Evening star., 1942-05-03
Art
Notes
Red Cross Posters
Now on View at
National Gallery
By Leila Mechlin.


lures and posters interpreting Red
Cross activities was officially an
nounced on January IS and con-
cluded approximately two months
later; March 18 being set as the
'deadline for submissions. The con-
duct Of this competition was under
taken by the Section Of Fine Arts,
Public Buildings Administration. of
which Edward Bruce Is head, and
the jury appointed to pass upon
works submitted consisted of Olin
Dows, Charles Coiner, Edward B.
Rowan, Holger Cahill, G.. Stewart
Brown and Forbes Watson, repre-
senting the Section Of Fine Arts,
other Government agencies closely
allied, and the Red Cross.
The task of selection could not
have been an easy one In as much
as 2,038 entries were made by 1854
artists.
OF the large number Of works sub
nitted more than 100 were. on rec
ommendation of this jury, pur-
chased by the Red Cross or set aside
for exhibition as especially illustra-
tive Of the purposes and activities
Of the Red Gross in times Of dis
aster. These were yesterday placed
on exhibition in the National Gal
lery Of Art where they may be seen
by the public for four weeks, after
which they will be widely exhibited.
In announcing this competition it
was made plain that what was
wanted was pictorial presentation of
facts-and 1t is these which artists
in all parts Of the country have
sent in. To great extent the
drama Of the present terrible and
engulfing World War has only come
to us here in America at second
hand, over the radio and through the
press, also the activities of the Red
Cross are primarily of a humani-
tartan and peace provocative ma
ture, therefore II the pictures and
posters set forth in this exhibition
do not quicken the pulse and stir
the emotions .as might be antici-
pated it is noS necessarily the fault
of the artists. The act, for instance,
Of rolling bandages or making COM
monplace garments cannot be con-
sidered inherently stirring, unaided
by imagination which reveals the
purpose or purposes to be served.
There are some artists however
who have seen beneath the surface
and presented facts in such wise
that they carry home to every OBJ
server the terrible need and the
great beneficence of service which
20 strangely weld together in closest
union War and Peace. It is works
OF this sort which not only stir hate
but love and engender the desire
for self-sacrif1ce and generous giving.
One Of the most dramatic paint
1ngs in this exhibition is Of Red
Cross ambulances on the Burma
road seen winding like q ribbon
over the gigantic mountain ranges.
bombing planes flying overhead.
One of the motor driven trucks is
in the immediate foreground peril
ously near the roads edge. This
is the work OF Richard H. Jansen
Of Milwaukee, who also contributes
q very striking painting, London
Street Scene-1940," which is no less
impressive, simple In treatment and
direct.
Rupert Conrad Of Colorado
Springs contributes two very in
teresting compositions, well rem
dered, They Need Help" and 1T
Can Happen to You" From Har-
per Goff of West Hollywood Calf. :,
has come an impressive picture en-
titled Mercy at Matunaska,
Alaska" which shows an injured
man on a stretcher being placed
on q plane to be taken to some
distant hospital.
Almost every branch Of Red Cross
activity is given representation, from
f1reside knitting for the soldiers and
sailors and f1rst-aid instruction in
case of need, to blood-bank donors
and recipients. But 1t is not all
war by any means: there are pic
lures of efficient aid given by the
Red Cross in other disasters, such as
food and fire and windstorm.
Paintings Of Red Cross activity IN
New Mexico among the Indians and
by Indian artists, Jose c. Herrera
and Quincy Tahoma, are shown, and
with good reason, for they are ex-
cellent, and in the idiom employed
by the artists Of this school.
John M. Klinkenberg Of Miami,
Fla, shows two freely rendered water
colors of American Red Cross Med
ical Units in the Far East" and
RED Cross Supplies Arriving at Iso-
lated Leper Colony in the Philip
pines" both Of which have the ring
of authority associated with vera
cious report.
-Four works by Phil Paradise Of
South Pasadena. Calf, are included
in this exhibition. and lend 1t in
terest and Importance. Two OF these
whenever and Wherever" and
Messengers of Mercy" are especially
impressive and memorable.
Among the seventy works bought
by the Red Cross were five posters,
and although none was adjudged
quite up to the mark for campaign
purposes, their merit was such that
the contributing artists will be, or
have been invited to submit new
designs dealing with more specific
subject matter.
This is the 18th open national
competition for works of art con-
Quoted by the Section Of Fine Arts,
and, like its predecessors, 1t has
undoubtedly done much to spread
interest and set the artists to think
ing.
Paintings by British Children
Done in Wartime
An exhibition of pictures painted
BY British children under recent
war conditions was shown In the
Phillips Memorial Gallery under the
auspices of the Children's Art Gal
lery Of Washington from April rs tc
80. At the opening, Lady Halifax
lent by her presence Official com
mendation and approval.
Taken all in all this was q rather
Jolly little exhibit, free from sadness
or alarv, opd flIl1 of mischief md