Evening star., 1949-08-28
Art
Few Days Remain
Of Goethe Exhibit,
Also Photographs
By Eugene Atget
By Florence S. Berrymon

Today is the 200th anniversary
Of the birth of Johann Wolfgang
Won Goethe, to commemorate
which, the Library of Congress
opened in July its superb bicen-
tennial exhibition. Everyone who
has not yet seen it. or the Eugene
Atget photographs. installed in
August, should go in the next
three days. the last for both
shows. Both are fascinating.
They also contrast greatly.
Much has appeared in the pa
pers this summer about Goethe,
"the universal genius" Although
the historical, biographical and
literary aspects of the exhibition
at the Library are naturally more
important than the esthetic, I
have not heretofore seen there
a show of this type. in which art
plays so important documentary
role. A large proportion Of the
more than 300 exhibits are etch-
ings, engravings, Autographs,
many in colors, costume plates,
reproductions of old master por-
traits of famous people connected
with the poet, original water colors,
and a number Of his own artistic
efforts. Rare manuscripts and
books, and illustrated editions OF
his works compose the larger part
of the show, which occupies all
the exhibition space on the first
floor, main building.
Three other institutions sent
important loans to augment the
Library's own materials in this
outstanding array. Nearly 100
items were lent by the Goethe
museum, including manuscripts.
portraits, water colors and draw
ings, whcih present vivid picture
of Frankfurt-am- Main in Goethe's
time.
Every one acquainted with Goe-
the's biography knows that art
remained one Of the abiding in
terests of his life" and that he
studied under several instructors.
among them A. F. Oeser. director
of the Academy of Painting in the
Pleissenburg. Leipzig, and Jakob
Philip Hackert. landscape paint
er. In the exhibition are a num-
ber of Goethe's own pen and sepia
and pencil drawings OF trees, and
te7aong the SO items on loan from
TIE William A. Speck collection
of Yale University Library an
oririnal pen sketch of an Italian
landscape. tinted in blue and gray
ws+er color.
In addition to being a greatly
gifted and personally fascinating
human being, Goethe also had to
his credit what has been called
the second indispensable pillar on
which to erect an interesting biog-
raphy-he knew large numbers
of important people. Many were
famous in their own right. and
others became important" be-
cause of their contacts with him.
At any rate. the exhibition is
swarming with portraits OF out
standing 18th and 10th century
Germans, British, French and
Americans, not a few reproduced
from paintings by noted masters.
Looking at Paris
At the opposite pole from Goethe
was Eugene Atget. personally hum
BILE, unacquainted with and doubt
less completely Indifferent to the
great people of his day. "All that
counts of his biography is in his
photography" says Ferdinand
Reyher in the descriptive labels on
the 23 panels Of Atget's photo
graphs, displayed on the ground
floor of the Library of Congress.
It is on national tour, circulated
bv the American Federation OF
Arts.
Atget was a great artist. using
the camera (nearly so years ago)
to express the essence Of a place.
His subject was Paris, which he
went out to photograph in the
vibrationless first morning light"
and so true, so moving is the record
of its commonplace, everyday as
poets, that one is not surprised
these photographs inspired M.
Reyher to write about them in
lyrical paragraphs. Visitors to the
show should not fail to read his