Evening star., 1962-12-30

Thursday.
be one vast and endless din
ner party totally engulfing
the exhibition of Franz Kline.
Some future historian will
probably conclude that Kline
was chosen for the opener
because his dominant colors,
black and white, are also
those of mems wear at din
ner parties.
The Mona Lisa Party
The Mona Lisa dinner
party complex will be the
most impressive ever because
it weighs virtually the en-
tire eating potential of the
Government of the United
States against one single,
medium sized painting.
1t will be interesting to
see how Leonardo da Vinci
comes out of it. Those max
ing book on the contest
should bear in mind that
Leonardo once earned part
of his keep by creating en-
belliShments for dinner par
ties. On the other hand, DR..
Freud, an old Leonardo COM
mentator, is apocryphally
credited with the dictum:
When you meet an artist
who really enjoys dinner par
ties, you've got yourself a
liar"
Counter Movements
Like every groundswell
movement in culture, Art AS
Dinner Parties is accom-
panied by counter-move-
ments. In Washington the
counter-movement is led by
the Phillips Collection, which
has never had a dinner party
in its institutional existence,
which has troops of friends,
all lower case, and which con-
centrates on getting the
paintings and sculpture seen
by the people who want to
see them. The Phillips opens
its 1868 year next Thursday
with a travelling show from
the American Federation of
Arts: Fabrics International"
The exhibition, one of the
relatively few craft shows at
the Phillips, splits its SO ex-
ampleS between the United
States and the rest of the
world to explore what's going
on in today's textiles.
Later in the winter-spring
season, the Phillips will pre-
sent major one-man shows Of
work by the Swiss sculptor
and painter, Giacometti, and
by the French painter, Man
essier. Both names are what
art historians call hot prop
critics" In the strange jargon
of their trade. Yet the Phil
lips, typically, isn't even hav-
ing elevenses on these occa-
sions, let alone tea let alone
cocktails, let alone dinner.
The idea at the Collection is
to put the material on the
walls and let the people
come and look at 1t.
New Shows Coming
The National Gallery itself
has a strong counter-move-
ment headquarters located
within its marbled halls in
the Lessing j. Rosenwald col
lection of prints and draw
ings. This, too, will be mani
Testing itself strongly in the
weeks ahead. The Mona Lisa,
according to present schedul-
ing, will barely have cleared
out before the Rosenwald
Collection opens a definitive
exhibition Of the prints and
drawings of Jacques Callot.
This large show of mostly
small prints will reveal the
sources OF a number of things
in European visual art. most
obviously, perhaps. the view
Of war as a ghastly expe-
rience rather than an affair
Of glory. Callot's "Miseries OF
War" presents a cold-eyed
view OF death and destruc-
ton that was later taken
up In Goya's Disasters Of
War" and, In modern times,
In print series by Rouault
and Kaethe Kollwitz.
Other exhibitions scheduled
In the immediate future here
could go either way as re-
CARDS dinner parties and
therefore will probably 90
both.
The Washington Gallery OF
Modern Art, the leading ex-
ponent OF Art as Dinner
Parties until the Mona Lisa.
has shows scheduled for the
sculptor Reuben Nakian and,
later In the spring In collabo-
ration with the Museum OF
Modern Art, New York, for
the late painter. Arshile Cor
ky. In between the two is
listed a travelling exhibition
from the American Fedora
ton Of Art, "Lyricism In
Abstract Art