Evening star., 1945-02-25
By Leila MechHn

lures, those painted or etched b!
artists who find in the city pic
turesque material for transcription
and those which the city itself pre-
sents quite unconsciously.
The latter are created by engi.
neers, architects and landscape
gardeners working in collaboration
They are not done in day; many
years sometimes pass in the doing
but they are mostly closely alliec
to life. Unless these pictures are
well designed and possess real beauty
they fall far short Of potential val
ues and have nothing to offer those
who seek beauty in order to reflect it
This matter is pertinent because
Of the exhibition of plans and mod
els illustrating the development OF
Washington From Forest to Nation
al Capital" which has been in prog
ress, in the galleries of the American
Academy of Fine Arts and Letters
New York, for the past four months,
to close now in a few days, and the
recent formation of committee
on postwar planning purposed on an
international scale. The parent or
ganization has long name. 1t is the
American Chapter for Relief and
Postwar Planning of the Interna-
tional Congresses of Modern Archi-
lecture" Richard j. Neutra of Los
Angeles is president. Practically
all Of those composing the group
are of the so-called advanced
school,"
The announced intention of the
group is to cooperate with Gov
ernment agencies in this country
and to advise with groups abroad,
especially those charged with resto-
ration and> rebuilding Of cities and
towns so injured by war that they
must be oreplanned completely A
chief aim is announced to be the
avoidance of "wastage and error,
Utility as, well as beauty must be
considered in city planning, but the
former alone never can compen-
safe for lack or the latter. So far
little beauty has been added to
the world by the extreme modern
lists either in the United States or
in Europe.
The Old and the Ney
Take for example the prewar
planning and building in the Meth
erlands as profusely illustrated in a
booklet on the subject recently dis
tributed in America. Here the old
and the new stand shoulder to
shoulder and therefore can well be
compared Holland, as every one
knows, is a low country with broad
expanses of fields and sky. The old
builders were aware of this fact and
made their buildings low and not
too weighty in effect. The new
builders have disregarded these
physical factors and created build
ings many storied and very heavy
buildings which give no hint OF
function and certainly disregard the
madate of economy, the incident OF
waste.
There are in this carefully pre-
pared pamphlet pictures of old Am
sterdam, which, while commercial
was dignified and artistic, typical
OF a people of good taste. 1.-THE
people of Holland are by nature
modest and self-contained." writes
an authority on the subject, but
what could be less modest and self
contained than some of the build
ings of modern design, many sto-
ried, restless, noisy, proclaiming bus
mess rather than elegance or sensi-
tiveness to sheer beauty. How would
such artists as Rembrandt and Ver-
meer have regarded them? Ger
tainly with disdain and horror.
Village to Metropolis
Most cities grow. up gradually
The road from village to metropolis
Is rough and beset with dangers
The plan Of Washington drawn by
L'Enfant, in consultation with
Washington and Jefferson, was at
one time showed aside and almost
forgotten. In 1901, on recommends
ton of committee of outstanding
experts, it was revived and its car
dinal features re-established. Fred
erick Law Olmstead was the land
scape architect on that committee
and the exhibition in New York
was in honor of his contribution
then and since, to the development
OF the National Capital along ar
tistic lines. Those associated with