Evening star., 1941-04-27
Portraits by Alice Barney
Are Shown in Southwest


The exhibition of portraits by the
late Alice Barney Of this city now
in progress at 1915 Fourth street
S.W. under the auspices of Barney
Neighborhood House, not only recalls
interestingly the painter and her
contemporaries. but has certain
implications applicable to the pres
ent time. Mrs. Barney was enor-
mously clever and law into herself,
but she was also extremely talented.
Whistler, looking at something she
had done while she was studying
under him, is said to have thrown
up his hands in despair and eX-
claimed, What am I to do with
you? If only you were not so
clever!" No one should have known
the danger of cleverneSs better than
he. for it was his besetting sin as
well as an invaluable asset. To
be able to achieve easily, and to
intrigue interest through mere tech
nical skill-pyrotechnic display
tends to disinclination toward disci-
DoI oSSAA AAO" ,
across a gap of more than quarter OF
a century, Mrs. Barney's paintings
give evidence of something more
than mere cleverness, for they are
still much alive.
The influence that Whistler ex-
erted upon her art is readily traced,
especially in a narrow full-length
portrait of her daughter Laura, in
black, which is very reminiscent of
some of his well-knoWn works
distinctly Whistlerian, and SO good
that he, himself, would have been
fiattered by it. But all these people
that Mrs. Barney has portrayed are
endowed with subtle spirit and
elusive personality.
Sensitive Face.
Most impressive is her full-length
seated portrait of Gwendolyn
Fflouke, daughter of the late Charles
M. Ffoulke of Washington, collector
of rare tapestries. Sitting on
carved bench before mirror, the
girls sensitive face is seen twice,
first in profile and then at three
quarters. in reflection. The dress
is the color of old gold, the sur
roundings dark, the pose easy and
graceful. -.
There is an excellent portrait
study of the painters husband, Al
bert Clifford Barney, in fur over
coat, and one of herself, with
palette, in an unusually high key.
Her daughter, Natalie, writer of
poetry and prose, is represented
with her violin. There is also a
portrait of Mrs. John w. Garrett
(nee Alice Warder), who, since this
work was executed, has been painted
at full-length by both Carl MelcherS
and Zuoloaga. Most engaging, how
ever, are two portrait sketches in
pastel and small study of a little
girl, possibly studio model, done
in oils, the first two marvelously
clever, the last knowing and pro-
foundly significant. One of the
sketches is of Allen Chesterton,
brother of G. K, and is a mask
finely modelled; the other is a
presentation of George Bernard
Shaw, produced with lightning
strokes, each one telling. What sur
prise it must have occasioned the
great playwright to have been so
completely found out by one who
was mere woman
Clever and Engaging.
A portrait of Mrs. Barney painted
when she was in the height of her
power, by Prince Troubetskoy, hangs
over the mantel in the larger of
the two galleries in which the ex-
hibition is set forth. 1t, too, is a
clever and engaging work, but by
the passing of time seems to have
lost some of its spirit and fire. Un-
doubtedly, some of Mrs. Barney's
paintings have suffered likewise,
darkening and fading, possibly-in
fact, certainly-through the imper-
manence of the pigments. Not a
few of the works of Whistler and
of Sargent have likewise lost from
the same cause, the chemistry of
pdiuI UelllS uGtlc COllSiuclcQ NY
painters of their era.
This exhibition is not in Neigh
borhood House, but around the cor
ner, in an annex, the most north
erly of a group of four houses built
in 1894 by Greenleaf. These four
f1at-front houses, known as Wheat
Row." were designed as unit, along
very excellent lines, and happily
have been preserved without altera-
ton. Certainly, the builders of
those days had taste and Judgment
which enabled them to employ old
forms with appropriateness, adapt
ing them, at the same time, to con-
temporary usage.
The National Craft Training Gen.