Evening star., 1945-08-12
Bv Florence S. Berryman

BY Florence S. Bergman
The Corcoran Gallery of Art
opens a special exhibition of paint
ings by Samuel Baldwin Pratt this
afternoon. He gives evidence In
this, his first one-man show, of a
feeling for pictorial beauty in land
scape and a dependable imagina-
ton. The works are hung in the
second-f1oor gallery, used for tenn
porary exhibitions, and will remain
through Monday, September 3.
There are 48 oils, 20 of which
comprise the exhibition proper (ac-
cording to the catalogue list). These
carry we'll for some distance and
make an effective display. The
remaining % are small sketches,
many of them miniatures such as
Mr.. Pratt has shown in the an
nual exhibitions of the Miniature
Painters, Sculptors and Gravers
Society of Washington. All of the
paintings have frames made by the
artist.
Mr.. Pratt was born in 1903 on a
farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains,
near Unison, Loudoun County, Va.
Adjoining the familys farm was
the birthplace of the noted painter
Lucien Powell, circumstance which
may have played its part in turning
Mr.. Pratt's attention to art. He was
educated in Washington, graduating
from Mckinley High School in 1919.
He then enrolled for three years
study of art under Alexis Many and
several other instructors at Tech.
Subsequently he attended the
Washington School of Art and aug
mented this study with painting in
the open under the guidance of Gar
net Jex for several years. He has
also studied at the Corcoran School
of Art, at different periods, having
worked under Richard Meryman,
Burtis Baker and, more recently,
Eugen Weisz.
Undoubtedly Mr. Pratt has had
q thorough training in painting. to
which he has added prodigious in
dustry. Nearly all the works in the
present show, he says, were painted
during the past six months. In some
instances, the sketches give evidence
of rapid production. Comparing
these with his more carefully paint
ed landscapes, one feels that the
artist would be well advised to re-
duce the quantity of his output in
favor of quality.
Done From Memory
The great majority of Mr. Pratt's
paintings are done from memory or
Imagination. The fact that he has
long been employed at the Corcoran
Gallery as foreman of workmen, a
position which occupies most of
his days, is obviously responsible
for his painting from inner vision.
There Is nothing new about this
method which is much older than
painting in the open. But the
marked superiority of Mr.. Pratt's
open-air painting leads one to the
conclusion that for him more out
door work is indicated.
Marylands Rolling Hills
The best work in the exhibition
In the reviewers opinion, is "Har-
vest,' done in the Middletown VAL
ley, near Frederick, Md. The scene.
with men cutting wheat, has feel
ing of fresh air and sunshine. along
with the authentic character of
Marylands rolling hills.
A close second to this painting
for appeal is THE Mountain
Ahead" an imagined view of the
Blue Ridge, in which height and
distance are we'll conveyed AL
though Mr. Pratt says this is not
a transcription of any particular
place, it carries conviction of the
country with which he is thor
oughly familiar and which must
inevitably have engraved its features
in his memory.
Trees in various seasons, snow
capped mountains and lakes, roads
winding through pleasant stretches
of country, skies in sun and storm
are the subjects which he has en-
visioned and put on canvas. Their
LvpuIar appeal seems proven by the
fact that 18 of the 48 were sold in
the first few days after the ex-
hibition was hung.
Mr.. Pratt was represented in the
Corcoran Biennial last spring ano
has also exhibited with the Cor.
coran Alumni.
IL