Evening star., 1963-01-20

the cost of countless hours
of unpaid drudgery.
sculpture, weathered through
the centuries, mutilated bod
les and stone that is also
flesh. A tremendous achieve
ment.
The third Juror, Ben Shahn,
is also represented by a ma
jor work, one of the large
paintings from his series of
a year or so ago, Lucky
Dragon" named for the Jap
anese fishing boat that
drifted into the radiation
area of early Pacific H-bomb
tests. The man holds his
sign like crippled beggers
through the centuries. Among
many other things, we are
aware that intelligence and
compassion have still a place
in art, despite recent reports
to the contrary.
Pieta
There is a glowing Abra-
ham Rather "Pieta." in
which the thick cubes of color
burn with intensity and pur-
pose: The dead Christ,
slumped to the ground, has
turned to flame, as such a
figure might in sunset-lighted
medieval glass.
Pictures can be good with
out being on the high plane
of exaltation shared, in diff
ferent ways, by the Lebrun,
the Shahn, the Rather and
the Hopper. OF the 149 paint
ingS in the show there are
several dozen that qualify.
Richard Florsheim's Just
Before Night" is a first rate
example of his total compe-
tence with a theme he has
been preoccupied with for
years: lighted urban towers,
wholly distracted, looming
against darkening sky and
reflected in the waters of the
Hudson or Lake Michigan.
Cape Cod Fall" by Xavier
Gonzalez, is a small picture,
easily missed as you turn a
a corner, but it is worth look
ing for as well as at. The
skeleton of a wrecked ship
draws toward itself the COL
ored lights of a dying world.
Antonio Fransconi shows
one of the very few worth
while technical departures in
the exhibition. His Winter"
is two-thirds print, made
from the ends of sawed logs
and painted in, top and bot
tom, to set the time of year.
Robert Eshoo's Sun Dog
Cycle" gets all the delicate ef-
fects Of exotic paper collage
from plain old paint. Elias
Friedensohn let's a haunting
piece Of weathered, antique
sculpture emerge from coarse
paint which manages also to
be the rain Of centuries. For
beautiful abstract variations
OF light and color, executed
with taste and skill, there are
Cleve Gray's "Seleme" and
Larry Warshaw's Gross"
Landscapes
Two Of the loveliest land
scapes In a long time are
those by Jane Wilson and
Reuben Tam.
Washington artists in the
show more than hold their
own with the national level.
OF special interest are a still
life by Jack Perlmutter, two
beach figures by Robert
Gates, a mummy unearthed
by Mitchell Jameson and a
fine and fiery hardened cloth
by Alexander Russo.
Under the general heading
OF relatively unrecognized
young talent, paintings by
Robert Broderson and Tseng
Yu-Ho are among the very
best. Mr.. Broderson S
Dream" is an odd juxtaposi-
tion Of a child and a great
bird and sweeps you, like
flight, into the far distance.
Miss Tseng's Dance of the
Fishermen" is an Oriental
college OF extraordinary deli
cacy.
For the Foundation
The Ford Foundation has
started a three-year program
Of buying paintings out Of
national and regional exhibi-
tons. 1t has bought l6 from
the biennial, Of which six
have been given TO the Cor
coran. We should be espe-
cially grateful for two OF
these, a Jimmy Ernst and a
Gabor Peterdi.
The Peterdl is "Thicket"