The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 35

15 The Academy and: American Institute Exhibitions Apotheosize the Academic Spirit BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE, NEW YORK, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1930. snoiry at wix ter academy Modern Industrial Art The Academic Spirit Stage Designs at Brooklyn Museum By HELEN APPLETON READ Winter Academy Confines Exrfbition to Members' Work American Institute of Arts and Letters Inaugurates New Galleries by Exhibiting -w i worK 01 living MemDers Federation of Arts Presents International Exhibition of Contemporary Metalwork and Cotton Textiles at Metropolitan Museum COTTON Textiles and Metalwork are the subjects of the third and, we regret to add, the last of the International Exhibitions of Contemporary Industrial Art assembled by Miss Helen Plumb under the auspices of the American Federation of Arts. The exhibition opens at the Metropolitan Museum tomorrow and will remain on view until Dec. 28. It comes from the Boston Museum and after its close at the Metropolitan will be shown In museums throughout the country.

That so Important a project "memorable adventure," it is described I T1SITS to the current Winter Academy at the Fine Arts Building 00 57111 st" and to the exnlbitlon of painting and sculpture by living members of the American Institute of Arts and Letters at Broadway and 155th St, satisfactorily and graphically clears up Just what that somewhat ambiguous and controversial term "academic" means. The Academy deviates from its usual practice of admitting works through a Jury of admission and shows only the work of A. N. and associates. The American Institute exhibition Inaugurates the new gallery by showing the work of its potential immortals.

The Institute and the National Academy are related only through point of view and the fact that membership in the National Academy is frequently a stepping stone to an election in the American pantheon. Each exhibition Is an apotheosis of what the term academic has come to mean. Academy exhibitions have been Increasingly criticized as being neither fish, flesh nor good red herring because they were neither entirely representative of the acadmic point of view or a liberal cross section of the best tendencies In contemporary painting. Until the present exhibition It has been Impossible to form an estimate of the status of the In the Federation-! foreword should be cut short after so brilllsnt a beginning and when It was Just commencing to make Itself felt In this country, where an Intelligent demonstration of the modern spirit is sorely needed. Is difficult to explain.

A ray of light, however, is to bo found further along tn the preface, to the effect "that the Federation hopes to do further work In the Held of Industrial art." It would Indeed be extremely unfortunate If this most Yital of the Federation's recent activities should be abruptly discontinued and its effort concentrated again on the dissemination of not very significant fine arts exhibitions. The exhibition affords an authorl- tatlve cross-section of what Euro-1 ornamental borders Is such at to afford a continual temptation to KL what the moderns are trying to. do. Their work has been enriched by (heir inquiries. Or perhaps it is because an inquiring spirit necessarily prevents intellectual atrophy and must always produce fresher and more vital work that that which is created by a point of view hedged to by complacent prejudice.

To still further elucidate the point I am trying to make, If the visitor wishes to see a superlative example of the academic spirit "plus" by a living painter, he should visit the Grand Central Prize Contest Exhibition and go directly to Dimitrl. Romanovsky's nude. The most rigorous of academic draftsmanship fit tif' i'-h 'f i --V I academic school as It stands today. This has resulted in a tendency to stand up for the Academy. After all, if the best 01 tnem couia De persuaded to show together, they could put up a pretty handsome show, has been the opinion of the broad and generously minded.

With present exhibitions there can be no further doubt as to the quality of the Academic spirit in America today. Passing through the galleries of the Fine Arts Building the -visitor has the curious sensation of walking back into time. One expects to tee ladies with pompadours and face veils and men with Prince Alberts and high collars. And it is not because many of the pictures were painted two or more decades ago that accounts for this age-of-innocence quality. These at least were of the period, a reflection of a prevailing point of view nd as such have personality and vitality.

The fact that the spirit of the more recent canvases has nothing to do with today accounts for their absence of vitality and makes them so definitely old hat. Works' of art are sensitive mirrors of the Zeitgeist; sometimes they are prophets. But the academicians have for the most part continued concerning themselves with the externals of a tradition whose most important requirement was a photographic verisimilitude to nature. Observance of the letter and not the spirit is what is the matter with academic art today. It is no doubt true that the great figures of the past could all pass academic entrance tests as, for that matter, could the majority of the foremost moderns.

The writer holds no brief for slipshod craftsmanship masquerading under the guise of modern. But the quality that makes a picture alive Is craftsmanship- plus. It is the "plus" that makes present-day connoisseurs come back to Ingres and the classic figures of Corot. The paintings and sculpture in the two exhibitions under consideration are conspicuously lacking in this "plus" quality. The subject matter, pretty girls, figure compositions, landscapes and portraits, are painted more with an eye to competent picture making than to solving a problem In color and form or setting down an emotional reaction.

