Evening star., 1941-06-15

well as jackets, designed and exc
cuted by Reginald Birch in his
own familiar and inimitable style
unique and thoroughly up-to-date.
To have been able to maintain so
long a career on so high a plane is
given TO few. But perhaps this
artists association with child life
has disclosed to him the source of
the fountain of eternal youth.
Charles Dana Gibson is II years
younger than Reginald Birch, hav-
ing been born in RoXbury. near
Boston. in 1867. He studied first
at the Art Students League in
New York and later at the Acade-
nile Julian IN Paris. meanwhile
having begun his career as an il
illustrator by selling some drawings
to New York publishers. In 1895 he
married Miss Irene Langhorne OF
Virginia, one of three beautiful sis
ters. second of whom was des-
tined to become Lady Astor. 1t
has been said that the illustrators
young wife and siSter-i -in-laW were
the prototypes of what became
known through his drawings as
The Gibson Girl" but whether
this is true or fictitious the glamour
of the drawings was real. indeed
as was the influence they eXerted on
fashion and feminine ideals Of the
period.
No Fish to Fry.'
Artists have been moved by fem
mime beauty since the earliest time.
and there was something fine in the
nobility as well as the beauty which
Mr.. Gibson saw and portrayed in
his contemporaries. But his por-
emplified by Molly BaWn." Girl
of the Old South" and The Widow
in the current exhibition, do not
by any means measure Mr.. Glib
sons ability or attainment. Far
greater is the contribution he made
through drawings, primarily hui
mOrouS, in the late COS and early
decades of the new century, of social
life in New York-draWing which
were as SatiriCal as any of those of
the famous caricaturistS of earlier
days But there was this difference:
MI. GibSon's. works were not Gone
with the purpose of reform. He had
no fish to fry" other than the
estimable desire to evoke laughter.
Occasionally there may have been
exceptions, such as his drawing
here. Called for Jury" which shows
line of American citizens about
to assume the grave responsibility of
Judging their fellows without any
conspicuous intellectual fitness for
the task. This is not funny. but
it induces thought. There is, for
the most part, kindliness in Mr..
Gibson's exposure of human frailty.
He shows it frankly, delightfully."-,
but as if at the same time he said,
After all, they are not bad lot
We are all rather silly at times"
Few have had the insight that he
has shown in his pictorial interpre-
tationS of contemporary life.
Take for instance the picture OF
the young man relating The Story
of His Life" to a completely bored
audience, or that presenting the
plight of another youth at din
ner, when by the absorption of the
ladies to right and left in their
other neighbors he is left stranded
as on a desert island, and seems
not to know why.
But there is bit of sting in Rich
Relations supercilious ones
calling on those whom they consider
poor-and a note of warning, per-
haps. in The Companionate Arts"
a writer and his artist wife, who ap-
parently have got on each others
nerves. back to back, working in
loft studio.
Engaging Scene.
Particularly delightful is draw
ing-as usual. in pen-and- -ink-en-
titled The Reason Dinner Was
Late" which shows a second maid
drawing a portrait Of a pompous
policeman while the cook and her
assistant look on with wonder and
admiration.
Few of the drawings referred to
were done as illustrations. They
tell their own story-and well. But
there are also four drawings made
TO illustrate the writings of an
other-"The Common Law" by Rob-
ert Chambers. published in Cosmo-
politan in 1910. These not only
evidence the artists appreciation
of the fundamentals of illustration,
but manifest to the visitor the diff
ference between it and caricature
or cartoon. All four of the draw
ings for The Common Law" are
in the illustrators best style; into
them he has poured the full meas
ure of his exceptional ability, but
they belong to the book and, from
the standpoint of story, are mex
plicable without it. We ask our
selves, What is it all about?" and
get no answer-they were meant,
and rightly. to accompany and il
illuminate the authors text. This
is illustration-and illustration, as
were Birch's drawings for Little
Lord Fauntleroy' at its best.
In some instances, Mr.. Gibson
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