Evening star., 1948-11-07
/\rt.

Brooklyn Museum
Prints Being Shown
AtCorcoran Gallery
By Florence S. Berrymon
contemporary American Prints"
an exhibition on view in the atrium
Of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, COM
prises go items selected from the
second national print annual held
last spring at the Brooklyn Mu-
scum, and circulated by the Ameri-
can Federation Of Arts, as reported
here when it opened last month.
The Corcoran is one Of 10 leading /
museums throughout the United
States in which this collection will
be shown. The Brooklyn Museum S |
annual quickly established itself as
one Of the major print exhibitions
Of the year, rejecting widely diverse
achievements and experiments in
various print media.
Seventeen purchase awards were
made in the original show, IA of
which are included in the fedora
tion's representative selection. These
have a wide range of medium, idiom
and technique. They include such
comparatively traditional work as
Adolf Dehns jungle at Night Gre
produced in these columns August
20 and George Biddle's swampy
landscape, Along the Banks of the
Kalamazoo" both Autographs, as is
also Martin Jackson's Reflected
Yesterday" vignette of ruin.
Daring Media Combinations.
The majority Of purchase award
winners are distractions in some
degree. Dorr Bothwelrs Memory
Machine" a serigraph, also won a
prize in an exhibition of surrealism.
Ut will inevitably remind some OBJ
servers OF Rube Goldberg's inven-
tions) Antonio Frasconis Girl
With Bird Cage" is a typical ex-
ample OF this young Uruguayan
artists large woodcuts in deep-toned
colors, spirited semiabstractions.
that demonstrate his command of
the medium. w. Rolof Beny's alb
stract Time of War and Time of
Peace" combines engraving, aqua
tint and lithography. incidentally,
not the least interesting feature of |
this show is the prevalence of daring
combinations of media, which COM
bined and pure, reach a total of 14.)
Visitors to contemporary exhibi-
tions are Injured, by now, to incom-
prehensible works, not to mention
titles. What people sometimes for
get is that many poets, long -estab-
lished and included in every an
thology. have written lines that
sound beautiful, but, when analyzed.
mean little. One Is reminded of
this by some of the prints in the
current show, Friedel's Hazardous
Virgin" for instance, a combination
OF aquatint and engraving, with a
composition of looping lines. Hung
at the CorcQran beside Alice Truu-
bull Mason's award-winning 'Indic-
ative Displacement" (another baf-
ming title) it emphasizes the latter's
static appearance.
Winners Are Favored.
The jury which made the uur-
chase awards was composed of out
standing authorities. Nevertheless.
some OF their choices seem decidedly
inferior to other prints in the travel
ing exhibition. I liked Leslie Cope,s
drypoint. whiting; Lewis Daniels
mezzotint. "Mayan Youth; Christine
Engler's engraving, Gigantic Shelf:
Victoria H. Huntley's Florida
Swamp" Misch Kohn's medieval
looking wood engraving, "Old King
OF Thule; Martin Lewis excellent
drypoint, "Yorkville Night; Rus
sell Limbach's "Still Life and Land
scape." Pasquale Masiello's etching,
waterfront, Provincetown," and
Margaret Elder Philbrick's "Out-
door Bouquet"
None Of the semi and pure alb
stractions are more battling than
D. r. Stuart's Enthusiastically
handled lithograph entitled Image"
which depicts woman tangled up
In yards of cloth, with a large block
of granite.
Religious Sculpture
Just opened at Salve Regina Build
ing, Catholic University, is an ex-
hibition Of contemporary religious
SCULPTURE Ito be reviewed later, a |
companion show to that of con-
temporary religious painting at
Barnett-Aden Gallery, reviewed last
Sunday. Both exhibitions are spon-
sored by the Catholic Interracial
Council of Washington.
Among the exhibits at Catholic
University is q little half length
figure in terra Gotta of St. Francis,
by young Chicago sculptor, Joseph
Kersey, who gave this work to Bar
nett-Aden Gallery few weeks ago.
Noticing q subtle suggestion OF
Negro bone construction in the
head, I asked Mr.. Kersey about his
Interpretation.
He said, After becoming &C
quainted with st. Francis teachings
and kindness to animals, was in
spired to create this figure. In my
research, I learned that the man
himself had been of Southern
France origin, which would make
his features coarse, yet fine, remind
ing me Of some Of the Moors of
Northern Africa" Further impetus
to do "St. Francis" was given the
sculptor by his visit to the Francis.
can Monastery here in Washington.
During the war, while in the Army,
he was sent to the Pacific area. His
study of the early religious pieces
In the beautiful churches Of the
Philippines. crowned his desire to
create a figure that would depict