Evening star. [volume], October 15, 1939, Page F-5, Image 87

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
- Portrait by Titian, Supposed Lost for Centuries, Identified in Capital
- ,
Subject Is
Venetian
■ Sculptor
Corcoran Gallery’s
* Prize Attracting
New Attention
By Leila Mechlin.
Included In the W. A. Clark col
lection of the Corcoran Gallery of
Art is a portrait of a young man by
Titian. It is not a large canvas,
being only 31 inches high by 25
inches wide, and is merely entitled
•'Portrait in Black.” For some years
w It has hung in the round room at
the head of the main staircase, in
which are to be found other master
pieces in the Clark collection. Of
late it has attracted the attention
of certain outstanding scholars and
been identified as a likeness of a
young Venetian sculptor, listed
within a hundred years of Titian’s
death, as in a famous Italian noble
* man's private collection, but now
for several centuries supposed to be
Inst
Recently the Art News of New
York, edited by Dr. Aired Frankfur
ter, announced that documentary
Identification, complete as to subject
and date, had been made of this
portrait by Dr. W. Suida, author of
a definitive catalogue of Titian, in
the course of his first visit to Ameri
ca; and now. in the October number
of Art in America, an illustrated
' quarterly, edited by Frederic Faifield
Sherman, there appears a note by
Dr. Hans Tietze, world authority on
„Titian, verifying and enlarging upon
v his colleague's findings.
For some unknown reason, al
though this portrait has been on
view now for a long time, and the
name of the subject is clearly let
tered across the top of the canvas,
“Martinus Pasqua—Ligo Statuarius
—Venetus,” with, below, Titian's
signature, “Titianus,” it has never
been recognized by experts or in
cluded in the literature of Titian's
art. “No book on Titian, my own
«Included,” Dr. Tietze confesses,
"mentions the 'Portrait of a Youth’
In the W. A. Clark Collection in the
Corcoran Gallery of Art in Wash
ington, although it has been a fa
mous work from the beginning.”
Now. at last, it is receiving its due.
Among Art Wonders.
Carlo Ridolfi. the “official biogra
pher of Venetian painters," listed it
in “The Wonders of Art,” published
in Venice in 1648, and later in his
life, of Palma Giovane. by name,
and as hanging in the house of Bo
rotolo de Fino. There is now no
doubt that the portrait at the Cor
coran Gallery of Art is the original
and identical canvas, both because
of the inscription and its “stylistic
characteristics.”
me suDject, Maruno rasquaxigo—
"statue-maker"—had no great amount
of fame as a sculptor, and no known
examples of his work exist. He must
have done enough to make it seem
appropriate to Titian to give him the
appellation "Statuarius,” but the
Act is that his fame is chiefly de
rived from this portrait by one of
the greatest painters of all time.
Bom in Venice, he studied sculpture
under Leone Leoni in Milan. He is
supposed to have established himself
in Venice about 1544, shortly after
which time he must have sat for his
portrait to Titian. This supposition
is based on the youthful appearance
of the sitter and the fact that the
6tyle of the painting coincides with
other portraits by Titian of that
period. The brushwork is simple and
direct, but the style less grandiose
and imposing than in later days.
rAlso. with the exception of the glow
beneath the surface of the skin in
face and hands, the canvas is dull,
whereas we associate Titian with the
great colorists. Furthermore, there
is almost no other known portrait
by Titian which is inscribed.
Picture Still Vital.
As to the portrait itself, which had
been declared lost and now is found,
much can be said. It is as vital to
^fcay as when four centuries ago it
was painted. From out the canvas
the eyes of this callow youth, pos
sibly with his ambitions and self
confidence little hidden, look inquir
ingly, perhaps a little quizzically,
into those of the observer. The
mouth Is, if a trifle weak, well
formed and mobile. A somewhat
rumpled lace collar and narrow lace
edging around the cuffs lighted the
effect of the black velvet coat, which
Is, however, in excellent accord with
the hair and eyes. In short, here we
have an authentic interpretation of
personality made by one of the
greatest portraitists of all time—a
precious possession.
