Evening star., 1949-08-07
News Of Art and Artists
Mason, Smith, Lyon
Exhibit Work Here;
Dean of Sculptors
Executes Medal
By Florence S. Berrymon

by tOtSuSS - Wi f"tS"
New exhibitions continue to add
interest to the local art calendar.
The Washington Sculptors' Group
has just opened show at Che
uuire House, Alexandria, with a
large percentage of new work. Also
recently opened in Alexandra, at
the Library, is a one-man show OF
prints and drawings by John c.
Rogers. which will remain through
August 10.
On Friday, the Smithsonian In
stitution will open a centennial
exhibition of paintings by Abbott
Henderson Thayer Q849-l92D IN
the Natural History Building and
the Freer Gallery. The exhibition
will continue through December.
New England's Charm
Every one who loves New Eng
land can catch an authentic
glimpse of it in the wood and line
engtavings by Thomas Mason on
view through August at Alfred
Fowler's print gallery. No artist
could know the region better than
Mr.. Mason, a native Q88S) or
Massachusetts,. and resident OF
Connecticut. The enduring peace.
serenity and quiet beauty OF the
scenes he depicts are typical OF all
New England, although these 20
odd engravings, work OF the last
few years, are probably portraits"
of the country around Lyme.
where the artist has lived for more
than a decade.
He loves the simple, we'll
balanced farmhouses, the silos and
barns, gently rolling landscape,
distant hills, ancient trees spread
ing their shade over lush
meadows. Faithful to these few
subjects, he nevertheless manages
TO give them surprising variety.
Occasionally he depicts a rush
ing brook deep in the woods, or a
picturesque harbor or cove.
The charm of his work is due as
much to his exquisite technique as
to the appeal of his subject
matter. It is difficult to believe
that he is entirely self-taught, SO
completely has he mastered his
medium. The minute precision OF
his line, and his admirable COM
position, have brought his work
many awards (including two from
the Library Of Congress) and have
carried it into many permanent
collections in the United States
,tamong them the Smithsonian
institution also in London and
Paris. He is National Academi-
clan and affiliated with other i'm
portant professional artists or
ganiZations.
Subjects with tone and mass are
engraved on lockwood, while those
which lend themselves to linear
fineness against a light ground,
are engraved on copper plates. In
the former medium are. several
chiaroscuro. wood-engravings, with
q touch Of green in the printing.
But while most of Mr.. Nason's
prints are in black and white, all
have color" to an unusual extent.
Tz
Remote Places
Africa, Asia and the Americana
Southwest are the locales of Sam
uel David Smiths paintings in oil
and watercolor on view at the Cor
coran Gallery of Art through Sep
tember. Mentioned here briefly at
the time it opened, this one-man
show (his first in the East has
qualities which give it popular
interest, as well as merits from the
esthetic standpoint that have won
it praise from authorities in the
art world.
During the war Mr.. Smith was
an Army combat artist and nine
watercolors and gouaches in the
current show were lent by the
Army's Historical Properties
Branch. Most Of them were
painted in China.
Mr.. Smiths work is naturalistic
in aApersonal way. In his land
scapes with figures, or architec-
ture or some other feature, he
paints the background or general
setting broadly and simply, some
times very sketchily. then concen-
trates the interest in minutely de-