Evening star., 1948-04-11
News Of Art and Artists
By Florence S. Berryman

By Florence S. BerYman
| The 57th annual exhibition of the
Society of Washington Artists, which
opened last Sunday In the foyer Of
the Natural History Building, Ma
tional Museum, Is the most modern
In character since the golden an
niversary show seven years ago. OF
10 paintings and 13 sculptures on
view, nearly half can be classified
as abstract, expressionistic, or other
wise differentiated from naturalisn.
And very few of the remainder
would be regarded as academic.
The exhibition was selected from
about $50 works submitted by mem
bers and other painters and sculp-
tors Of this region. The society
seems to have offered . real op-
portunity to young artists and new
corners, for fully . third Of the
exhibitors names are unfamiliar
The predominantly contemporary
atmosphere Of the show is somewhat
surprising, due to the fact that the
jury which selected 1t, composed Of
the society's officers and executive
committee members, comprises nine
painters and sculptors well bal
anced between traditional and ex-I
perimental approaches.
On the other hand, the clean
sweep Of prizes and medals made
by works in contemporary idioms
is not surprising, in view of the
makeup Of the jury Of awards;
Josef Albers, German-born abstract
painter, once pupil at the famous
Bauhaus in Weimar, now head Of
the art department of Black Noun
tain IN. c. College; Francis
Speight, who has shown q leftward
trend in painting for some years,
and Fletcher Martin, now moving
in that direction.
Prize Winners
The Evening Star prize Of 500 for
the best painting In the exhibition
was bestowed upon Helen Rennie's
Island Greek, Southern Maryland"
. poetic work in which the subject
| ID suggested by separate objects
against the watery green back
ground, sailboat. leaves, an acorn,
etc.
Debut c." by L. Gill Murray. won
the Alice Barney prize for por-
trait or figure painting, given by
her daughter, Mrs. Laura D. Barney.
The white staring faces of the
musicians against blue and red
brown background in the prize
winning work present quite a con-
trast to the mellow painting by
Alice Barney, who was pupil Of
Whistler and Carolus-Duran.
Maxim Elias, who won the Even
ing Star prize OF 500 in the sculp-
ture exhibition which opened two
weeks ago, followed it up last week
by winning the Society Of Washing
ton Artists prize in sculpture, of $50,
for his Reclining Figure" made of
hammered lead.
The society awarded medals in
four classes. Walter Antonius Car
nelli won that for figures or por-
trait painting with his kiss Of
Judas" q markedly simplified COM
position of angular figures In set
ting Of dark rich colors, strongly
patterned but lacking any quality
(in my opinion) that approaches
religious emotion.
John Chapman Lewis BLEAK Out
look" with cubistic forms and subtle
colors, received the landscape medal.
That for still life went to Beulah
Weayer's modern arrangement IN
freshg colors: Belle Bellerose's little
Vermont steatite "Torso" fetched
the medal for sculpture.
Some Conservative
While the jury OF awards showed
marked preference for progressive
work, the public will find that the
annual also contains paintings and
a few sculptures which will appeal
to conservative tastes. BY Shef-
field Kagy, president Of the So
ciety, is a large canvas, Summer
Holiday" (three bathers in a sunny
landscape), the most ambitious
work I have seen by him. William
F. Walter, vice president. shows
"Tankers," simplifled, clean-cut
marine in blues, presumably made
from sketches or memories Of his
war service in the Navy.
Carl Nyquist's still life will G~ubt-
less have the most appeal for the
public of works of this class. Pietro
Lazzari's "Giovanna," a portrait Of
q young girl, in a beautiful frame
either carefully selected or made for
it, as in the case of Renaissance
paintings, is a departure (from the
lay standpoint) for this artist, who
is best known for experimental work
in polychrome cement, encaustic
and intricate linear pen-and-ink
drawing. Rowland Lyons Head Of
an Old Lady" is an excellent char
acterization. I liked, too, Alice
Acheson's stippled blue Greek VAL
ley, Jasper Park; Leonard Maurer's
romantic Irish Town" and Flor
ence Morgan's New Jersey Coast"
The sculpture section is small but
varied LOT lLS Size. oeolQeS tue
works above I liked
Anthony Lauck's "Magdalen," Rus
sell Houston's Woman Combing
Her Hair" Josephine Cary's peas
ant couple. and X. Sater's "Ele-
phant." Jane Loves Dance" is an
abstraction of movement, which will
surely be Ineligible to persons who
have followed modern dance groups.
Lilli Gettinger's garden figure, COM
posed of a species of discs, would,
think, fit more harmoniously into
bosky stretch Of woods than in
formal garden.
This exhibition remains through
April %.
~ =
d. G.. Cartoons
Clifford K. Bergman, Evening
Star cartoonist for more than four
decades, has given to the Public |
Library during the past year, more
than 100 cartoons on the District Of
Columbia. This month, a selec-
ton of 80 of them, made by Firman
Wilson, head of the fine arts -di-
vision js IN view in the Central |