Evening star., 1944-01-30
By Leila MechIin.

One Of the most important exhi-
billions of the year, 1.-THE Navy at
War;" will open this afternoon un-
der the auspices of the United States
Navy in the Corcoran Gallery of
Art. 1t will consist of approximately
rs paintings and drawings by five
artists-combat officers - commits
stoned to record the war as they
themselves have seen 1t III their
actual line of duty aboard ship
and on land, in the Atlantic, in
the Pacific, at the frozen North and
in the blistering South, wherever
operations were carried on, a great
task performed magnific Never
before has any Navy been called
upon for such extensive and diversi-
fed service, and at no time here
tofore has so complete and impress
sive a record Of such service been
rendered pictorially.
To be sure thousands Of photo
graphs have been made in addi-
ton by skilled photographers, but
the camera, while faithful as a
witness, has certain limitations
which cannot be overcome, such as
night darkness and by day rough
weather. The artist, however, is
free in this and other particulars,
free to make choice of time and
place, free also to call memory to
his assistance and so record factual
implications-truths truer than the
facts in themselves and OF far
greater significance. To be able to
employ art to this end as have the
five combat artists who will be rep
resented in this forthcoming eXhi-
bition is great achievement.
WASHINGTON Artist.
One of these Mitchell
Jamieson-is a Washingtonian, a
former pupil of the Abbott School
of Fine and Commercial Art and
the Corcoran School of Art, who in
recent years has made a name for
himself as a water colorist and
mural painter, all along with prom
Use, but now suddenly of excep-
tional accomplishment-in any COM
pany outstanding.
Since commissioned as an ensign
In 1912 Jameson (now a lieutenant,
junior grade) has seen active serv-
Ice In the Mediterranean Sea, in
cluding the campaign which gave
the Allies Sicily, experiences which
far from damaging his art seem to
have ripened it remarkably. From
his paintings and drawings made
in these theaters of war may be
derived knowledge of events never
to be forgotten, events brought to
happy conclusion by the raen who
fought at his side.
1t Is the human element in the
majority of Jamieson's works which
gives them distinction. AS Hanson
w. Baldwin has said in "The Navy
at War;" lately published, Jameson
In his paintings and drawings has
caught the meaning of it all, the
drudgery, the toll, the beauty and
the monotony, with a stark severity
which recalls Daumier." This is
high praise, indeed, but well mer-
tied.
Alenfian Paintings.
AS 1t. Jameson has brought us
nearer to the lives of men in the
Navy, unconscious heroes of the
commonplace as well as the dra.
matte, SO his colleague, 1t. William
E. Draper, has revealed in his paint
ingS, made In the Aleutians, the
beauty which he has discovered ir
the frozen North. The scenes
Transcribed are, it is true, bleak, bu,
according to his transcriptions they
possess lofty loveliness which par.
takes of the infinite and brings
God and man into closer union. He
too, gives men of the Navy such
placement in his pictures that there
they seem to belong. His compost.
tions are excellent and each theme
Is rendered with self -forgetful skill
Draper comes of a distinguished
New England family. Born in Hope.
dale, Mass, he grew up among cul.
tural surroundings, went to Har.
ward, prepared for a musical career
which later he abandoned for art
He was one of the first three artist.
to join the Navy for combat duty
after war was declared. The two
other were Dwight G. Shepler OF Bos.