Evening star., 1955-03-13
Artists and Exhibitions

the COrcOran GalIeEy Oh ATt
has been holding its Biennial
Exhibition of Contemporary
American Oil Painting. The
oath in the series, which will
open to the public this after
noon, is the smallest and, to
me, the least rewarding of the
last IL, all Of which I have
seen.
In view of the eminence Of
the jurors, all directors Of
leading museums. this is sur
prising. Andrew c. Ritchie Of
New York's Museum of Modern
Art; James s. Plaut of Bos-
toms Institute of Contempt
rary Art; Philip r. Adams of
Cincinnati's Museum of Art.
and lex officio) Hermann w.
Williams, jr., the Corcoran's
director. know (or ought to
know good painting to an ex-
tent that few people can
match.
In q Nutshell
Perhaps these ga paintings
really were the best they could
select from 2,101 submitted.
But although I saw none of
the reflections, I find it difficult
to believe. They must have
judged the works from a
strictly circumscribed view
point: The avant-garde view
point which, one understands,
is that contemporary painting
must be fresh, original, crea-
tive, breaking new trails, re-
flecting here-and-now atti-
tudes, ETC., and in addition,
technically well executed: the
oretically. a noble viewpoint.
But there is much disagree
ment about good technique to-
day. Furthermore, freshness
by itself will soon become
staleness. AS for originality, if
it is desirable merely to see
something that has never been
seen before, a Metropolitan
Museum curator some years
ago suggested that one crack
open a nut shell and gaze at
its contents.
Rejoicing last autumn over
the Corcoran's announcement
that this year, for the first
time, no entries would be in
vited, that the oath biennial
would be 100 per cent open,
was premature. Artists had no
better chance for this show, as
it turned out, than they did
under the former method.
A FIeetins Glimpse
The Stars short but revela-
tory account of the judging
published in the news col
umns February 27, page A-2D
gave the impression that some
paintings passed before the
jury with the speed of jet
planes and vanished into limbo
almost before anyone had
voted on them" Could this &C
count in part. for the accept
ance of only one out of approx
imately every 80 entries? Ger
tainly no one can claim that
proportion of present-day
paintings will be considered
masterpieces in the future. But
surely more than one in 33
works, whose creators consid-
cred them worth the trouble
and expense of submitting,
should prove worthy of being
included in a contemporary
show.
The gath biennial's cata-
logue also suggests a conviction
that youth must be served. 1t
it's significant that three of the
prize-winning artists are men
in their early 30S. A few
years ago they were just begin
ming to show in New York gall
leries, were being hailed or de-
scribed as new talents" A
large proportion of the other
accepted artists must be fairly
young, or at least newcomers
: to painting. We who read ma
tional art publications regular
ly subconsciously register
names which appear frequently
in exhibitions. Not more than
half the names in the cata-
logue "rang a bell" in my men,
ory. And the familiar names
included the Washington area
painters.
DisiIIusionment on Convos
I suppose this show is CON
temporary" in rejecting our
disorganized. confused, disillu-
stoned world. cynical about
hope and optimism, so that
many people embrace the ten
tative, the improvised, the
quick result. Impatient with
study and practice, they desire
to complete something without
a long apprenticeship spent
in acquiring technical skill and
striving for excellence.
Encouraging this quick and
easy road to achievement is
an attitude among the "ad-
vanced" esthetes today that
seems to be q cult Of technical
sloppiness. Larry Rivers third
prize winning $4,000 Sell
Figure" is a case in point. This
near-life-size figure with what
appears to the layman as q
trial-and-error head at the
right. sketches Of hands and q
foot, and smears of paint
throughout the canvas, looks
like a sketch for a mural. The
figure has the beginnings oi
sculpturesque form. But II Q
phalanx Of triple-doms au.