Evening star., 1953-05-10
Art News
Edwurd @. Robinson
Art at National
By Florence S. Berrymon

WashingtonianS will see for
the first time, a choice group
of 40 paintings from the Ed
ward G. Robinson collection
in Beverly Hills, Calf, when
the noted actors loan exhibi-
ton opens this afternoon at
the National Gallery of Art,
to remain for six weeks. In
response to Mr.. Robinson'S
request that the Damon Run
yon Cancer Fund be aided by
this loan, the National Gal
lery will provide q box for
contributions in the rooms
where the paintings are hung.
Mr.. Robinson has been col
lecting for many years, and
has obtained covetable ex-
amples by French masters of
18th and goth centuries. Not
a few of these paintings ARE
well known from reproduc-
ton in periodicals, books and
the press.
The loan exhibition is COM
posed Of paintings, each Of
which is an lend in ITSELF"
something beautiful and de-
sirable. quite apart from its
relationship to the others.
But visitors who get more out
of a show by following some
scheme of chronology or his
torical background, will 1lnd
here artists representing most
of the important developments
in painting in France for a
century and a quarter. al
though some Of them are seen
in their "pre-revolutionary"
manners.
The loan collection begins
chronologically with the Ro-
manticists, Gericault and Della
croix, the first represented with
a mounted, youthful trumpeter
(about 1922; the second with
a typical semi-nude Algerian
woman in an interior. Corot
Is the sole representative of the
Men of '30," but with one
of his strong. characterful
portraits illustrated above)
rather than one of his misty
landscapes.
Impressionists
The impresSionistS are COM
paratively numerous, beginning
with their forerunner, Boudin.
with two charming little scenes
of decorous people on the beach
at Trouville. BY Monet, the
complete impressionist, is the
prismatic willows" framing a
distant village. Three paint
ings by Pissarro, the most
faithful impressionist, include
a portrait of a little boy and
two views of Paris done in his
last period, when the French
Capital became his favorite
theme. A typical painting by
Sisley, "Pont de st. Cloud"
with shimmering reflections in
water, a handsome figure of a
woman in evening" dress by
Berthe Morisot, two pastels of
ballet dancers by Degas, who
was with the impressionists but
not "of" them, and three very
different paintings by Renoir,
demonstrating his changing
stylistic tendencies during IS
years, afford a pleasing survey.
Cezanne's '"The Black Clock"
done while he was influenced
by Manet, Is one of the shows
best-knoWn works, and i'm
portant in the artists career.
His own influence became
greatest S0ne 20 years later,
when he turned against i'm
pressioniSm in different ways,
as seen in the Robinson COL
lection with characteristic
paintings.
A rugged portrait by Van
Gogh at the beginning Of his
creative period, and a lively,
decorative capture Of Jane
Avril dancing. by Toulouse
Lautrec, represent two brilliant
artists Of the late 10Th century.
Bonnard and WILLARD (by the
latter, a delightful pastel in
terror with the Robinson fam
ily), Sickert, the English i'm
preSSionist, Matisse with a re-
splendent Dinner Table"
impressionistic in manner, lead
up to later School Of Paris
painters Picasso, Modigliani,
Chagall and Soutine, all Of
whom are seen in paintings
more traditional than radical,
and hence perfectly intelligible
to the layman. Rouault Is in
q class by himself, as are the