We require something more of pictures today than that they shall be attractive deoora-tlons In other words, so much fur-'niture. As Matisse has 'said, "By mechanical means an image Is now fixed on a photographic plate in a few seconds, an Image more precise end exact than it is humanly possible to. draw. And so with the advent of photography disappeared the necessity for exact reproduction in art," 'The stand-pat attitude of the average academician of not inquir ing into the esthetic problems that have been advanced In the last twenty years presupposes a com placent point of view. There have been academicians who have at least made the effort to understand Seven sketches in color by An-toon van who is recognized as one of the prominent members of the'' contemporary Dutch conservative school, comprise notable feature -of the exhibition of costume and stage designs for the 1930-31 season of the Little Theater Opera Company which opens to the public at the Brooklyn Museum on Dec.

6 to continue tor a month. Three sketches, which serve in part to announce a project which the board of directors of the Lit tle Theater Opera Company pro poses to carry out within the next few years, are for the mural and foyer decorations of an opera house. devoted to opera comlque, archi tects' drawings for this opera house were completed last spring by Mor tis tc O'Connell of New York City, and also will be on exhibition. Mr. van Welie, who recently com pleted mural designs for the conference room In the Peace Palace at The Hague, has executed sketches tor the main ceiling mural and for three of the 20 separate murals which will decorate the walls on the entrance and box levels of the opera house.

The 20 panels will be devoted to on allegorical interpretation of musical terms, suggesting in color and subject the lighter, romantic music of the opera comique classical In the foer Mr. van Welie plans to have a portrait gallery of Amer ican musicians and artists who have achieved fame. The sketch of the gallery and two units for it, sketches of Isadora Duncan and Geraldine Farrar, complete his con tribution to the exhibition. Tht LittU Knaths, Leon Kroll, Sidney Lauf-man, George Benjamin Luks. Henry Lee McFee, Boardman Robinson, Henry SchnaUenbtrg, Charles Shee-ler.

Nilcs Spenser, Mark Tobey, Vincent August Tack. Sculptors: Alexander Calder, Hunt Dlede'rich, Anna Glenny, Gaston Lachaise, Robert Laurent, Dudley Vail Talcott, William Zorach. The House of William Edwin Rudge, Is exhibiting a collection of books at the Art Center, 65 E. 56th New York City, produced during the" past few years which are selected as examples of typographic art and which shows it! 'ttaXti by KufWon, mimmmi Vi k(f 'g -p i their repeated use in the produc tion of new pieces for which they may not be wholly suitable. This places a severe penalty on the crea tion of unique designs nd results In much repetition of stereotyped motives.

Furthermore, no branch of applied art has so thoroughly failed to grasp the esthetic qualities becoming to the machine production as commercial silver. One does not object to the multiplication of objects such as sliver forks and spoons devoid of ornament but designed with a sensitive feeling for proportion, outline and function. Cotton textiles offer a far greater scope for a personal expression of the modern feeling than the necessarily functionalists limitation of metal ware. In this field American designers have made important contributions, notably Ruth Reeves, who was commissioned by W. J.

Sloane to design decorative and upholstery textiles for a ten-room house. The material varies from airplane cloth to toweling. The motives have been inspired by contemporary life, but In no case has Miss Reeves allowed the pictorial element to override the decorative. They are definitely modern In feeling, but with a mod-ernnesa that has been given a very personal interpretation. Other American designers waose work calls for special mention are Henrietta Relss and Vally Wiestltheir.

The majority of Americans do not share the European admiration, and more especially the Central European and Scandinavian admiration, for woven decorative fabrics. In Germany and Sweden It has become almost a cult, quality apparently In their eyes emanating from the fact of Its being hand woven and Irrespective of the fact that the essential elements In decoration, color and design are frequently lost sight of. But it Is typical of one important branch of Eu-opean textile design, and as such must be Included In any representative cross section. The textures and weaves are so handsome that It Is a pity some one with a more vivid point of view doesn't style for them. In France Mmc.

Helen Henry, for example, specialises in woven fabrics, but she never makes the mistake of allowing weave and texture to play a more important role than color and design. Oerman printed cotton textiles, on the other hand, are livelier and more attractive on the whole than those produced in France. Special mention should be given In this instance to Maria Mays' designs executed by the Relnmann School Workshops In Berlin and Breu-haus' designs executed bv the Verelnlgte Werkstatt. In France Jean Lurcst and 6onla Delaunr have designed delightful printed fabrics. England Is doing Interesting work, but It lacks the gayety and contemporaneity of the French and Oerman.