Bulletin of Current Exhibitions
THE CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART, Seventeenth street and
New York avenue N.W.—Permanent collection and recent acquisi
tions.
THE ARTS CLUB OF WASHINGTON, 2017 I street N.W.—
Annual .exhibition Landscape Club of Washington. October 8 to
^ November 3. I
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, NATURAL HISTORY
BUILDING, Constitution avenue at Tenth street N.W.—Etchings and
drypoints of New Orleans and Louisiana by Morris Henry Hobbs.
October 6 to 31.
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, ARTS AND INDUS
TRIES BUILDING, Ninth street and Independence avenue S.W.—
Pictorial photographs by Nicholas Muray. October 1 to 31.
, FREER GALLERY OF ART, the Mall at Twelfth street S.W.—
Permanent collections—Oriental art, paintings, drawings and prints
by James McNeill Whistler, the Peacock Room, and paintings tfy
* American artists.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, DIVISION OF FINE ARTS—Prints
by Whistler and related printmakers, from the Dumbarton Oaks
Collection. Additional prints by Whistler and Pennell purchased
from the Pennell Fund. Exhibition “Early Architecture of the Deep
South,” photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson.
5 T5YTTT T TDO 4T • T T T7T7\r 1 Cf\t\ *„» c—i vtr
—Special exhibitions. Recent paintings by C. Law Watkins and
paintings by alumni of Gallery School to November 5.
TEXTILE MUSEUM, 2330 S street N.W.—Rugs, tapestries and
textiles of Near and Far East. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays,
2 to 5 p.m. Admission by card obtainable at office at George Hewitt
Myers, 730 Fifteenth street N.W.
^ PUBLIC LIBRARY, Eighth and K streets N.W.—Water colors
by Nicolai Cikovsky. October 1 to 31.
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FINE ARTS GALLERY,
new building—Architectural exhibition. October 1 to November 30.
HOWARD UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY—Facsimile repro
ductions of works by Venetian painters. To October 20.
THE WHYTE GALLERY, 1707 H street N.W .—Water colors by
Byron Randall. October 8 to 31.
GEORGETOWN GALLERIES, 1419 Twenty-second street N.W.—
Oils and watercolors by Lee Atkyns. October 8 to 28.
CHALET NONPAREIL, 7103 Old Georgetown road—Exhibition
of childrens work done undej Instruction of Alexander Clayton.
October 8 to 22.
t THE BOOKSHOP GALLERY, 916 Seventeenth street N.W.—
Exhibition of satirical drawings by Art Young opens tomorrow.
Preview today at 3:30 p.m.
A 1
The supposedly lost portrait of Martino Pasqualigo, sculptor
of Venice, painted by Titian about 1544, which has been found in
the Corcoran Gallery of Art, identified as "Portrait in Black.”
Ii - - ' -il +
Cartoons Are Impressive
Exhibition of Art Young’s Work
At Bookshop Galled Great
An exhibition of cartoons by Art
Young may be seen now and until
October 30 in the Book Shop Gal
lery at 916 Seventeenth street N.W.
and will be found very impressive.
That they almost without exception
are aimed at the evils of capitalism
does not signify, for the evils they
make known have actually existed,
as every one knows, and only those
of limited intellect will fail to real
ize that, true as they are, there is
another side to the question. As
Hogarth and Daumier showed up in
their drawings the evils of their
time, so Art Young has, in his pow
erful cartoons, opened the eyes of
countless people to injustice and
greed on the part of those who held
the balance of power, the money
bags of the world. So vigorous and
convincing is his presentation that
none can fail to find his utterance
profoundly moving.
