Evening star., 1948-12-19
E\rt
Religious Paintings
Eclipse Reverence
With Devotion
By Florence S. BerrymaR


season. Twenty-Five paintings rep
rSenting five countries, Ecuador
Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Vens.
Msla, are offered as examples o.
this type OF painting At the sam,
time, the union disavows any pre-.
tense that they make a Representa-.
tive showing of the works OF all thu
schools and countries south Of oul
border.
Two qualities will doubtless isa.
press most visitors: the genuine.
ness Of religious feeling IN Nsesl
paintings, and the unifying influence
of Spain. These are not great
masterpieces, nor are they esthst.
ically 30 good as certain religio6i
paintings done in our own century
But the devotion they express il
a quality we have lost. - best
We seem able to get into '1.igious
paintings today is reverence.
These Latin American paintings
were lent from important public anc
private collections in the United
States. About a third Of the loans
are from the Philadelphia ano
Brooklyn Museums. The Ambas.
sador of Ecuador, Sr. Augusta Dillon
has lent two important paintings OF
the Quito school. DR.. Luis Quinta-
nilla, Mexico's representative to the
Council Of the Organization Of
American States, lent an 18th cen
tury Mexican painting, ard DR.
Ramon G. Osuna, works from both
Guatemala and Venezuela. Mr.. and
Mrs. John Connor, Miss Catharine
Ryan, Oswald Bridge and other
collectors who prefer to remain
anonymous, also contributed TO the
exhibition.
Fantastic
The Wl1yte Gallery is continuing
It's series of theme exhibitions, with
one on Fantasy" to remain through
December 80. More than 20 oils,
water colors and tempera paintings
by Washington and Baltimore ar
lists make a lively If less ingratiat-
ing show than those on vacations
and music.
Those themes were expressed
through objects, symbols and scenes
which enjoy widespread compre-
hension and recognition. But what
is one mans fantasy is often an
other mans bore. Nearly every one
must be aware of this. for most of
us have acquaintances who insist
on reporting their fantastic dreams
in sleep-provoking detail. Fantasy
can be intriguing, beautiful or gro
tesoue. But 1t takes master OF the
genre to make 1t so.
Horses and birds were the inspira-
ton of eight of the paintings, while
Max Schallinger was preoccupied
with cows in his two Landscape
Fantasies" Perhaps the artists
wished to demonstrate that fantasy
can be found in the commonest
animals as well as in naturally fam
tastic creatures as the giraffe, platy-
pHs or anteater.
Some of the artists have made
double images, as in Mitchell jamie
sons Decay and New Growth" ="
which at first sight appears to be
q balanced abstraction of plant
forms. Franz Bader. the Whyte
Gallerys director, will point out
subtleties to the unobservant visitor.
Pietro Lazzari has gotten horses
into his three paintings. two of them
50 abstract that the viewer will have
to look sharp to see the animals.
A few of these paintings seemed
TO me so devoid OF fantasy, that I
suspect I missed something. Mar
guerite Burgess and Winifred
Mobiles birds imprezse me as
straight" interpretations of the
themes. Laughlin Phillips Green
Dragon" appears to be an abstrac-
ton of cityscape. Marshall Goch-
nauer's two paintings included au-
thentic gravel and sticks, more
tricky than fantastic. The larger
is framed in something resembling
salvaged driftwood, which certainly
makes 1t a fantastic decoration for
the average home.
The poetic fantasies by Charlotte
Kimball, Lucille Evans dreamlike
Apple" including a woman's head,
and Bernice Cross Might in
China" young and gay, and without
the self conscious primitivism some
OF her paintings have, are engaging
works. Prentiss Taylor's "Mermaids
in Lower Main" CNorfoli), Is no
more fantastic than most of Stuart
Davis distractions of nsturalistic
objects and fragments rcarranged
in unnatural relationships.
William Calfee's Birth of Venus
involves nude torsos emerging from
muddy background. Robert Gates
Enchanted Queen" with deep col
ors ano gold has a Byzantine at
mosphere.
Coop at u. n. Club
The Artists Cooperative, which
exhibited with the Studio Group In
Oct Der, is now having its members
winter show at United Nations Club.
More than 80 paintings and sculp-
lures by 25 artists compose the best
exhibition I have seen by this Or
ganization. although the show is
not devoid of iome mediocre and
Indifferent works.
The portraits and figure subjects
show up we'll. Theodore Kane's por-
trait of DR.. Mirko Lamar has a vital
head. and her colorful Dancer With
Masks" makes an interesting COM
position. Lila Asher's contemplative
nude in a two-color scheme is well
done, and Audrey Glassman's Girl
in Red Jacket" looks alive. although
her hands in two. different colors
will probably distress some viewers.
josef Pielage. now president OF
the cooperative, shows an interior
of neat rooms, and glimpse Of q
Washington alley; naturalistic in
handling, both are, per sc, rectangu.
lar designs. Edgar Kirby's cityscape
r.. F.*.n~s
p Let the Children
u Make Their Own u
" nuplcTANc eARnS n