It Is Important to the fact, which a close study of the catalogue reveals, that the close connection between the Industrial art school and trade In Germany Is largely responsible for the high standard of designs to be found In factory production. It Is the most Important message that the exhibition leaves with the Amerlran public, consumer, designer and manu-facturer. THE GUELPH TREASURE EXHIBITION NlnaWf Sotk I Dmnkr Mtk COLDSCHMIDT CALLERIES KEINHARDT GALLERIES FIFTH t. KIPPS LTD. GALLERIES FULLER BUILDING 57th Si.

and MJion N. Y. EXHIBITION WATER COLORS By FREDERIC SOLDWEDEL pean and American craftsmen are accomplishing in contemporary de sign In these two mediums. England, France, Germany, Holland. Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Denmark and the United States are represented.

Although there are necessarily many Interesting examples of hand craftsmanship Included, the effort has been to concentrate on good design lor quantity production. These three Industrial art exhibitions conclusively prove that an esthetic quality of the machine age, a definite style, has been evolved. There can no longer be any question but that Its quality depends on functional requirements and the sup pression of ornament. Its beauty and distinction are dependent upon the animating quality which only the creative designer can bestow, The development of contemporary style, or rather its applicability to mass production, depends upon the co-operation between designer and manufacturer. That notable achievements have already been accomplished in Europe the exhibition demonstrates: that American production is far inferior to European is also evident.

Hence the importance of continuing activities in the industrial art field. To digress for moment into the dangerous but alluring field of philosophical deductions. Those who believe that esthetic movements have a deeper significance than what appears to the eye; that they are closely related to fundamental social changes, will find that the modern movement reflects a definite? social and economic philosophy as well as serving the obvious purpose of producing attractive and salable The intelligent application of modern design to the machine for which it Is designed results not only In better designs available, to all classes but, properly understood, It brings the machine back to Its original purpose, which Is the conservation of time and greater leisure for the worker. Modem industrial art exhibitions must always remind one, If paradoxically so, of William Morris and the panacea which he so fervently prescribed for the evils of the industrial age. Only by a return to the handicrafts could salvation be effected, was his belief.

Today the Industrial arts are increasingly seen In relation to social and economic problems, whose solution, however. Is In the machine, which created these evils. In the present exhibition metal ware offers a more striking example of what is being accomplished in modern design than that afforded by the textile section. In Germany and Sweden the effort Is to design so-called type forms for quantity production, their slogan being more beautiful things for everyday use. In France the foremost designers, while their forms are an expression of machine age Idlology, are nevertheless luxury products.

Pulf or cat's sliver services, for example, are beyond the means of the majority of people, and he is the outstanding silversmith In France. But because of their tasteful solution of the functionalists problem they can serve as Inspiration for forms that must be sold at more moderate prices and destined for more utilitarian purposes. In America commercial silver still suffers from the manufacturers' attitude toward quantity production. To quote from Dr. Rlchsrds' Introduction: "The expense of steel cut dies for details like handles, spouts Paintings Maxime Maufra Dec.

2 to Dec. 2) Durand-Ruel 12 East 57th St. BARBIZON PLAZA ART CALLER I ES 101 WEST 58th STREET, N. PAINTINGS by MICHEL JACOBS DllfCTOl. MET ART SCHOOL AND PUPILS OF EUROPEAN-AFRICAN PAINTING TOUR FIOM ofCIMIfl lit THIU 14th OfCN IVtNINCS AN0 SurtDATS National NIlW Academy Design SPECIAL EXHIBITION 'Spirit of the Air by Laura Car din Frastr, V.

A Pierre Roy Is A Magic Realist The most fascinating exhibition of the season, and banning in the sense that It is difficult to analyze its appeal and quality, Is the collection of paintings by Pierre Roy now on view at the Brummcr Galleries. Mr. Brummer again scores as a connoisseur, whose selection follows his infallible taste and not the dictates of Paris dealers. The artist has never exhibited before. His work is known only to his friends, who are his patrons.

