Evening star., 1951-05-06
4 ri
Ninth National
Print Exhibition
Opens at Library
By Florence S. Berrvmon

The ninth national exhibition of
prints, popularity known as the
Pennell show. opened last Tuesday
at the Library Of Congress. to re-
main for three months, thus CIV
ing all who wish to do so an op-
portunity to study it at leisure.
It is installed in cases on the first
floor. main building. near the en-
trance and in flanking galleries.
A total Of 224 prints represents
as many artists Of % States. the
District Of Columbia. Hawaii. Eng
land and Mexico. They were
chosen from 1898 entries submit
ted by SIT artists. The jury which
selected them was composed Of
|well-known printmakers-Adolph
Dehn. painter and nthographer.
recently awarded q 1851 Guggen-
helm fellowship: DR.. Warren
Mack, wood engraver. head Of the
department Of horticulture at
Pennsylvania State University,
and Grant Reynard. painter, etch-
Ter and lecturer.
A true croSs-Section of contem-
Iporary printmaking, the show in
cludes only prints made within the
year Immediately preceding it. It
ranges from realism to pure alb
lstraction, and represents every
Technique practiced by today's
graphic artists. There is a par
Iticularly interesting group of color
prints.
High Technical Level.
The high technical level Of ear
llier Pennell exhibitions of prints
is repeated in the ninth. That
may explain, in part. the feeling
one has seen 1t before. Another
possible explanation is the ap-
Ipearance of many artists who have
been represented in earlier shows,
with prints depicting similar
themes. This is as true Of those
who work in contemporary idioms
as of the traditionalists. In the
majority of cases, when the "cre-
ative experimentalist" finds nice
cozy niche with his personal brand
Iof angles, thread-swirls, sepulchral
heads, or whatever. he clingS to it
with as much devotion as the con-
Iservative shows for his interpreta-
tions of rural New England, boats
smuggling up to wharveS, or the
nice strong rectangles of metro
Ipolitan roofscapes.
The impossibility of mentioning
in limited space, all the admirable
prints in the ninth Pennell, that
I would like to have framed on
my walls. or convenient in a port
folio. reduces me to the expedient
of naming a few which held my at
tention a little longer, for reasons
sometimes too vague to identify.
I particularly liked Davis Paul
Meltzer's "Noah." sending forth
the dove with a grand gesture;
Marion Greenwood's meditative
little Negro girl in ''Tae Window; !;
William Choppers exuberant
"Davy Crockett" here a first cous-
in of Paul Bunyan; Robert Hod-
CELLS 1.-THE Supper" which has
the rough-hewn somber dignity OF
a medieval woodcut; the pathos
of Joseph Margulies' Dreaming OF
the Good Old Days: and Fletcher
Martins High, Wide and Hand
some," for its action and design.
Subjects Widely Varied.
I liked Phil Dike's Summer
Boats" interspersed with bathers,
as it has all the happy hustle of a
busy harbor: Juliette Fraser's "An-
imal Act" in which the trainer
holds the observers attention as
strongly as that Of the sinewy big
cats in the foreground; Asa Chef
fetz's Deserted Farm" for its
technical perfection and enchant-
ing beauty: John Menihan'S seri-
graph Red Right Returning, ="
which has the richness of a gou-
ache; Doel Reeds surrealistic "Ele-
ments of the Past" with effective
tonal Spotting; and Clinton Adams