Evening star., 1947-05-18
By Florence S. Bergman

It's fun to Meet the Artist" as
the public will find when they visit
the exhibition of painters self
portraits recently opened at the
Artists Cooperative, 1920 M street
NV. More than go likenesses, close,
near and remote, fill the second
floor gallery, and will remain
through May.
Throughout the history of paint
ing, artists seem to have found
themselves the most satisfactory
models, for they do not have to
fiatter the subject or produce a
likeness that will seem speaking" to
the sitter's family, with its miscel-
laneous notions Of his appearance.
Certainly in the present show, not
few of the artists have treated
themselves so mercilessly that they
will frighten away some persons
who may have been toying with the
Idea of sitting for their portraits.
Nevertheless, these people will be
reassured by the good proportion
of efforts at close likenesses.
Sculptors and painters Of ancient
Egypt, Greece and Rome, and other
nations through the centuries up to
the late 10th, regarded portraiture
as an attempt to reproduce the sub
ject's appearance as closely as pos
sible. But during the past rs years
or so two divergent viewpoints have
developed. Traditionalists adhere to
the time -honored concept. But
modernists feel that If they vouch-
safe so much as an eyebrow or ear
lobe that can be recognized by the
subjects relatives and friends, they
have done their duty by resern-
blance. sss
The phrase remote likeness"
crops up frequently in discussions OF
modern portraiture. It has nothing
to do with the many remote like
nesses painted in the past by artists
who simply could not do better, and
sometimes got themselves involved
in lawsuits with irate sitters. The
modernists' remote likenesses" are
deliberate, and assume many forms,
as one will discover in portraits In
the present exhibition by william
Calfee, Willis Woods, John Crozier
Galloway. F.. Boswell. Maxim Elias,
Josef PillSge and quite number of
others, some of whom did not sign
their work.
Caricatures have a different OBJ
1ective. Those who perpetrate them
are often gifted artists who can df
they wish) get as close likeness as
one could desire. In Meet the Ar
tist," Eugen Weisz has the out
standing self-caricature, a vicious
attack in black crayon. Omar Car
rington's little oil and C. A. Eder-
berg's "face" composed of tubes of
paint, palette, easel, ETC.. seem to be
caricatures. The most ingratiating
work in this class Is that by Lima
Larson.
Not being personally acquainted
with the majority of the exhibitors,
I cannot say how many Of the con-
servatives' jSelf-portraits are close
ikenesses. Quite a number appear
to be serious attempts at it. Mar
celia Comes, who shows enc OF the
few portrait drawings, has not done
herself justice, but her work Is
pleasing. Middleton Freeman's por-
trait has 10Th century flavor (Mun-
tch school. Works by Melvin D.
Buckner, Pietro Lazzari surprising
ly, as he has an established reputa-
tion as an experimentalist), H. Lau-
terman, Mimi Du Bois Bolton, Mary
Jane Corr "a cover girl" in rose and
gold), Appleby Tin technique the
public will admire), Celine Tabary,
Lois Mailou. Jones (excellent), !,
Charles Shinn, Keith Pitzer (who
looks somewhat like Waldo Peirce,