Evening star., 1939-12-31

OOCh dC bC 41ot4C( oSllCdolCo W
carry half a million dollars worth of
works of art from the Louvre to be
shown in the French Pavilion at the
Worlds Fair, New York. and other
treasures, the majority of which had
fortunately not been loaded, and
the theft of painting by Vatican,
81 Indifferent" from the Louvre,
valued at $4,000, later returned by
the thief who took it, he said, to
restore it.
Corcoron Gallery of Art
Painting by Cecilia Beaur No,0
on VieW.
A painting by Cecilia Beaux,
brought to Washington for the ex-
hibition held before Christmas, for
a week only, in the Burlington Hotel,
under the auspices of a group of
local artists headed by Mrs. Arthur
C. Moses, is now on view, by invita-
ton, in the Corcoran Gallery of
Art, as a loan from the artist. It
is a charming work, entitled Dress
ing Dolls" picturing a young girl
seated in the corner of sofa intent
upon making garment, presumably
for the doll beside her, leaning so
jauntily to the right. That it was
painted primarily for the artists own
pleasure and is, in style, quite diff
ferent from her usual distinguished
work, lend to it greater interest,
especially as it is of comparatively
recent date. Cecilia Beaux holds,
and has held, In the art world for
many years, an eminence equaled
among American artists only by the
late John Singer Sargent. She is
one of the few contemporary paint
ers to be invited to contribute a
"self portrait" to the Uffizi Gallery
in Florence. Not only have her
paintings won highest honors abroad
but in this country as well, and in
the leading museum collections she
is admirably represented. Also
few years ago the American Acad-
emy of Arts and Letters, of which
she is a painter member, accorded
her retrospective exhibition, which
amply testified to the soundnesS as
well as brilliance of her art.
The daughter of a French father,
a provencial, and a mother of old
aristocratic New York stock, but
brought up by wise grandmother,
aunt and uncle in Philadelphia, her
mother dying at her birth, Cecilia
Beaux seems to have been pre-
destined to become a painter, though
utterly unconsciously so-and if one
looks closely enough, it is possible
to discern in her work strains in
herited from both parents and
determined by the influences which
surrounded her youth.
This is well illustrated in the
two paintings by Miss Beaux now
to be seen in the Corcoran Gallery
of Art-that of young girl and
black cat, "Sita and Sarita," pur-
chased some years ago for the Gal
lerys permanent collection, and
Dressing Dolls" now on loan. The
former is replica (painted by the
artiSt) of the canvas acquired by
the French government which long
hung in the Luxembourg Museum
and is essentially a tour de force,
very simple in conception and treat
ment, mastery in handling of light
and shade and use of medium. No
one has ever painted white fabrics
more successfully and alluringly
than she-never in her pictures are
they sticky with paint nor mussy in
shadow; witness the dress on the
young woman in the painting With
the black cat.
How ably she is seen to command
her medium. Why? Because to
gain facility she not only observed
closely but submitted herself to the
most severe criticism and discipline.
Particularly open to impressions de-
rived from what she saw about
her and given to thinking for her.
self, Cecilia Beaux learned from
whatever Fate kindly put in her
way. but all along she exercised
the prerogative of self-determina-
ton naturally and without self
consciousness. Therefore when she
acquired the power Of expression
what she had to say was worth the
saying. Instinctively that which was
finest was recognized by her. From
her home environment she ac-
quired integrity, respect for right
ness for its own sake; while from
her ancestors of French blood came
sensitiveness to sheer beauty as such,
and a sense of comradeship with the
masters. Dressing Dolls" is essen
TALLY French in feeling. The color
scheme is high keyed, the touch
light and sympathetic. As rule, it
has been form and texture by which
Miss Beaux has been attracted and
to which she has given expression,
but In this instance 1t is color, at
mosphere and light. To be sure, In