Evening star., 1947-09-21

Naval Medical Center at Bethesda,
Md. For the last mentioned he also
painted a portrait of Rear Admiral
Edward r. Stitt of Washington. Mr..
Bookatz came out of the. Navy with
the rank of lieutenant commander.
Mr.. Bookatz' work is on display in
the fine arts reading room at the
Library, as well as in the exhibition
cases on the adjoining balcony
There are admirable life-size por-
trait heads in red chalk, with an
indeflnable quality which indicates
they are excellent characterizations
particularly "Mother). Other
work in crayon and chalk includes
several large studies Of nudes,
beautifully done, and one of ballet
dancers.
Paintings in Strong Contrast.
In strong contrast to these are
two expressionistic paintings, "The
Prophet" and "The Sermon" the
kind of work Mr.. Bookatz prefers to
do when left to his own devices.
Since most of his portraits are COM
missioned, he is expected by his
sitters, he says, to make close like
nesSes.
other works in water color,
gouache, ink and wash as we'll as oil,
include landscapes done in Paris,
italy and Corsica. In varying de-
grees of conservative to modern
handling. I liked italian Market"
Paris" and "Corsican Church"
Mr.. Bookatz has been Washing
ton artist by residence for several
years, and has exhibited elsewhere
here.
Arts Club Season Begins
The Arts Club inaugurates Its
season this afternoon with the OPEN
ing of exhibitions of wood engrav-
ings and woodcuts by Hans Alex
ander Mueller in the gallery, and
oil paintings by w. Lester Stevens,
N. A., in the reception rooms. Artist
members Of the club, Theodore
Kane and Henry Olson, will BE hosts.
Prof. Mueller was born in Nord-
hausen. Germany, studied at Leipsig
Academy of Graphic Arts and subse-
quently joined its faculty, for nearly
two decades. His fame as an in
structor spread through much of
Europe, and brought to the Leipsig
Academy students from all parts
of Germany, and frons Holland.
Switzerland, the Balkans and Scan-
dinavia, as we'll as from the United
States. One of his American pupils
was Lynd Ward, now well known
! for his books in wood engraving.
Prof. Mueller came to the United
States early in the war, taught at
Bennington College in Vermont and
is now an instructor at Columbia
University. He is author of the ex-
cellent manual, How I Make Wood
cuts and Wood Engravings," pub
lished nearly two years ago by Amer
ican Artists Group, and is also
author and illustrator of Book Of
New York Woodcuts." He has IL
lustrated books issued by the Linn
tied Editions Club and the Book Of
the-Month Club, among them such
favorites as THE Conrad Argosy"
(woodcuts), Stevenson's Treasure
Island" "Dr. Jekyll and Mr.. Hyde"
and Don Quixote."
w. Lester Stevens Of Conway,
Mass, is also noted both as painter
and teacher. He studied at the
Boston Museum School and for
three and a half decades has con-
Quoted summer art classes at Rock
port, Mass. He has taught at Prince
ton and Boston Universities, and is
now on the faculty of the School OF
Practical Arts, Boston.
The fourth Clark prize at the
Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1921 was
the first of a long series of awards
made to Mr.. Stevens Landscapes.
He Is a National Academician and
a member of many other profess
sional organizations, including the
Landscape Club Of Washington. He
Is represented in many permanent
collections.
The Mueller and Stevens exhibi-
tions will remain at the Arts Club
through October 10.
New Assistant Director
The Smithsonian Institute re-
Gently announced the appointment
of Thomas M. Beggs to the newly