With the meticulous craftsmanship of draftsman of scientific subjects he unites such unrelated objects aa birds' eggs and shells, ribbons and tools and by their juxtaposition creates a symbolism that suggests occult or metaphysical meaning. In incompletely understood they are the more imagination stirring Thees canvases have a certain relation to Gertrude Stein's poetry, In that their combination of unrelated natural objects creates an Impression of unreality Just as hef combination of words used Irrespective of their function of expressing Ideas creates an atmosphere. Waldemar George, the well-known French critic, writes a foreword to the catalogue. Apparently Isolating Pierre Roy's quality and expressing it in words has been equally difficult for him. The most Important function of the critic In this case, It would seem, is to exhort his reader not to miss thli exhibition.

M. George, however, makes the fallowing observations on art and the artist on questions which are important In their applicability to current tendencies in art. "A creator may be considered as a mysterious force that gives body to a current tendency of the time, of the civiliza tion. It is a mistake to attribute to hlin an esthetic and intellectual program. The work of Pierre Roy reveals to us before all a mental attitude which Ignores the painters of our generation.

This attitude brings to birth between man and the universe occult relations. The universe has ceased to exist as an exclusively physical mass." Isn't this saying In esthetic terms what Professor Albert Einstein recently said about science, that "it is illogical to rely entirely upon the material senses and their reactions in building a theory of the physical and material universe." Isn't this what Picasso is trying to do In his latest sur realist phase? The artist Is again serving In his capacity as prophet and sensitive mirror of the Zeitgeist. RECENT PAINTINGS HORSES SPORTING EVENTS A. J.MUNNINGS R. A.

mow cwrrtnt HOWARD YOUNG GALLERIES 634 Fifth Avenue, New York TUCKER At the Galleries of FRANK K.M.REHN MJ FIFTH kri. Us ft Mil J. NtW YORK CtTT 4 RJ by Lillian Hate, the Smlthsonia and aquatone processes. Some of the outstanding volumes include "North American WildRowers," a book on the works of Gilbert Stuart: "Taking One's Yacht Around the World." ty W. J.

Vanderbilt, and "The Adventures of an Illustrator," by Joseph Pennell. These have tooled leather bindings. The work will be on view in the lower staircase gallery Dec. 1 to 13, inclusive. An exhibition of rare reproductions of selected masterpieces of antique stained glass will be shown at the Art Center, 65 E.

ihown mi Krmuthamr GmtUriti. mmmmmrmmmmmnm 1 A i 3 -m i I are met in this astonishingly realistic canvas, but with an Interpretive, personal point of view that gives it vitality and the Illusive quality of style. The impression or another period Is emphasized in the ease of the Academy exhibition by the redecorating of the galleries. Not the Impersonal, cool backgrounds preferred by experts for showing mod ern pictures but a stippled gold and brown burlap and in the place of honor usually reserved for the exhibition's most striking picture, a hand-blocked gold and brown tex tile. The effect is reminiscent of trie atmosphere that prevailed in the 51 W.

10th St. and Holbein Studio days. In all fairness to both exhibi tions they are beautifully hung and the craftsmanship displayed In the exhibits is of, a uniformly high standard. In the Institute exhibition Gif ford Beal and John Sloan stand out like beacon lights. The latter is a -curious inclusion In' such academic surroundings, dedicated as he is to the championship of the independent cause.

In the Academy William Glack ens contributes a vital note. Other canvases which stood out above the general level of accomplished impersonality were by Cecelia Beaux, John Costigan, Ellen Emmet Rand. Charles Hopkinson, Frederick Frieseke, Lillian West-cott Hale, Ernest Lawson and Leon Kroll. The Academy room generally' designated as the morgue, displays on this occasion greater vitality and up-to-dateness than all of the other galleries put together. It is given over to prints, and much of its distinction is undoubtedly due to the Judicious, supervision exercised by John Taylor Arms.

Several academicians not generally known for their black and white work, show themselves as accomplished masters of print mediums and, what is more, seem to find a zest in this work that Is lacking in their painting. Specially noted in this instance were Daniel Garber, Wayman Adams, John Costigan, Louis Mora, and Carl Rungius. Further Interest Is addd by representative groups of such eminent print makers as Childe Hassam, Chauncey Ryder, John Taylor Arms, Allen Lewis, Oifford Beal and Eugene Hlgglns. An exhibition of contemporary American painters and sculptors will follow the Corot-Daumler exhibition at the Museum. The opening to members will be on Dee.

3, and to the public on Dec. 4. The exhibition will remain until Jan, 20. The exhibition will Include' the work of 30 painters and seven sculptors, none of whom have been shown In previous exhibitions at the Museum, neither in the Nineteen Living Americans of last December nor in the exhibition of Forty-Six Artists under 35 of last April. While the present exhibition Is in a sense supplementary' to these previous exhibitions, It is believed that It may even surpass them In variety and interest.