There is no more powerful in
strument in the education or mo
tivation of the people than the car
toon at its best. We believe what
we see evqn more than what we
hear, and Art Young makes us see
very plainly and directly. Obviously
he exaggerates, but that is the pre
rogative of the cartoonist, and none
has employed exaggeration to bet
ter purpose than he. Sometimes
the cartoonist-reformer spices his
diatribes with humor, sometimes
with pathos—Mr. Young uses both
nnri tn pvppllpnt pfTpot
His drawing of the stork standing
at the door of the poor man with
many children and saying "I have
a feeling I ought not to stop here”
is bound to bring a smile, although
it may not have been meant to—
as does his amusing picture of a
“Beauty Parlor”—so strange a mis
nomer; but there is only soberness
and the essence of tragedy in “Pigs
and Children,” “Big and Little Beg
gars” and Cartoon No. 1 which has
to do with prostitution. Occasionally
a note of bitterness creeps in as in
“The Sports of Industrial Kings,”
tnd “Still the Same Massachusetts”—
but regardless of theme or purpose
this is art of a very real and high
order, Mr. Young has had much
more than himself to express and his
expression rings true and sincere
from first to last. Needless to say
he is an excellent draftsman, his
line is vital and fluent—he not only
hits the mark, but hits hard—
through his ability as an artist he
wields a powerfl weapon—and pre
sumably for the good of mankind.
Art Young was born in Illinois in
1866 and studied at the Julian Acad
emy in Paris and under Bougereau.
(Could anything be wider apart than
the paintings of the master and the
drawings of the pupil?) One of his
first published cartoons appeared in
“Judge” about 1883; since then he
has worked for Life, Collier's Weekly,
the Masses, the Nation, Saturday
Evening Post and other publica
tions, including the New Yorker.
Before the days of the news-photog
rapher. Mr. Young, as staff artist on
the Chicago Daily News, had to cover
baseball games, bicycle races and
court proceedings. He is nothing
if not versatile. Heywood Broun
is quoted on the catalogue of the
current exhibition as saying that Art
Young will be a great man when
he is dead. But Mr. Broun is
wrong—Mr. Young who is still alive
and writing his autobiography at
his home in Connecticut is a great
man now—let no one forget it.
L. M.
One*Man Show at
Georgetown
Lee Atkyns, a young Washington
artist, is having his first one-man
show in the Georgetown Galleries,
1419 Twenty-second street N.W. As
Auriel Bessemer, with whom Atkyns
studied briefly, says in an introduc
tory note to the catalogue “While
the artist's work remains a little
uneven, and he is still in the process
of finding himself, the progress
shown in his development over the
past two years has been so rapid
that it foreshadows a,significant fu
ture.”
It is rather a pity that for his first
exhibition more careful selection
were not made in order that this un
evenness should not have been so
strikingly evident. One must learn
to crawl before being able to walk
and in some instances Mr. Atkyns
shows himself to be unable to stand
on his feet. Then again he takes a
long step firmly. His painting of
Canna in bloom, which hangs in the
hall way is broadly rendered, deco
rative and pleasing. The two little
landscapes in water color which hang
to either side of this large canvas
“Gulls in the Spray” and “Homing”
have subtlety and spirit. “Tree in
the Monument Grounds” is more
than promising—a real achievement
—and his drawings illustrative of
Genesis III show imagination in
conception and force in execution.
But none of us repeatedly strikes
12 and there is nothing to gain by
making much of one's failures. A
real talent such as Mr. Atkyns would
seem to have is a trust—something
much greater than public applause,
which is in this instance bound to
come with the fulfillment of present
promise.—L. M.
Lathrop Memorial
Exhibition Held
Apropos of landscape painting
mention may be made of the Me
morial Exhibition of the work of
William L. Lathrop, held last
month at New Hope, Pa., on the
first anniversary of his death, not
only because included therein were
paintings of exceptional charm and
merit but for the reason that this
painter belonged to a group which
gave to us some of our finest work
in this field.
Mr. Lathrop, who it will be re
membered was swept off his sailboat
anchored in the lee of Indian Head,
Montauk Point, Long Island, and
drowned during the great hurricane
of September, ’38, is admirably rep
resented in the Evans National Art
Collection here in Washington by a
painting entitled “The Three Trees,"
a beautiful transcription of a sim
ple theme exquisitely rendered and
of lasting significance. In this col
lection also are charming paintings
of landscape by Inness, Wyant, Da
vis, Murphy and others of the
same period who were lovers df
Nature and had a message to give.
