Evening star., 1938-04-10
By Leila Mechlin.

-
TT WAS an excellent plan on the
part of those in authority to ar
range at this time for special
exhibition in the foyer of the
United States National Museum OF
paintings and sculpture included ir
the National Collection of Fine Arts
which, for lack of space, are generally
in storage, for. in the first place, ii
gives opportunity to renew acquaint-
ance. and, secondly. it stresses both
the value of the collection and the
need for building to house it suitably
The National Collection of Fine Arts
has been built up. under the guardian
ship of the Smithsonian Institution
by gifts from generous private donors
largely since 1906, when, by decree
of the Supreme Court of the District
of Columbia, a National Gallery OF
Art was declared to exist under the
provisions of the Smithson bequest
and its acceptance by Congress. This
decree. handed down by Justice Stat
ford, determined the disposition OF
the Harriet Lane Johnston collection
which had been willed to the Cor
coran Gallery of Art, provided no
national gallery existed at the time of
the donors death
There is nothing so contagious as
giving and within a year second
valuable collection came to the Ma
tion-William T. Evans of New York
offering to the National Gallery of
Art comprehensive and fully repre-
sentative collection of paintings by
American artists. Mr. Evans was a
business man, but an enthusiastic COL
lector OF paintings, and had many
friends among the artists One of the
closest of these was Henry W. Ranger,
who took such deep interest in the
upbuildlng of national collection
of American art. and believed so heart
lily in patronage of the living artist,
that when he died he left his entire
estate. amounting then to over
100000. to establish a fund, admin
tstered by the trustees Of the National
Academy of Design, to buy yearly
notable contemporary works, on all
Of which the Smithsonian Institution
should have, for the national collec-
ton, option. These paintings, prior
to the artists death, are assigned
to art museums throughout the coun-
try, thus spreading interest and help
ing to establish reputation-but they
furnish perennial source for the
quickening and enlargement of the
national collection.
Later came the. Gellatly collection,
the Ralph Cross johnson collection
and individual gifts, which long since
f1lled all the available space allotted
to the National Art Collection (at the
expense of natural history exhibits,
for which the National Museum was
mtendedD. overflowed onto the walls
OF the halls. and eventually into the
storerooms. 1t is, in fact, good many
years since some of the paintings
included in the special exhibition,
which opened last Wednesday, to con-
tinue to April 49, have been on view
to the public-and the sight is very
gratifying.
We are reminded now and then that
the old masters of today were the
modern painters of yesterday and it
is true. The tendency is not suffi-
ciently to value contemporary achieve
ment- to say sorrowfully there were
giants in those days" and to think
that the present has brought forth
but pigmies. Perspective is necessary
to adjustment of measure Most diff
cult OF all, however. is to see cor
rectly those but lately left behind
neither the old nor the new. These
are they that the current exhibition
sets before US. and the charm and
merit of their works comes upon one
with great impressiveness and pro-
found conviction. Possibly only few
were endowed with genius, but with
out doubt many had vision. Their
works are full of inherent beauty and
IN many instances beautifully ex-
pressed. The renewal of acquaintance
strengthens regard.
Portraits of Landscape
OF Special Note.
THE present exhibition is strongest
in portraits and landscapes. Com
prlsed in the first group are two not
able works by our first American
painter to arrive at distinction, Ben
jamin West. One is the beautiful por-
trait OF Mary Hopkinson MRS. John
MoreaD painted in l764-from the
George Buchanan Coale Collection
lent recently to the exhibition OF por-
traits held by the Museum of Modern
Art Washington Gallery; the other
Is self-portrait painted by West in
his old age. transferred to the Ma
tional Art Collection ffom the Capt.
tol-both of which show him at his
best-a painter Of extraordinary gift
and proficiency. who attained the
highest distinction without back
ground or teaching such as are COM
monty held essential-and exerted a
powerful influence upon our early
American art. OF the same period is
. head of lady by Gilbert Stuart,
to whom it will be remembered West
showed great kindness. and, of but a
little later, one of Mary Coale-Mrs.
William T. Proudly Thomas Sully
Between these and the painters of the
latter half of the 10Th century there
is a gap partially bridged by por-
trait by Healy, but then come several
canvases of such notable distinction
that one laments anew their ever hav-
Ing been removed from public exhibi-
ton. They are two heads by George
Fuller-an Ideal Head" of a young
girl, characteristically withdrawn in
effect, but very spiritual in quality;
the other a portrait of his little son,
Henry B. Fuller. who was destined
to become painter and is himself
represented in the National Art COL
lection; two portrait studies by j.
Alden Weir, his well-known Gentle