Evening star., 1941-11-02
English Artist
Exhibits War
Drawings
Red Cross Nurse
Shows Works at
Whyte Gallery
By Florence s. Bergman.

Sketches of LOndOn'S East EnderS
during the blitzkrieg of autumn,
1910, made by young English ar
tist, Jessica StOnor, will be shown
at the Whyte Gallery for a week,
opening to the public tomorrow.
The group of Is to 80 large draw
ings in crayon is the work of a
sculptor temporarily turned re
porter depicts the people with
whom she was in close contact as
volunteer Red Cross nurse. The ex-
hibition is appropriately entitled,
"Everyman in War"-men, women
and children who remained in their
section of the city and spent the
nights in shelters or the under
ground. 1t was first shown at the
American British Art Center, New
York, and subsequently in Newport,
Boston and Philadelphia.
AS mothers and children are the
predominant subject matter, it is
perhaps inevitable that one will find
these drawings reminiscent of the
work OF Kathe KOllWitZ, the great
German graphic artist whose repre-
sentatiOns OF starving, suffering
women and children of the poor are
well known in this country. There
is no intention of implying that
Miss Stonor was influenced by Frau
KollWitz's work; it is merely that
this English artists large black
and-White sketches, made under the
impact of scenes vividly etched in
her mind, have an immediacy about
them as have the German artists,
and that they deal with much the
same type of subject. Their differ
ences are greater than their similari-
ties, but the latter are obvious.
Miss Stonor had her studio on
the top floor of building in Chel-
sea, spending nights on mattress
in the basement corridor with other
tenants, with her first-aid kit and
other necessary equipment at hand
ready for hurried departures to other
shelters. frequently necessary be-
cause Chelsea was a much bombed
section. She studied weary young
mothers with children asleep in their
arms, as well as stricken Wom-
en- whose little ones were victims of
the aid raid; men carrying the
bodies of their relatives, wives or
children; people racing for the un-
oerground as planes roar overhead;
dazed women in the ruins of their
homes: children innocently playing
with bits of Shrapnel, and few hap
pier mothers and babies as yet un-
harmed.
Sculptors, with their knowledge of
anatomy, usually capture the essen
tials of a pose or movement in a
few lines. Such is the case with
most of these rapid broadstroke
sketches. There is considerable
pathos in their understatement; the
grief of Miss Stonors blitzkrieg is
more reserved than the agony of
Frau Koilwitz's poverty stricken
slum dWellers.
Miss Stonor, still in her 20s. Is a
native of London From childhood,
she was an able craftsman, but she
regarded her art as a pastime until
a few years ago, when she seriously
undertook the study Of sculpture in
Brussels, Paris and Yugoslavia. She
has made two visits to the United
States, the first more than a decade
ago and the second last season,
when her husband, j. H. Huizinga,
was sent here on an official mission
OF the Netherlands government in
London.
There will be a private view of
the exhibition this evening from 8
to 10 o'clock. with an admission fee
of 81, proceeds of which will be
shared by Refugees of England, Inc,
and Relief of French Refugees in
England.