Evening star., 1946-02-24
By Florence s. Bergman

y y
Water colors from the Whitney
Museum of American Art, New York
City, are on exhibition at Howard
University's Art Gallery. 1t is re-
grettable that this Washington en-
gagement on national circuit of Is
cities, arranged by the American
Federation of Arts, is so brief (only
four days remain to see IT'D, for it is
decidedly worth WHILE
Although called contemporary"
the exhibition ranges over a period
of nearly 80 years. However, all but
3 of the 25 artists represented are
living, and most of them are in their
prime. Furthermore, while the works
are practically all in the tradition
of naturalism," it is the naturaliSm
influenced by various contemporary
movements, some introduced into
this country by the famous "Armory
Show" of 1918, others stressing the
American scene, which extend much
further into our past than the re-
eional movement spotlighted about
Is year ago.
The present exhibition is offered
simply as a collection of meritorious
works. No group of 25 paintings is
comprehensive enough to represent
all outstanding eXponents of the
medium today, nor does the show at
tempt to illustrate any particular
theme.
The earliest work on view is
Boardman Robinson's satirical THE
Club" done in 1917, only a few years
after his career as cartoonist and
while he was engaged in magazine
illustration In this murky interior
he ridiculed stuffed shirts" and put
more life into the sardonic sculp-
tured bust on bookcase than he did
into the club members.
Other "early" water colors include
one of Charles Demuth's exquisite
flower paintings, light and cool in
color, effective in pattern, and John
Marins Deer Island, Maine" which
although painted in 1928, is the most
advanced" work on view, an ex-
pressionistic abstraction inspired by
the sea-washed island. On the other
hand, Stuart Davis Boat Landing, "
dated 1926, is surprisingly naturalis-
tic, compared with his patterned ab-
stractions of late years.
Studies in
SnotO and Rain.
Aaron Bohrods Chicago Street in
Wintera is one of the most arresting
works in the group, by an artist who
skillfully conveys not only the ap-
pearances, but also the moods of out
lying sections of large cities. Stark
forms, somber colors and such de-
tails as the pedestrian hunched into
his overcoat, all emphasize the title
significance. Beginning of Snow
storm" by Charles Burchfeld, is an
unf1attering presentation of a city
street. Still another urban subject,
Emil Ganso's Factories" is de-
picted under snow John Whorf
painted Rainy Day" in his bril-
liant transcription of dark red tene-
ments by river. This virtuoso in
water color has conveyed the wet
ness of the day so effectively that
every one who sees it will want to
change into dry clothing and sit
by an open fire
The human side of teeming city
life is emphasized by Jacob Law
renee in his gouache "Tombstones, /"
depicting a tenement in Harlem or
a similar section in which the elon-
gated angular figures emphasize the
verticality of the building and the
up-and-downness of life in such
surroundings.
River and harbor scenes have in
splred number of the artists rep
resented. Structure is emphasized
in Preston Dickinson's Harlem
River" Reginald Marsh's Liner
is conservative in character, while
Ernest Fiene's "Sardine Boats" is
nearly as abstract as the water
color by Marin. Heliker's The
Sound" has delicacy of handling and
no little charm. Henry Schnaken-
berg is responsible for the only rural
landscape, Near the Quarry" in
washes of rich blues and greens,