William L. Lathrop was virtually
self-taught but he was not undis
ciplined, and he strove invariably
for adequate expression. He was
keenly sensitive to beauty, and he
passed on to others, through his
paintings, that which aroused deep
est emotions in himself. He thought
not of himself but rather of that
which he transcribed. A collection
of works left in his studio are, it is
understood, to be circulated this
winter by his son and daughter
among museums an dart associa
tions. L. M.
Baltimore Show
Is Scheduled
The Baltimore Water Color Club
will hold its 49th annual exhibition
during the month of November,
sponsored by the Baltimore Museum
of Art, under the management ol
its new director, Leslie M. Cheek
formerly head of the art depart
ment of William and Mary College
at Williamsburg, Va. Louise West
is president of the Baltimore Watei
Color Club, Anne Chandlee is sec
retary and John McGrath, treas
urer. Priaea totalling $300 will bi
offered
c
“Fisherman’s Shack," by Henry W. Olsen, now being shown with the oils and water colors in the 26th annual exhibition of the
Landscape Club of Washington at the Arts Club. —Star Staff Photo.
■ .-V".. -- " 11 .. ■ ■
Landscape Club Awards to Be Announced Today
* _
Although Painting Nature Scenes Is Somewhat Out of Fashion,
The Current Exhibition Has Many Interesting Canvases
By L. M.
The Landscape Club of Washing
ton opened its 26th annual exhibi
tion in the Arts Club, 2017 L street
N.W., this past week, and will today
announce awards. It consists of
work in oils, water color and black,
and white, and occupies the gallery,
reception and dining rooms and
hall. Twenty-eight canvases hang
in the gallery, the majority of which
are recent works not heretofore ex
hibited.
The current tendency seems to be
toward simplification, and of this,
coupled with direct manner of ad
dress, there are here several in
teresting examples—such, for in
stance, as "Lighthouse.” by Roy
Clark; "Fisherman's Shack,” by
Henry W. Olsen, and "Our Trailer
Trip,” by A. J. Ted Meurer, as well
as “Boats,” by Rowland Lyon.
All of these paintings are clear-cut
and impressive—no words are
wasted—no by-roads used—what
ever message the artist wished to
convey is delivered at a single blow.
Far better is this than much wan
dering, with the chance of getting
lost in confusion, but say what one
will, the amenities of grace, the
ability to embroider a theme, to
gether with the subtleties of ex
pression, are elements of charm
which are not for the moment, but
all time. Why must we be so ab
rupt; why are we perpetually in such
a hurry that we must gobble our
pleasures whole and require our
esthetic feasts to be pre-digested?
Of the pictures named, this is not
adverse criticism. Of their kind
they are excellent, but to the writer
they seem to incline somewhat to
ward that economy in expression
which threatens to prove extrava
gance in the end—the substitution
of brusque veracity for gracious ele
gance or shy emotion.
Nature Neglected.
Landscape painting, unbelievable
as it may seem, has of late gone out
of fashion, crowded out or replaced
by the American scene, social protest
or other human interest theme.
Gone are the days when artists fre
quented fields and woods, set up
their easels, and with breathless
emotion endeavored to transcribe
the beauty of nature which they
found round about them. Not com
pletely gone—praise heaven!—for a
few painters .are left sufficiently
sensitive and wise to turn to na
ture for inspiration, and happy in
recording the loveliness of the world
of landscape, ever changing, but ever
supremely beautiful, reassuring even
in the midst of a war-torn world. |
The Landscape Club of Washing
ton has rendered fine service by
tenaciously clinging to old ideals
and demonstrating their validity.
Not all of its members are profes
sionals; not a few follow painting as
an avocation, giving to it leisure or
holiday hours, but collectively their
output has been of an exceptionally
high order of merit, and those re
sponsible for it have not only found
"but given much pleasure through
their play-time works. This still
is true, but there is danger, it would
seem, of perversive, outside influ
ence and the desire to be up-to
date. Not to be sw’ept away by the
great stream of popular patron
age requires strength of convic
tion and courage. To know how
many and devious have been the
turnings of this stream in flood one
need only look back to the begin
ning of the present century, when
the “purple cow” was in vogue. No
wonder the painters are bewildered.
Features Shown.
Returning to the current exhibi
tion. There is strong, excellent
painting in a winter picture, “Dunn
Loring.” by James H. Turner, and a
larger canvas. "Perce River,” by W.
