Evening star., 1939-11-05


Reproduced here is a repre-
for post Offices in all the StGl
have but one painting apiece to
show. There are, it is said, $4,000
rural post offices in the United
States, and these are visited by ap-
proximately 100000 persons a day.
Under these circumstances we
should send them our best.
Wide Representation.
Some of the competitions held by
the Section of Fine Arts have been
limited to artists of the locality, but
the Forty-eight States Competition
was not so restricted. Looking over
the list of those competing-the
winners and those made second
choice-one is impressed by the
width of the representation, and the
qualifications of practically all. In
other words these painters have not
sprung into existence overnight but
have in most instances attended ac-
credited art schools and given years
to preparation for the practice OF
their profession. Even so, 1t is re-
markable. that the art of mural
painting has become so widespread
due to be sure, to Government
patronage.
Almost without exception the
sketches for mural paintings in this
comprehensive exhibition are of
local scenes-either with historical
reference or as rejecting the pres
ent-day life of the residents. It is, In
a way. the business of art to reflect
life, but life is not merely made up
of everyday routine and drudgery.
Heaven help us If 1t we're! That
which gives us Joy and sense Of
exaltation is just as real and no less
important than eating and drinking
and earning each day our means of
livelihood. In fact, 1t is the power
of relating our mental processes to
our physical existence which makes
life full and complete. And yet,
with but few exceptions. the studies
for murals which make up this
astounding exhibition seem not to
take any account whatever of this
fact or conviction to be utterly un-
tinged by imagination, and unil-
lumined by a sense of beauty. Oc-
casionally one comes across work
which does seem touched by the
magic not merely of genius but in
tuition, power to see beneath the
surface and be moved by such sight.
Such one is that of young antelope
leaping through the air, feet scarcely
touching the earth-the work of
Olive Rush of Santa Fe, N. Mex,
slight and subtle, but assured; the
embodiment as 1t were of the timid
graceful animals, and bringing to
mind those lines by G. w. Russell
which run:
Twilight, a timid faun, went
glimmering by,
And night, the dark blue hunter
followed fast"
Perhaps the thought never oc-
Cured to Miss Rush but its seed is
In her work and must be attributed
to her own emotion.
Spirit of Pioneer Life.
There is more than little of this
undertaking In the great cartoon,
charcoal on brown paper, by Hurd,
already mentioned. The composition
bulks magniflcently, and in its de-
velopment one is made aware of
that for which 1t stands-not the
physical discomforts and dangers of
crossing the continent in a covered
wagon or so transporting the mail
but in courage, endurance and am
bition-of the great things of the
spirit which made pioneer life to be
remembered proudly. Tom Lea's
man and woman standing hand IN
hand, facing what may come, glori-
ously, Is another instance when the
eternal, the universal, has crept in
and found expression through the
artists genius.
With studies in color, Orson Linn,
Herman Struck, Tia McFee, Edith
Hamlin, Maynard Dixon and Wilma
Diena Wolfe among the competitors
In the Forty-eight States Competi-
ton, all show themselves to be
artists capable not merely of pro-
ducing an interesting composition
but of imbuing it with life.
But alas, these sterling and preci-
Gus qualities cannot be found in the
two huge canvases by John Steuart
Curry, one representing The Home
steading and the Building of Barbed
Wire Fences" the other the "Rusl1
for the Oklahoma Land-ls94," }"
which are to be permanently in
stalled In the Interior Department
Building and now hang in the
atrium opposite the stairs. These
may present facts but they have
little or no significance. Too large
for illustrations, they fail as works
of art. The people in them are but
puppets jerked into action and they
are not well drawn at that. Ger
tainly the compositions have no
unity.
There has been a great vogue for
the American scene and therefore
1t has become rather sterotyped, but
its diversity is as great as that Of
the talent which would interpret It.
There Is danger of forgetting this
and thereby losing the real spirit OF
art, which is, after al, . great par,
Of life.
We may remind ourselves that
primarily mural paintings, and par
ticularly these commissioned BY the
Government, are meant 70 ssm.
bellish the buildings on the walls
Of which they are to b placed %
[ 4