The Importance of American sculpture Is especially emphasized. Most of the artists were selected' by a committee made up of five of the trustees and the two directors: A. Conger Goodyear, president of the Museum, Miss L. P. Bliss, vice president, Mr.

Samuel A. Lewlsohn, secretary, and Stephen O. Clark. Alfred K. Barr director, and Mr.

Jere Abbott, associate director. Mrs. John D. Rockefeller Jr. could not serve on the committee since she has not yet returned from Europe.

The majority of the artists are familiar to the New York public but a few, it Is' believed, are practically unknown and should arouse surprise and controversy. The painters to be shown are: Oifford Beal, Guy Pene du Bois, Paul Burlln, Vincent Canade, Arthur Carles, James Chapln, Cllvette, Andrew Dasburg, Stuart Davis. Paul Dougherty, Arthur O. Dove, Ernest Fiene. Arnold rrledman, William Blackens, Marsden Hartley.

Childe Hassam. John Kane, Morris Kan-tor, Benjamin Kopman, Carl News of Qalleries and Museums A. N. A. Dec.

1 to 13. inclusive. Thin, for the time, affords the public to see in America reproductions of the fine windows of European cathedrals, The collection will show chronologically the development and technique of the earliest examples of stained glass as It was produced from the middle of the Eleventh Century through the height of Its development to the beginning of the Seventeenth Century. It contains examples ef the windows fn the cathedrals of Chartres, St. Chanelle, Bourges, Cologne, Ulm, Nuremburg.

Canterbury, etc. For the purpose of comparison, some original pieces have been assembled to Illustrate the colors used In the times in which they were made. These windows represent the achievement of the life study of Osrar Zettler of the Zcttler Studios of Newark, who Is recognized as one of the foremost artists of the world in the stained glass Industry. The collection has received the enthusiastic Indorsement of Ralph A. Cram, a well-known architect In Boston, as well as other authorities here and abroad.

An exhibition of palntlnes and sculpture by Ruth Jonas will open at the Kranshaar Galleries, 660 5th on Wednesday, Dec. 3. The Montrosa Galleries, 785 5th announces an exhibition ol paintings by Rubin. The Barblzon Plaza Art Galleries announces exhibition of palntlnes by Mlche Jacobs and his pupils of the 1930 European-African painting tour. The exhibition will remain on view through Dec.

H. Portraits by Bernlce Abbott fthe medium photocraphy), and among them such well-known artists and writers as James Joyes. Jean Cocteu and the Princess Murat, are on view at the Wevhe Gallery during the time that the famous Atget collection of photographs Is on view. Neither should be missed. Black R'ar and Krort Gnrtawn an- nounre that Hldalro.

tbes well- known Mexican sculptor of flg- i ures. has modeled the three Magi kmc which will be used a window i dlspla, I The group of landscapes by Allen Tucker now, on view at the Rchn Galleries, are further evidence of his Intensely emotional and personal vision of the American scene. They demonstrate again hla ability to Invest familiar and ordinary aspects of nature with a lyric, and If lyric and epic are not mutually exclusive, then they have an epic quality as well. This is accomplished without dramatization or any intentional exaggeration of pictorial content. A field of corn, winding road, a lonely house on hill, a thunder storm are simply and honestly stated, yet suggestive of something universal.

There Is much to be said about Mr. Tucker's design, his rich surfaces and distinguished color. All of these are technical aspects and, as such, are subsidiary to hi essential quality, which, as was suggested before. Is hla Intimate revelatory Interpreta- tion of nature. i A one-man show by William Patty, a Brooklyn artist and frequent exhibitor on Brooklyn group shows, is now on view at the Fifteen Gallery.

The majority of the canvasses have not been shown before, and demonstrate an always widening range of subject matter and an increasing flexibility of technique. He still paints those charming Intimate aspects of the American countryside, but adds to them such unusual subjects as "Lime Quarry" and Sand Dunes." The unrelieved grey white color of these subjects presents an interesting problem in values, of which the artist has made convincing solution. A view of Manhattan from a Brooklyn apartment house, the arches of what is apparently a roof aarden serving as frame for the distant skyline is another striking aid 4inusuJ compoaiUoa. EXHIBITIONS BY POWER 0'MALLEY CHA5. M.

COX of Bo.toa titHiNc roaraAiTs DIANA THORNE Iter. Ml i nk MILCH Galleries 10S Wt.t 7th Y. OF MEMBERS' WORK SIS WHI Kit mi DMit.i rug.