Lester Stevens; the former broadly
rendered and realistic, the latter a
fine composition rendered with
strong dramatic effect. Minor
Jameson and Garnet Jex, both in
dividualists, who can almost invari
ably be counted on for good per
formance, are fairly well represent
ed, but in neither case actually at
his best. Mr. Jex shows, besides
two landscapes, a portrait of a small
boy with a toy boat, which is well
constructed and pleasing, and his
picture of a typical American land
scape with “Sugar Loaf Mountain”
in the distance is very well com
posed. Best of all his contributions,
however, is his inconspicuous but
delicately delineated “Dogwood Tree"
in full bloom. Mr. Jameson's most
important contribution is “The
Ford,” in which there is evidence
of emotional response to nature's
seasonal loveliness.
A. H. O. Rolle and A. J. Schram
give good account of themselves in
canvases—pure landscape—hung in
the gallery, as do Benson B. Moore
and William F. Walter. Roger M.
Rittase, in “Podunk,” has apparently
succumbed to the vogue of the day
and presented an altogether disen
chanting scene of contemporary
wayside life, while in “Pig, Rock and
Coke” O. R. Carrington shows us a
realistic picture of one of the great
Industrial plants with which man
has disfigured the city as well as
country—both, however, painting1
well. Of a scene on the "Maine
Coast’’ and a picture of “Laguna
Beach’’ by John U. Perkins much
can be said in praise, as also of
Robert E. Motley's “Yankee Town
Sawmill,’’ which is rendered with
more freedom than usual.
Still Life Studies.
Henry Wadsworth Moore and Oke
Nordgren each exhibit still-life
studies, the former a composition
carefully studied and finished, the
latter one literally thrown to
gether with assumed carelessness.
Henry Olsen, in addition to his pic
ture of "Fisherman's Shack,” shows
a tenderly painted portrait of his
mother.
I. .
R. Bruce Horsfall is represented
in the large gallery by a pic
turesque landscape, but better still
in the drawing room by illustrative
paintings of penguins and of walrus.
Among the work in black and white
there is an excellent etching by
Benson B. Moore of “Startled Can
vasback Ducks'' and one of “George
town Water Front” manifesting
nearby picturesque potentialities. In
this section Oke Nordgren is at his
worst in a print, "Oyster Bay,” and
his best in one entitled “Workers.”
Of Mitchell Jamieson's three prints
made in Mexico, or of Mexican sub
jects, the best that can be said is
that they are strong and to a degree
dramatic.
. 11 ■ - ■
Paintings Present Enigma
Work by Oregon Youth Regarded
As Badly Drawn and Shocking
If the road that Byron Randall,
of Oregon, has taken to find ade
quate expression in art is best for
him it is certainly a dark and
perilous way to those who would fol
low him, judging from the exhibi
tion of his paintings now' on view in
the Whyte Gallery. Comparatively
untaught, and free lance, this young
man has succeeded in producing
works of a more amazing, illiterate
and shocking character than any
the writer has previously seen. To
this end he uses distortion and ex
aggeration, and that such can be
thought to be art, or described, as
in the foreword to the catalogue,
as "brilliant,” "possessing qualities
which we associate with great paint
ing” and as showing "mastery in
composition” as well as “complete
and thorough intergration of form
and content,” is utterly incompre
hensible.
Prominent in the exhibition is a
colossal head of a woman entitled
“Termigant” which is essentially of
the stuff from which nightmares
eminate. His paintings of houses—
such as “Structural Pattern” and
“City Counterpoint”—are illy drawn
and jumbled as by an earthquake or
the dropping of bombs. In his at
tempts at landscape, his trees, tele
graph poles and the like are tip
tilted, bent and twisted until they
actually seem to squirm. In his
“portraits” he gets a certain per
sonality but in most instances it is
sinister. Of his deformed and dis
torted nudes no mention need be
made.
