Evening star., 1940-09-01
By Leila MechIin.

An alliance has been effected be-
tween the motion-picture industry
and the art of painting, according
\to an announcement made by the
Associated American Artists, New
York, when IL paintings by nine
of its members, witnessing thereto,
were recently placed on exhibition
In its galleries, I'll Fifth avenue,
prior to being sent on two-year
, circuit of Americansart museums.
What it amounts to is this. At
the invitation of Walter Wanger,
well-known producer, nine painters
of national reputation-all mem
bers of the Associated American
Artists-went, last June, to Holly
wood to witness in process of pro-
duction, John Ford's filmization Of
Eugene ONeill's play, The Long
! Voyage Home" a drama of men
! end ships of the Merchant Marine
during the current war days, with
instructions to put their interpre-
I tation Of the characters and scenes
therein on canvas.
The artists who received and ac-
cepted this usual invitation were
Thomas Benton, Grant Wood,
George Biddle, James Chaplin, Err
nest Fiene, Robert Philipp, George
Schneider, Raphael Soyer and Louis
Quintanilla. Each was given a
studio of his own on the Walter
Wagner lot and permitted free
access to the motion-picture sets,
as well as permission to COM
mandeer any. of the actors as mod
els. Choice of subject and treat
ment were left, without restriction,
to the painters, the only directions
they received being to 'immortalize"
on canvas this play in its film YER
sion and its actors.
The result was the group of II
paintings placed on exhibition in
New York, August IS, continuing
there until September 10, after
which they will be shown success
sively for three weeks each, in the
following museums: Art Institute,
Milwaukee; Art Museum, Cincin-
natl; Art Museum, Seattle; Joslyn
Memorial Museum, Omaha; William
Rockhill Nelson Gallery, Kansas
City; City Art Musuem, st. Louis;
Museum of Art, Baltimore; Brooks
Memorial Art Museum, Memphis:
Museum of Fine Arts, Little Rock;
Art Museum, Springfield, Mass;
Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester;
Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo; High
Museum, Atlanta: Museum of Art,
San Francisco; Art Museum, Santa
Barbara; Art MUSEUM, Dallas; Mu-
nicipal Art Gallery, Davenport, Iowa;
Butler Art Institute, youngstown,
Ohio; Art Museum, Fort Wayne;
Art Museum, Dayton, and Art Mu-
scum, Pensacola. The collection will
be in Baltimore the first half of
November.
Dramatic Values Shown.
Mr.. Wanger, who financed this
project to the extent of $4,000,
acquiring ownership of all of the II
paintings, at Hollywood prices, is
quoted as having expressed the con-
viction that they will emphasize
the dramatic values of the film and
encourage the public to search the
movie from an entirely new angle,
from the artists angle, seeking
that which is essentially signifi-
cant in action and in characterize
tion," and, incidentally, that the
paintings will serve the film to ad-
vantage.
The angle of the Associated
American Artists, who sponsored
the undertaking, is the interest from
the artistic standpoint, the fact that
all were made from the same basic
material, but display in result
divergent procedure, contrasting
techniques and individual approach,
and also that the project might
open a new field of interest and
income for the American artist; In
other words, that art is to be ad-
vanced and both artist and film
producer proflted.
To put it more simply, the idea
was, apparently, to relate in this
way the art of painting to the art
of the cinema, but, in fact, what
resulted was the use OF dramatic
production by a distinguished play
wright as a source of material for
purely illustrative painting.
Perhaps it is even less than this,