Evening star., 1946-08-04

Made in America" an exhibition
of more than 100 water color render
ings from the index of American
design, will open tomorrow at the
National Gallery of Art, to remain
until September Is.
The index of American design,
made under the Works Progress
Administration Federal Art Prof.
ect, was the single major activity
devoted to research, and constitutes
the one great pictorial depository
of the American tradition of crafts
manship. Artists and photographers
all over the country recorded ex-
amples of early American design
in native arts and crafts dating
from the 17th century to 1900,
making a total of more than 1000
paintings, drawings and photo
graphs.
With the end of WPA at the end
of 1912, the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York City, became Gus
todian of the index for about two
years, when it was transferred to
the National Gallery of Art, where
Erwin o. Christensen, associate
curator, has charge of it.
Some idea of the scope of the
index can be obtained from a brief
summary of the exhibition about
to open. There is a group of illus
trations of early American toys and
of woven coverlets and quilts of the
same period. Renderings of carved
ships figureheads and billetheads
include one of large figure of
Liberty" robed in red, white and
blue. Among the gay circus and
carrousel animals and figures there
is a drawing of bright red rooster
used in a horse-drawn merry-go-
round at county fair and another
showing circus wagon with
dragons, called THE Golden Age
of Chivalry."
Indians of many "tribes" will be
shown: Colorful cigar store In
dams, among other shop signs;
"Chief Rain in the Face" an Indian
puppet, from 18th century Punch
and Judy shows, and a weather.
vane with an Indian warrior on
horseback about to spear a noun
tain lion (reproduced.
Indian on Horseback.
The aforementioned has curious
fascination. The anonymous New
England craftsman who carved 1t
probably never heard Of the As
syrian bas-reliefs of lion hunts in
the British Museum. 1t seems
almost absurd to compare his mod
est little item with such powerful
creations of $500 years ago. Yet
If one studies photographs Of the
bas-reliefs along with the render
ing of the weathervane, one will
find a few qualities In common
Gin addition to the fact that the
subject is the same-a warrior on
horseback spearing lion). There
are directness and movement, and
in each case the Assyrian sculptor
and the New England craftsman
were far more interested in the
animals and presented them more
vividly than they depicted the
hunters
Also in the exhibition are illus
trations of glass and furniture that
show the high quality of craftsman
ship which produced the original
objects.
The religious communities are
represented by selected items from
the Bishop Hill settlement of I'LL
nois, the Shakers and the Spanish
Colonial folk art of the Southwest.
The renderings reproduce objects
of great beauty, as we'll as some
naive and primitive types of things
which, nevertheless, reveal an in
nate sense of design on the part
of the anonymous makers. These
objects have vitality and assurance
and they give us glimpse of a
younger, happier. more confident
America, that makes some of us a
frffo ,ooSfaloic