Evening star., 1961-07-23

highly glazed in imitation
Of what were clearly thought
to be the natural colors of
pineappleS and other things
from the vegetable kingdom.
Selling at only q little more
than you'd pay for the same
kind of craft in the five-and-
ten, this gimcrockery prob
ably accounted for most Of
the individual sales, though
not necessarily for most of
the money taken in.
For it is q pleasure to re-
port there was actually some
good art along the boardwalk
at Virginia Beach, a Surpris-
ing amount Of it, considering
the overall tone established
by the penitential paintings.
While the show desperately
needed an admission jury, 1t
had. at any rate, a prize
jury Of professionals, Wash
ington artists Jack Perimut-
ter and Mitchell Jameson,
and Lincoln johnson Of
Baltimore.
Best In Show
Their unanimous choice for
the $500 Best-in-the-S Show
award was "Neptune's Table"
by Walter Thrift of both
Washington and Virginia
Beach. The four by six foot
abstraction is a cool arrange
ment of blocky shapes in
blues, green's and pale yellows.
The total effect is Of some
undersea grotto, hence, no
doubt, the name. Mr.. Thrift
is one of the very few painters
in the Washington area who
has technically mastered coll
lage, making it work for him
all the way, instead Of threat
ening to fall off the canvas
at any moment. He strength
ems his work with patches Of
burlap or applied canvas and
sometimes with sandy areas.
But this is never done, as
it too often is, for the mere
sake Of being up to date.
Such areas fit tightly into an
overall composition in which
shapes and contrasting tex
lures seemed locked in place
by centripetal force. Making
for unity and for extremely
pleasing visual effects is Mr..
Thrift'S use Of glazeS. This
traditional adjunct Of paint
ing is in general disfavor with
contemporary abstract paint
ers, both because it is tradi-
tional and because it takes
time and skill. Mr.. Thrift DEM
onstrates convincingly that
abstraction can only gain
from the knowledge and use
Of such time-tested tech
niques. In the prize-winning
painting, the transparent
and translucent glazes add
enormously both to the
lost-chambers- of-the-sea i'm
preston and to the purely
abstract structure Of the
painting.
BaltimOre-AnnapOlis Group
Perhaps the strongest re-
gional delegation on board
the boardwalk was from the
Baltimore Annapolis area.
John Sutton, of this group,
had a number Of serene paint
ings in which the subject, a
still life or a portrait, ap-
peared as if drawn in paint
on a glowing white ground.
Glenn Heaton paints a close
realism that is at its best in
large, non-emotive subjects.
Outstanding were a study Of a
corn crib with light and dark
spilling over the yellow ears
from the Stats, and a view of
chimneys in which the artist
has begun to get a bit away
from dead center realism, in
cooperating a bit Of physical
texture comparable to that Of
old brick. In the same general
approach was Robert Browne,
with one really good picture,
a standing nude.
Among Virginians. there
was extremely interesting
work by Virginia Adams.
Her large, blurred compost
tions of a small jazz band,
women drying their hair and
a portrait achieved the lyric
quality associated with the
West Coast new-realists,
Diebenkorn, Park and Bisch-