Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-06-02
BY FRANK GETLEIN
Star Art Critic

Howard University will give
Washington a major step
forward in art on Thursday,
with the dedication Of the
Irving Gumbel Print Room.
The new room is named for
the collection Of fine prints
just given to the university
by Mrs. Gumbel in memory
Of her husband.
The Gumbel collection is
one Of two important acqui-
sitions in the field Of prints.
Miss Agnes Delano, who
died in Paris this spring, has
bequeathed her substantial
collection Of Autographs to
Howard also. Miss Delano, a
distant relative Of President
Franklin Roosevelt, was "A
when she died and had for
many years been well known
on the Washington art scene.
She was q volunteer decent
at the National Gallery of
Art and from time to time
led tours of Washingtonians
through the ert museums
and monuments Of Europe.
Miss Delano taught art his
tory at Howard in the Col
leges Of Fine Arts and Reli-
gion. Few details are known
about her collection, but 1t IL
certain to be q great addi-
ton to prints available to the
public in Washington.
New Availability
Meanwhile, the Gumbel
Collection, consisting Of $40
prints by So artists, makes
available to students and
print lovers a whole strain
Of printmaking not regularly
encountered in public ex-
hibition
The collection has its share
Of the great names. There
are, for example, eight prints
by Durer, rs by Goltzius,
seven by Lucas van Leyden,
and individual examples or
pairs by Rembrandt. HOPPER,
Metsys, Cranach, Claude and
Teniers. But within this pa
rade Of the masters are in
cluded several substantial
groups Of work by men who
are not recognized as top
artists but who nevertheless
contributed enormously TO
the development Of print
making in Europe.
= Reproductive Artists
These are the so-called re-
productive artists, men who
made prints - etchings, en-
cravings, later mezzotints--
latter" paintings BY the
masters. In the search to APP
proximate the textural and
tonal effects Of paint In black
and white prints, these art
lists greatly enlarged the TECH
niques available to printmen
ever since.
Prominent among the re-
productive artists on view At
Howard are the Italian Raj
mondi and the German Wen
ceslaus Hollar. OF very spe-
cial interest are two prints,
one a Nativity by Durer, ore
a copy of the Durer BY Raj
mondi. The Italian copied the
original with complete fidel-
ity, down to including Durer's
famous initiated signature.
on his trip to Italy Durer
tried to enlist the assistance
Of the Venetian council 10
stop what he regarded as pi-
racy Of his designs.
In Comparison
OF more interest than an
early movement toward q
copyright law, however, Is the
comparison between the two
prints, identical In subject
and composition but unmis-
takeably different In feeling,
The Durer woodcut, the Raj
tnondi an engraving and de-
spite the Italians extram Q
skin, the difference ID there,
Hollar was recently seen IN
Washington at the great ex-
hihition Of Drawings from
Chatsworth, the collection Of
the Dukes Of DevonEhire. Hol-
lar worked for the Deyonshire
collection and made numer-
Gus print copies Of paintings,
Included in the Gumbei coll
lection are A Hollars, inelud-
ing prints designed after
works by Rembrandt. Holhein
and Correggio.
The Irving Gumbel Print
Room is In the main building
Of the College Of Fine Arts,
qgerlooking the Howard
dainpus. In addition 10 regu-
lar use by students and schol-
drs. the newly acquired prints
WI provide q permanent, re-
volting exhibition In one Of
the rooms Of the university
gallery.
Buder's
The new show at the Bader