Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-20

and critics, that it will serve as a
chief source of informative material
to which students may resort and by
which they will be drawn to Wash
ington.
The work of collection has been
going on for some time, but so
quietly that few have realized its
Impotence or significance. 1t is
in connect on with the establish
mcnt Of this Research Library and
Collection. however, that from
ti~re to time during the past few
winters lectures have been given by
dis inguiShed lecturers, authorities
In various related fields, in the beau
tiful music room at Dumbarton Oaks
and opened by invitation to those
especially interested.
Now that the new buildings are to
be inaugurated, arrangements have
been made and announced for con-
ferences to be held there at 1890 in
the morning and $3.50 in the after
noon on November and 3, each to
be followed by informal discussion.
They will be as follows: On No
venber 2, in the morning, Pre-
historic ct Moyen Age by Maltre
Henri Focillon: in the afternoon,
THE Near East in the III and ~
Centuries" by Prof. M. l. Rosto-
vitzeff: on November 3, in the morn
ing. Early Medieval Art in the
Eastern Empire by Prof, c. h.
Morey. and in the afternoon, BY
zantine Art in the West" by Prof.
Wilhelm koehler.
After November 3 the collection
will be open to visitors on Monday
end Thursday afternoons, from to
4:3O o'clock Admission cards will
be issued upon written application to
the secretary for the collection,
Dumbarton Oaks, Georgetown, and
applicants are requested to state day
and hour for which admission is de-
sired The entrance to the library
will be at 1703 Thirty-second street.
Art Has Advanced.
The art of print making has
steadily advanced in this country
during the past double decade until
1t has in some particulars outrun its
sister art of painting. There were
outstanding engravers during the
first half of the 18th century in the
United States, working chiefly on
steel or copper. Then came the
wood engravers and among them
Timothy Cole and Henry Wolf, who
carried this art to a higher plane
than it had ever heretofore at
tanned. But these engravers repro
duced the works of others, paint
ings by the old masters and also
contemporary artists. and were
craftsmen of the highest type but
not artists in their own right. Quite
different were the etchers who came
into prominence during the last
quarter of the 1905, such
as Whistler, Blum, Duveneck,
Mary Cassatt, Joseph Pennell and
others-painters as we'll as etchers
who used one medium as we'll as the
other. The tradition these men eS-
tablished has been continued by
Childe Hassam, John Sloan, Frank
Benson, Charles Woodbury., Daniel
CARRIER and John C0Stlgan, likewise
painter etchers. as well as by those
who devoted themselves and their
talent exclusively to etching and
with brilliant result. Among these
last may be mentioned Haskell,
Burr, Heintzelman, Webster, Roth,
Eby, Washburn, Arms and many
more.
1t was undoubtedly because of the
quality and character of the works
of these etchers that interest has
steadily increased in the graphic
arts, and with interest, knowledge
and appreciation. There have,
however, been other reasons for this
development. Three organizations,
the Print Makers of California, the
Chicago Society of Etchers and the
Society of American Etchers, under
the leadership of Benjamin c. and
Howell C. Brown, Mrs. Bertha
Jaques and John Taylor Arms, re-
spectively, nave, through exhibit
tions, demonstrations and the like
done much to create sympathetic
public and to put the graphic arts
on a par with those arts called
fine" Also, through an exchange
of print exhibitions with other ma
tons, American print makers have
attained international acclaim.
In recent years it has become the
habit of the organizations named
and others of like character to pub
lish each year for associate members
prints by active members of out
standing quality.
Print for Season.
The Society of American Etchers'
print for the current season has just
been distributed It is by John E.
Costigan, painter and etcher, and is
entitled Cutting Fodder" While
very much in the style of Mr.. CoStl-
CANS paintings, this print has GER
tain features inherent to the med
ium used, which set it apart. 1t is a
rural scene. A woman and child are
seen in the foreground grouped with
two goats; a mar witt, scythe stands
1T a distance neyond. The horizon
is high and an impression of spa
ciousness is given, while there is
strong demarkation Of light and
shade. This is not merely a pic
ture of farm life but dramatic in
depreciation of the relation Of mans
life to the soil.
Paying high tribute to Mr.. Cost
CANS technical skill Mr.. Arms, as
president of the Society of American
Etchers. in printed appreciation
sent out with the etching, calls at
tention to the fact that, as import
ant as technique is, it is transcribed
by the spiritual element, the thought
back of it. This thought in the
present instance is marked by uni
versatility and at the same time
simply and beautifully clothed. In
other words Mr. Costigan must
realize" Mr.. Arms says, that the
value of his ultimate expression rests
upon his ability to give it adequate
expression.
among SO much that is mere