Evening star., 1938-02-20
ByL@Ia Mechlin.
NHE Museum Of Modern Art Gal
lery of washington will open
this afternoon with . private

view 10 WHICH l0VlCAtlOIlS nave
been issued, its fourth exhibition for
the season. This will consist Of por-
traits of children and promises to be
most popular. It will open to the
public on Tuesday, despite the fact
that this being Washington's BIRTH
day Is legal holiday, and will con-
ttnue to March 20.
The committee in charge of this
gallery-one of Washington's latest
acquisitions in the field of art-has
got together about IS child portraits
by great masters and modern painters
through careful selection, wide knowl-
edge of American collections and the
generosity Of owners. The earliest in
point Of date was painted by Pintu-
ricchio in the late 18th century:
among the latest are works by such
vell-known contemporaries as Alex
ander Brook and Barnard Lntott.
Between these extremities will be works
by Halls, Greuze, Gainsborough, Rey-
nolds, Fragonard, Romney. Goya. Rus
sell, lie Brun, Renoir, Gilbert Stuart,
Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Henri, Luks,
oCAOwS d1lu OtllCIS-du dllsSGAT pCTs
Torrance. it would seem.
Many Of the paintings to be shown
are world famous and are historically
as well as artistically of note Among
the lenders are well-known private
collectors and public institutions. For
example from the Bache collection
will come the charming full-length
portrait of Don Manuel Osorio de
Zuniga by Goya-the little boy in
red with his pets. which was one of
the most popular reproductions in
cluded in the set issued by The Star
recently in its Art Appreciation Cam
paign. Every one who has one Of
these reproductions will want now to
take advantage of the opportunity to
see the original. Duveen Bros. lent
an important canvas of somewhat
similar character and charm-a full
length portrait Of typical English
boy-James Alexander Simpson paint
ed about 1910 by Arthur William
Devils in the style Of the 18th century
British school of portraiture. It de-
picts the little light-haired lad holding
his pet terrier under his arm.
The Dumbarton Oaks collection will
make notable contribution in child
portrait by Derain; Marie Sterner of
New York has lent a portrait OF q
roly-poly baby by the late George
Luks; Paul Mellon adds to the cell
lection his well-known portrait, pur-
chased by his father, of Miss Beatrice
Townsend by Sargent-to mention
only a few. Surely the Museum of
Modern Art Gallery of Washington
could hardly have hit upon = happier
theme for an exhibition than this.
More power to it.
Prints by Peggy Bacon Placed on
Vte1o in the Corcoran Gallery
of Art.
A N EXHIBITION of prints by Peggy
Bacon opened in the Corcoran
Gallery of Art this past week to con-
tinue to and through Sunday. March
6. This consists of 21 dry points. six
Autographs and three etchings, all of
which are figure studies or compost
tions, considered singly or in groups
That they are we'll done none can
deny; as q, technician Peggy Bacon
ranks with some Of the best. But
neither can one fail to admit that the
works she produces as the fruit Of
knowledge and gift do not advance
ones respect for ones fellow man or
regard for humanity as . whole. She
S satirical, possibly at times inten-
tionAlly humorous, but neither her
satire nor her humor is Of that subtle
variety which sparkles in its own
right. 1t is the vulgar and the de-
graded that she brings to our attention.
Hogarth. in his paintings and draw
ings, held up to derision the false and
the foolish of his day-with a purpose
Daumier contrived to present most
graphically the weakness, foibles and
evil OF those of the legal profession in
Paris at the time he lived. In our own
day great works of this character have
been produced by Forain. But there is a
wide difference between the pictorial
works OF these men and those Of Peg
gy Bacon. She apparently has no
pity-they had a great deal. It Is sheer
vulgarity which she shows and of a
type which would seem to be beyond
remedy. For this reason it is not anus
ing. but depressing.
Peggy Bacon is the wife of Alexander
Brook, the painter. She studied under
John Sloan, Kenneth Hayes Miller,
Andrew Dasberg and the late George
Bellows. She has been awarded a Gue-
genheim scholarship for extended
study, and been admitted to mem
bership in the Society Of American
Etchers. the Print Makers of America
and the American Society of Painters,
sculptors and Gravers She has written
and Illustrated 10 or more books
some Of which are for children and
very jolly. Her husbands portrait of
her hangs in the Corcoran Gallery of
Art, having been acquired a few years
ago from one Of its biennial exhibi-
tions. She and her husband make their
home in New York, on East Fifteenth
street. and 1t is there undoubtedly that
she finds her subjects, but New York
Is not all either Fifth avenue or Grand
street.
Some may object-and with GER
tain reason-that the art with which
asub}ect is rendered transcends all else
out to achieve this end the art must
be very great indeed. Art is a Ian
vuage-a universal language-and un-
less it has something to express it is
futile, has no reason to exist This Ia.
1t has been said. the day of the COM
mon man, but. even 50, art should not
be used to make such more common.
Art has been, until now, one of the
great civilizing forces, revealing beauty
Of many sorts, not least those Of
strength and character; when 1t
ceases to 50 serve its vitality will be
gone. . dark age before US. Gals
worthy and Locke, viewing the world
from the standpoint of writer's, both
emphasized this fact, and In no un-
certain terms urged conservation OF
the things Of the spirit and propa-