Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-09-23
The Art Word
Britannica Art Exhibition at Corcoran
Is Kaleidoscope Portrait of America

ait of America
cent painting Ballet" blue and
white vision of dancers in an artifi-
cial fairyland.
Portraits and Figures
This exhibition can be appraised
from various standpoints. One can
attempt to classify the works &C
cording to their character as i'm
pressionistic, realistic, romantic, etc.
1t will be found that practically
every element making up our con-
temporary school is represented.
But since the composite portrait 1t
makes of our country and its people
today is of most interest to visitors
in general, it seems logical to con-
tinue our examination of it from
that standpoint.
Only one artist has tapped Ameri-
can history for subject matter: John
Steuart Curry in his imaginary por-
trait of John Brown. This was a
study for his mural in the Kansas
State Capitol in Topeka. Curry
tried, he said, TO portray the faI
natical and vehement Characters
tics" of the man who did much to
start the war between the States.
The artist was markedly successful
in this heroic portrait. acclaimed
alike by critics and public; the latter
gave it second place in New Yorks
popular vote.
Gladys Rockmore Davis beauti-
fully painted Emma" although
done only in 1910, appears to be a
young girl of some decades earlier
in setting appropriately Victorian
Leon Krolls beautiful Model"
whose serenity is emphasized by the
blue and white color schemes; Ber-
nard Karfiol's Two Sisters" one
nude. the other draped, painted in
soft, warm colors, and Waldo
Peirces double portrait of his en-
chanting little daughter Anna being
rubbed down by her mother after a
bath, are among the most ingratiat-
ing of the straight portraits. George
Biddle's ''Neighbor AL" a broken OLD
man in a down-at-t he-heels room,
is a superb characteriza ton.
People in 4 cfon
Raphael Soyer's Window Shop
pers' gazing at mannequin heads
displaying new hats is a vivid por-
trayal of familiar scene. Kenneth
Hayes Miller's Skaters" are grace
full even when they fall, and this
painting has feeling of three
dimensional form. So, too, even
more emphatically, has Paul Cad
mus Gliding the Acrobats."
wooden Horses" is a good ex-
ample of Reginald Marshs tran
scriptions of New Workers enjoying
themselves at Coney Island. In
Jon Corbino's Bull at Topsfield
Fair" and Peter Hund's Fourth of
July rodeo, there is less emphasis
on individuals, more on crowds in
relation to their backgrounds.
Robert Philips theater interior
one OF the first paintings commits
stoned by Encyclopaedia Britannica.
is a successful realization of its
subject; the absorption of the audi
ence in the last act of Harriet"
starring Helen Hayes. Marion
Greenwood's Rehearsal for African
Ballet" inspired in Harlem, has
much interest and variety in its
figures. Another painting, relating
to the theater, After the Masque,"
by Robert Brakeman, is one of the
most beautiful academic paintings
IN the collection, and understand
ably popular Git was one of the
public's choices in Boston,. How
ever, it has no particularly American
flavor. 1t could represent many
times and places.
Music has inspired two modern
paintings. Mervin Jules "Conduc-
tor" (who certainly looks like Leo
pold StokowskD transmits the feel
ing Of symphony orchestra in
action. Sharp Drummer" by liver
Rose, one of the latest acquisitions,
exhibited for the first time as part
of this collection, appears to be an
explosion in paint. But it effec-
lively conveys the sense of hot
music" at least as it impresses the
older generation.
A merican Countryside
Some of the collections most
conservative paintings are those
dealing with our native landscape
in its innumerable manifestations
Every one who knows Vermont will
recognize it in Luigi Lucioni's
crystal-clear Trees and Mountains. "
Winter Solitude" by Carl Wuer-
mer. painted in technique quite as
traditional and meticulous, was a
leading popular choice both in New
York and Boston. So too was
Paul Samples beautifully patterned
Maple Sugaring in Vermont" Gre
produced on this page last Sun
day.. January" by Ernest Fiene,
painted in Connecticut. could well
represent any of New England's
deer-hunted hills. Dale Nichols
Company for Supper" impresses
the beholder as a glorifed Currier g.
Ives scene, bringing to mind most
wildly Home for THANKSGIVING"
In his "nocorf Co,,%hu,~SAv ~