Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-08-04

more remote past. Negatively,
abstract expressionisrn has
rid us Of the excessive con-
centration on form and COM
position that prevailed ear
lier in our century. Positively,
abstract expressionism has
enabled us once more-for
we are by no means the first
to do SOTO take visual, tao
tile, kinetic and intellectual
pleasure In the actual phys
ical disposition Of the paint
upon its surface.
Fed up, then, with the ex-
travagant austerities Of alb
stract expressionism, we are
ready once more to allow
people in the paintings we
look at and even to have
them engaged in some kind
Of scene. Appreciative, how
ever, of the physical charms
Of paint itself in the abstract
expreSsioniSt manner, we are
still open to seduction from
that quarter.
Pictures With People
At just such a moment, re-
enter, with ruffles and flour
ishes, Adolphe Monticello. He
peoples his pictures with peo-
pie, dozens of them, some
times. But he does so with a
very free, very juicy, very at
tractive squirting Of paint.
He does not draw with lines
we are not quite ready for
that again. He is not an I'M
pressionist, yet light is as
overt q character in his
paintings as in Monet's. A
generation ago he was al
together too viscous and
physical in his paint. A dec
ade ago he was much too
humanistic with all those
people sprawling about. To-
day, like the porridge Of the
little bear, he is just right.
Freed, for the moment, from
the tyranny Of taste, we can
thoroughly enjoy Monticello.
And not only at the Cor
coran. The Phillips Collec-
ton has several, including a
very rich still life now on
view. At the National CAL
lery of Art is a major por-
trait, painted in 1869, of
Nine. Cahen. The portrait
shows the emergence of Mon
ticelli's mature use of color
combined with conventional
portraiture of a very high
order.
There is a curious picture
among those at the Cor
coran: THE Group in the
Fields" Two shawled peas
ant women stand against a
bank: the sky glows palely
above. the earth darkens be-
low but Is enriched with
cleaning lights along the
shadows. At one side sits O
male figure, covered with a
smock. drawing intently as
the women converse. It is
very tempting to think Of
the seated man as the artist,
here tipping US off to the
humble reality underlying
the summer dreams Of glory
that were his stock in trade.
A MogieoI Meadow
For these are Just about
the only peasants in the
Corcoran's Monticellis. This
is the least magical meadow
to be seen there and this,
too, the least luscious paint.
Not a realist. not an I'M
pressionist, Monticello was
not fully at ease with only
nature before him. He ami
mated nature with persons
from a tabled past. They
came from the outdoor fetes
of the 18th century often.
There are memories Of Frag-
onard and even Vatican.
The late summer, late after
noon feeling Of the 18th CEN
tury lives again. But with a
difference. The means are
so different as to create q
new life for these old cour-
tiers and courtesans playing
at elegant love in the open
air.
A man like Monticello, now
dead n years, has had time
TO be disparged on many
counts. Among them is his
alleged storytelling. 1t has
long been considered immoral
to tell stories in paint; you're
supposed TO compose music
in It, instead. for reasons
which escape some Of us.
But a few minutes with the
actual paintings refutes the
charge.
Consider the most impor-
tant Of the works on view
at the Corcoran, Don Quix-
ote at the Wedding Of Ca
macho." The knight OF
La Mancha. astride Rosinante
and lance aloft. appears from
the upper part, riding down
into a glen where the party
awaits. Men. women, horses
and dogs are arranged in q
loose arch. with the Knight
at the peak. The slanting
horizon Is open only behind
the rider: trees block II out