Evening star., 1939-03-26
"ROSIE,"
A painting by Randall Dduey.

with rather heavy hand and little !
sense Of beauty. and the other stands
out from rather slick canvas with
Photographic realism. Art is some
thing more than either paint or
reality-an authentic personal reac-
ton, based on truth superbly rem
dered.
Portraits and Figure Paintings
In Majority.
Obviously figures and genre are
most popular today. OF the former
there are in this exhibition some out
standing examples. Leopold Seyffert
for instance shows an imposing fig
ure, "Gregoria." strong in color, di-
rect In treatment, Spontaneous-the
qualities we have a right to look
for in a work of art. Albert Ster-
ner's little Self Portrait paint
ed in his studio at full length. is
excellent and full of those vir-
tues which he ardently extols in
refuting THE Cezanne Mirth,' as
he has been pleased to call the ex-
travagancies of praise rendered this
French painter. Sidney Dickinson's
portrait of his colleague, George
Elmer Browns, is very good and con-
vincing. as is that of Clifford Beal
by Louis Belts, who also can al
most always be counted on for ar
tistic performance. Burtis Baker
shows a forceful portrait of Julius
Friedenwald. Rosie by Randall
Davey and "Dorthy" by Ivan Olin-
sky are excellent. and a wellmod
eled head to be remembered and
seen more than once is Portrait
of an Artist" by Charles Cabot DAN
iels.
Badly hung in the atrium. but still
quietly and certainly declaring it
superior merit, is the portrait of
Bishop Rhinelander of this city, by
Bjorn Egeli, which is as fine a
modern portrait as one may have
the good fortune to come across.
To be reckoned with the figure
paintings of distinction are: La
Modiste" and 'The Dancing Lesson"
by Louis Kronberg; Conversation,
by Leon Kroll; "Pattie." by Eugene
Speicher, and Spring Hat" by Paul
Lewis Clemens. the last painted with
especial loveliness but somewhat
spoiled by an uncalled for bit of
nudity. There is nothing more beau
tiful than the nude figure, and, the
proper environment, nothing more
chaste-as for instance the Summer
Bather," by Richard Miller in this
exhibition-but the half-clothed and
self-conscious nude, in violation of
social conventions, is quite a differ
ent matter. OF these there are in
this land other current exhibitions)
more than enough.
But there is another kind of
nudity-that of mind-which is quite
as offensive. Take for instance Man
and Wife," by Arnold Blanch. which
is essentially vulgar. and Ivan lie
Lorraine Albright's "Fleeting Time
Thou Hast Left Me Old" an un-
pardonably horrible presentation of
old age. Or again Kuniyoshi's de-
pressing painting of woman. Watt
ing" or Anne Goldthwaite's repul-
sive little girl combing her hair. The
extreme can sometimes be made
comical-as for instance Tighten
ing" by Nura, or Alice" by Louise
Pershing, but never Is sordid vul-
garity funny, no matter how well it
may be presented.
Breadth and Variety OF
Exhibition.
The breadth Of this exhibition in
the matter of scope and variety is
distinctly noteworthy, and excep-
tional open -mindedness and gener-
osity may be charged to the jury.
Here we find the abstract-as in a
still life entitled ITO Tschaikowsky,"
tbe work Of Gene Charlton-and
others of similar character-almost
side by side with paintings of 50
conservative and traditional q type
as the charming little portrait Fran
cesca,"' painted by Marcia Silvette as
might the early italian masters, and
the little pastoral, precious in quail
ity, "Sainte Germaine," transcribed
by Lauren Ford with primitive SIM
plicity. Quite different again are on
the other hand paintings so crudely
childish that it Is impossible to
believe that they could have been the
work of adults, and there are glimpses
of life SO degenerate and sordid that
1t IS hard to understand how one