Evening star., 1938-04-17

reaches a climax, so far as
sensation goes, in the ex1ibi-
Il ton of works by PlcassO and
Marin which opened in the Phillips
Memorial Gallery with a private view
last Sunday and will continue to May
!. According to the announcement
issued to prospective visitors, these
two are the most inventive artists
now living" Without question they
are the two who most vlvidly reflect
the chaotic conditions of the time
and are most incomprehensihl
Plcasso, born in Spain in 1881. but
the greater part of his life resident in
Paris, has made stir in the interna-
tional art world, rebelling, puzzling,
provoking, since 1908 Marin, on the
other hand, is American born. IL
years PicasSo's senior, and has en-
loyed vogue built up by limited but
extremely partisan American patron
age, Equally inventive, their ap-
proach, it would seem, is widely di-
verse. To quote again from the an
nouncement Of the exhibition: "Pl-
caSso, once romanticlst. has made
his studio into an alchemstS labora-
tory. He makes art out of other arts
and dominates many current trends.
Marin, the American wizard of water
color, makes his art from close con-
tact with elemental forces in nature
He refers With inspired haste to
transltory aspects and is closer to
moving lights and tides than to art
movements. But let us consider
them separately.
PiCdSSO q Name
TO Con1ure With.
As C. J. BULLET wrote, at the
time of the Century of Progress
Exposition in Chicago, when u paint
tngs, s drawings and works in sculp-
ture by Picasso were included in the
great international exhibition in the
Art Institute: His has been name
to conjure with for more than
quarter of a century-to call Up evil
spirits or good, according to your
personal art prejud!ces.'
Picasso was undoubtedly the father
of abstract art out Of which has come
art which is purely non-objective. No
exhibition of contemporary painting
today, which declares itself up-to-
date. but reflects in greater or less
degree his influence. Undoubtedly he
is one to be reckoned with His works
should be thoUgitfulIy studied before
the spirits he has called forth are to
be donnclled or exercised. Who is
Plcaso? What has he gwen us-good
coin or false?
OF the man himself, Mr. Phillips. in
q brief brochure accompanying the
catalogue of the current exhibition,
has the following to say:
"Plcasso has been called the Span
ish bull in the French china shop be-
cause of the furore his violent per-
sonallty has created in city Ceie-
brated for its taste and its traditions.
Driven by his genius and his lncesSan.
urge to invention, he trusts to his
impassioned instinct for expressive
design and to the immediacy of his
impulse and inspiration. He said of
himself that each time he starts a
new picture he steps off into space
He plans nothing. but observes and
hsSlmlllates everything and abandons
himself to the destiny of the creative
movement"
"Picasso's beginnings we're roman
tic" Mr.. Phillips continues. Both the
poverty OF his early years and the
melancholy and morbidezZa of MS
lyric pictures seemed to mark him
ss a SURVIVOR of the 18th rather than
as pioneer of the 20th century. lie
feared his own trend to sentimentality
and about 1906 renounced subjects al
together. But his professed asceticism
has been more exciting than his lyric
indulgence. His esthetic adventures
have been bewildering.'
PicaSSo Inherently a Rebel.
IRON the beginning, apparently,
Pablo PicasSo has been a rebel |
for we are told that his artist father
and his earliest teachers noted how
impervious as a boy he was to rules. |
Bullet says that he seems never to
have had to learn the rudiments of
art Certainly he himself apparently
thought so. He first went to Paris in
1900 and with but a brief interval
Of two years has resided there ever
since. Matisse and the "Fauves" were
the center OF attention In the early
days of the present century. At first
Picasso was welcomed to this circle,
but later. it is recorded. his fellow
innovators turned against him. 1t
was Matisse who in good-natured rid
icule gave the name 'cubism' to Pleas
sos first distractions. But Pi-
casso, 1t should be remembered, was
never a simpleton; STEPPED in tradition
from childhood, he was profoundly
impressed by the classic, and the
steps he took were deliberate rather
than accidental: he never stumbled
through ignorance.
Large Representation
In Current Exhibition.
IN THE exhibition now to be seen
\ in the Phillips Memorial Gallery
no less than 81 works by Picasso are
included. This constitutes a most
comprehensive survey, the study of
which should lead to just estimate Ct
the painters contribution as whole.
Among the works set forth are several
which are conceded to be his master
pieces-works which during the pres
ent extraordinary vogue for his in
ventiveness have been extravagantly
declared to be among the greatest
world paintings.
The catalogue of this exhibition has
been prepared with the utmost care;
;eto TO
of development, each, furthermore,
accompanied by brief comment. Few
artists have passed through so many
marked epochs. These with Picasso,
strangely enough, seem rarely to over
lap: each in turn is cast aside as skin
that has become too confning, but
there is no evidence of progress-the
skin changes. that is all.
Naturally the early periods are most
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