Evening star., 1949-01-02
By Florence S. Berrymon

The Christmas-New Year interval
always produces lull in the art
season, with many exhibitions re-
naming little longer than they
would in nonholiday period. The
Corcoran Gallery is an exception,
having put up lately an exhibition
drawn from its permanent collec-
ton, Of American water colors and
drawings, which will remain until
March 20 Gust before the bienniaD.
An exhibition of prints and draw
ings by John c. Rogers will open
tomorrow at Howard University Gal
lery of Art, the artists second one
man show in Washington, his first
having been held last year at the
Central Public Library. He has had
others at the Alexandria Public Lii
brary, and during the war, while
serving with the Army Air Force, he
exhibited at various military in
stallations. In that period, he also
| had one-man show at the Munich
pal Art Center, Oklahoma City He
has exhibited extensively in group
shows here and elsewhere, and has
received several awards. The exhi-
bition at Howard will include new
work in various media, from felt pen
drawings to chalk and oil crayons.
Mr.. Rogers studied for a brief
period at the Corcoran School Of
Art under Burtis Baker and Eugen
Weisz; aside from that, he Is self
taught. Formerly concerned exclu-
sively with black and white work,
Mr.. Rogers greatly admires the
works of three European recent and
contemporary masters in that field:
Kathe Kollwitz, Edward Munich and
Franz Masereel German, Swedish
and Belgian, respectively.
/ With one exception, Ruins at
Harpers Ferry" all of the drawings
to be shown at Howard are recent
and have not heretofore been pub
licly exhibited. Howard will also
include another new feature, draw
ings in color, which Mr. Rogers says
is for him "a strange new medium.
+
Geometry in Paint
/ l. Rice Pereira, a foremost nom
objective painter, is now having at
Barnett Alden Gallery. her second
solo exhibition in Washington. Her
first here, more than 10 years ago,
was at Howard University. At that
time, there were objective elements
in her compositions; but in the in
terim, she has become wholly alb
stract Although most of the work
now at Alden is recent, much of it
dated 1949, there are a few older
items including one owned by the
Gallery. and two lent by Howard
University and Prof. Herring, re-
spectivelv. The first mentioned.
Nautical Abstraction" includes an
anchor and ropes; Man and Ma
chine has wheels and human fig
ures, and the Worlds Fair "a
drawing) has an easily identified
trylon and perisphere although any
one who remembers those features
at Flushing will recall that they were
themselves ABSTRACT None of these
paintings is naturalistic. the more
or less realistic elements are worked
into cubist and other abstract COM
positions.
The later paintings have intricate
linear designs. with strong, fresh
colors applied in an immaculate
technique. Some of the paintings
are on two levels Tin some in
stances, three, comprising panels
of glass painted partly on one side,
partly on the other. superimposed
on another painted surface. The
various levels of painting are care
fully worked out to make the COM
position an entity. 1t seems as
though most people ought to be
able to appreciate these paintings
as decorations, even though they
have no associational value (other
than geometric). Orange Rhom-
boids," Diagonal Squares and re-
lated titles of her works give an
idea of their character. There is
much mere variety, however. than
one might imagine, before seeing
the show.
Miss Pereira was born in Boston
in 1907, studied at the Art Students
League of New York, at the Acad-
emie Moderne, Paris, and with Jan
Matulka and Richard Lahey while
the latter was teaching in New
York, before his Corcoran School
appointment. She has had IA solo
exhibitions before the current one,
and is represented in is permanent
,.oroiyoH