Evening star., 1941-02-02

with the spirit of the time, an ad-
venture into pastures new
Conservative, spirited and very
pleasing is Norma Boses painting,
"Santisima Trinidad" freshly
painted and good in both color and
composition. Unique and rather of
another world than that of today is
Kenneth Stubbs' portrait, Cath
crime" skillfully rendered with pic
turesque background and acces-
sories.
All this sounds promising-and
perhaps it is-but if one would note
the change that has come over the
face of art in the half century since
the Society of Washington Artists
was founded, let one cross the atrium
Of the Corcoran Gallery and make
a brief survey of the canvases in the
permanent collection produced by
American painters during these so
years. 1t is not only good. but a
great advantage to be able to make
such a comparison at this time.
An outline of the history of the
Society of Washington Artists has
heen published in the catalogue of
this exhibition and therefore need
not be given here. but this review
should include reference to the
sculpture as well as the paintings in
the current showing.
In this field, too, there has been
change-and of perhaps a more
drastic nature, but, at the same
time, more within the accepted ira
dition of the plastic arts. During
recent years, sculptors have, to a
large extent, turned from bronze to
stone as medium and, suiting eX-
preston to medium. have employed
greater simplicity than heretofore.
Cutting in stone or carving in wood,
the sculptor approaches his subject
from outside, whereas, when the
intent is to cast in bronze, the
theme takes shape from within, be-
ing built up rather than cut away
If equally we'll done, there is Moth
ing to choose between the two
methods. Again, it is all in the way
the end is achieved, the skill, imag-
ination and understanding Of the
artist.
Sculpture Prize.
The first prize in sculpture in this
exhibition went to a little dachs-
hund, "Schnapps," by Dorothea S.
Greenbaum, now of this city, but
formerly of New York, secretary of
the Sculptors' Guild and chairman
of the Committee on Sculpture for
National Art Week, to whom, by
the way, the Widener Memorial
Medal in sculpture of the Pennsyl-
vania Academy has just been
awarded for a small nude.
Honorable mention went to Rus
sell A. Houston for Noon Prayer" :"
and also to Howard Svenson for a
group Refugees"
These three pieces run the gamut,
Mrs. Greenbaum's dog is conserva-
tive and very sensitively modelled;
Mr.. Houston's Noon Prayer" is
rather impressionistic, with empha-
sis on lump mass and plastic form,
simphfied; Mr.. Svenson's "Refu-
gees" is supposedly humanistic, but
soulless, repulsive. Less so, how
ever, than his head of dying man,
After the Air Raid"
There are some excellent heads
two by Julie Manierre-Mann, one by
Ethel P. Hood. Eleanor Mullikin
shows a pleasing sketch of a Holy
Family" which is far from conven-
tional, and Mary B. Fowler an en-
gaging statuette of Girl With
Lamb" There is a giraffe, "The
Silent Aristocrat," by j. Andrews:
a hilarious group of hillbillies with
fiddle, accordion and inevitable jug,
Coming Round the Mountain" by
William Luther McDermott, to say
nothing of Madonna in marble like
a calla lily in full bloom, the work of
Frank zucchet; good nude by
Gladys Caron and charming foun-
tain figure-a chubby, irristible
child-by Fauta v. Mengarini, who
has done in this country, as well as
in her native Italy, much distin-
guished work.
Finally. there is figure by Helen
Gaulois Carter very much in the
style of Lembruch, but of kneel-
ing man, very attenuated and in
expression utterly forlorn, which she
herself has entitled What Is Man
That Thou Art Mindful Of Him.