stepped out last week when Mrs.
Charles Lea gave that swanky tea to
the ladies Of the press. There were
also four men there. Mrs. Lea being
III, Nine. Cantacuzene-Grant received
for her at the club house in Seven
teenth street. There were the most
delectable things to eat and Mrs. Lea
even sent to Philadelphia for a famous
bread made there which tasted like
Southern Sally Lun-and by the way,
Mrs. Lea is . Southerner, but must
have felt that 1t was her wifely duty
when she married Mr.. Lea up In
Philadelphia to support the party with
which he WAS afnliated. And she does
support it in the whole-hearted way
in which she does things. Charming
woman with delicious sense OF hui
NOR and q cosmopolitan outlook upon
life.