Evening star., 1954-05-02
D. T.. 10 Have Initial
Showing Of Primitive
Art Of America
Continued From First Page.)

benefit to the American people
by making us aware Of our past,
as seen through the eyes of our
own creative artists"
John Walker, chief curator Of
the National Gallery of Art,
praised the Garbisch pictures,
saying: "It is almost impossible
to look at them, recalling as they
do the history and customs of
our country, the types of people
who created our institutions and
safeguarded our freedom, the
simplicity and charm Of their
way of life. without a feeling
of deep pride in our ancestors
and in the culture which they
produced"
Most Of the artists represented
In the accumulation are un-
known to fame. Few had bi-
ographers. Only a small minor
lily bothered to sign or otherwise
identify their creations. Mr..
Finley has summed them up in
the statement:
They were Americans who
had little or no instruction In the
techniques of recognized English
and European masters"
Nearly All Realists.
They worked in the period be-
ginning about 1740 and ending
about 1880. All but a small mi
nority of the painters were real
lists.
According to Mr.. Walker, 1.-THE
American primitive shows E.
an unerring instinct for signit1-
cant detail-a physical feature
the set of a mouth which tells
the character of an individual,
or even an attribute such as an
ear trumpet which implies the
problem Of a personality. Or in
landscape, the significant aspect
the appearance of a village or
a farm as held in memory, or
the mood of a landscape, benign
or malevolent-which has i'm
pressed itself on the imagina-
ton. These singularities of OBJ
servation are emphasized.
thrust awkwardly but touchingly
at the spectator so as to convey
In the most emphatic way the
message of the artist"
Col. Garbisch and his wife
began their search for American
primitive paintings in 1914. They
had acquired a home, Pokety,
near Cambridge on the Eastern
Shore of Maryland. and they
wished to furnish it in keeping
with its architectural style.
American primitives, they be-
lieved, would be "the most suit
able to hang on the wall" They
"saw in these native American
works of art those unique quail
ties of simplicity, fortnight di-
rectness and creative vitality in
color and design, which set them
apart as being so indigenous to
our country, so genuinely Ameri-
can" Once launched on their
quest, they became more and
more enthusiastic about it. Col.
Garbisch has said. ut was then
that we decided to assemble such
q collection and give it to the
Nation"
Only a handful Of the pictures
ever have been exhibited publicly
before. Most of them came from
private homes in New England,
Pennsylvania, Maryland and the
South. In some cases the owners
considered them heirlooms of
specific family value and were
reluctant to part with them until
they were assured that eventu-
ally they would be conveyed to
the National Gallery.
Picture Puzzles.
Mr.. Finley and Col. and Mrs.
GarbiSch hope that exhibiting
the first portion Of the collection
may lead to discovery of impor-
tant historical facts regarding
the individual pictures. For ex-
ample, they would like to know
whether a painting entitled "The
Plantation" by an unknown
artist, was meant to represent
George Washington's home,
Mount Vernon. It depicts a
mansion of three stories and
tower, surrounded by nine minor
buildings, and shows "a three
masted ship in the foreground
with a mill on a convenient creek
flowing into the river upon which
the ship is riding. Did Mount
New York State, New Jersey,
Similarly, the showing of
portrait of an Indian chief wear
ing headdress of feathers and
a necklace of beads with an in
verted crescent of silver may
bring out the name of the artist
as we'll as that of the Indian.
Many of the canvaSes are SYM
bols of family affection. One fea-
lures a man whose name appar-
emily was Abraham Clark with
his six children, including a
little boy holding a pet chicken.
Another. by lost artist. shows
the family Of Samuel Green Sar-
gent of Charlestown. Mass. in
Guiding his wife. Martha Hills.
their daughters, Martha, Maria
and Eliza, and son Samuel. The
household dog has been intro
duced into the composition in a
manner suggesting that he was
appreciated, and there are two
bird cages on the back wall,
each containing a bird.
Among the few pictures whose
painters definitely are known
are: Portrait of a Lady" wear
ing an ornamental cape ard a
heavy cap of silk. by Erastus S.
Field Q805-1900); Portrait of
Man with VIAL" by the same
artist; Vermont Lawyer" by H
Bundy (active between 1887 and
1880: and Little Girl in Laven-
DER" by j. Bradley.
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