Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-19
ABSTRACT VS.. TRADITIONAL
Memorial Fans Art Feud
BY T. w. TIRANA
Star Staff Writer

The contemporary design of
the Franklin D. Roosevelt
Memorial has stirred an old
feud between the people who
are happy with public art in
Washington and modern-art
lovers who demand a change.
In the middle is the National
Fine Arts Commission, which
tends to take a conservative
view, and which next Wednes-
day must make a decision
whether to approve the me-
mortal winning design.
Whatever recommendation
the commission makes to Con-
greSs, the final decision will be
up to the House and Senate.
Some advocates of con-
temporary art contend the Fine
Arts Commission takes too con-
sentative a stand.
On the other hand, those
who object to abstract art and
the more extreme forms of
architecture defend the COM
mission and say its work
protects the community from
the "exhibitionistic tendencies
of prima donnas."
They explain that Washing
tons character as the Nations
Capital requires a certain re-
straint and that the commission
is fulfilling its function we'll.
But discussion goes on, and
a roundup of opinion yields
some sharp criticism.
Trend Of Deafness"
Charles M. Goodman, a
Washington architect, said
Washington is suffering from
"a trend of deadness" in its
public monuments. He blamed
Federal officials dealing with
the arts who believe that
creativity is unorthodox and
fear it.
II always thought America
was a dynamic society with a
revolutionary idea" he said.
Man expresses his aspira-
lions through art. That's where
our weakness is. The Govern
ment should encourage creativ-
Iity."
Robert Richman, director of
the Institute Of Contemporary
Art, said choices in public
sculpture have been made re-
Gently to conform to popular
taste, and not through aesthetic
Judgment. The great sculpture
being done now is non-repre-
Sensational, he said, and is not
to be found in Washington.
Mr.. Richmond said a dis
tinguished jury chose the slab
design from among some 500
entries. If it is rejected it
should be for aesthetic reasons,
he said. But if it is rejected
because of public pressure, he
added. 1.-THE cause of non-
representational sculpture will
be dealt a deadly blow"
Wolf Won Eckardt, architec-
tural author and critic, said,
Democracy is not going to the
lowest common denomination. In
all fields you need a leader.
You don't have a public refer
endum on the suit Mr.. John
H. Glenn wears into space"
Style Called Mawkish
He said the monuments put
up in Washington. up to and
including the jefferson Memo
rial, represent the past and are
good. but since then they have
become worse and worse. Now,
he said, they are little different
from the statuary used by
Benito Mussolini and Joseph
Stain essentially for propa-
ganda reasons.
Mr.. Won Eckardt described
the style he was speaking of as
"slick mawkishness." He said it
"relentlessly plays on the emo
lions of the citizens with every
thing but good taste"
William H. Calfee, a Wash
ington sculptor who does both
representational and non-rep-
reSentational work, chose as his
three favorite statues in Wash
ington those of Gen. Andrew
Jackson, in front of the White
House; Grief" a woman with
a shroud in Rock Creek Gene
terry, and Serenity" a woman
sitting on a chair in Meridian
Hill Park.
They are among the few
with a truly felt quality" he
said.
jackson Is essentially a
primitive piece" Mr.. Calfee