Is Mr. Randall’s vision imperfect
or does he wish to attract by shock
ing? It is impossible to say. Such
work lacks the tragic quality of that
of the insane but sincere Van Gogh
and although it may be “daring’’
and “emotional.as the painter's ad
vocates claim, it is hard to believe
that it has any place among the
cultural assets of a civilized people
And yet it is said that museum door:
are open to its display from New
York to San Francisco. Here is an
enigma of modern life.—L. M.
Special Exhibition
Opens at Phillips’
The Phillips Gallery announce:
that it will inaugurate its season ol
special exhibitions with the opening
of two shows today one consisting ol
the work of C. Law Watkins and
the other a group of paintings bj
alumni of the Phillips Gallery Arl
School. Mr. Watkins, associate di
rector of the Phillips Memorial Gal
lery and director of the art school
will exhibit a group of eight por
traits and a few rhythmic experi
ments in landscape and still lift
painting. The feature of the group
will be a large portrait of Charle:
Seymour, president of Yale Univer
sity, painted for the Gothic dining
hall of Berkeley, one of the resi
dence colleges of Yale, which, prioi
to his election to the presidency, Mr
Seymour was head.
The paintings by the alumni are tc
be hung in the print room of the
gallery and will consist exclusively ol
those which have received prizes or
are now in private or public own
ership. Three former pupils, now or
the staff of the school, will be repre
sented. These are William Calfee
sculptor as well as painter; Margaret
Gates, painter, and Robert Franklin
Gates, winner of many awards foi
works in water color, oil and mural
painting. Included also will be paint
ings by Paul Arlt, Donald Coale,
Mary Bradley, Elizabeth Poe, Robert
Ades, Alida Conover, Bernice Cross,
Julia Eckel, John Gernand, Sara
Baker, Herman Maril and Edward
Rosenfeld. Among the lenders will
be Mrs. Dwight Davis, Mrs. Nicholas
Longworth, Mr. L. M. C. Smith, the
Weyher Gallery of New York and
Donald Whyte of the Whyte Gallery
of this city.—L. M.
Corcoran Alumni
Will Exhibit
The Corocran School of Art is
sponsoring an exhibition of works
by its alumni to be held in the Cor
coran Gallery of Art from Novem
ber 2 to 23. This will be a sales ex
hibition held under the direction of
the faculty of the school, and will be
open not only to alumni, but to ad
vanced students now attending the
classes. The jury will comprise two
members of the school faculty, two
lay members and two recent Cor
coran students. Those wishing to
submit work for this exhibition may
secure entry blanks on or after to
I morrow at the school office, entrance
I to which is on New York avenue
Works will be priced from |3 to ISO..
i
",Perce River," by W. Lester Stevens, a scene from the Qaspe Peninsula. This painting is a part
I of the current Landscape Club exhibition. Star Staff Photo.
A k k
\
Indian Arts
And Crafts
Encouraged
Quality Maintained
In Government
Project Here
By Florence S. Berryman.
One does not have to travel to New
Mexico and Arizona, California and
other distance places in order to
see and acquire American Indian
arts and crafts of the best quality.
In the new United States Depart
ment of the Interior Building there
is an Indian arts and crafts shop, a
non-profit enterprise run by the
Welfare and Recreational Associa
tion, which operates on Government
property. It was opened only 13
months ago, so the association has
no statistics as yet concerning an '
average month’s turnover and simi
lar matters.
Two outstanding points about the
various arts shown at Indian Arts
and Crafts are their authenticity
and fine quality. There is no ad
mittance to machine-made imita
tions of Indian handicrafts, which,
one regrets to say. deceive many a
tourist in the West and elsewhere.
Furthermore, of the many things
which may be indubitably authentic,
a certain proportion has to be re
turned, because they fail to meas
ure up to the standard of quality
maintained by Indian Arts and
Crafts. •
Indians all over the United States
and in Alaska send their finest work
here. The young woman in charge
said that handicrafts are coming
in every week from all the Indian
schools and from many tribes. Nav
ajo, Hopi, Pueblo, Zuni, Blackfeet,
Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapahoe. Papago,
Pima. Cherokee and Alaskan. Pre
sumably. every tribe that produces
craftwork of some type occasionally
sends examples.
Have Federal Tests.
Each Navajo rug on view, in a col
lection of many designs and colors,
is guaranteed by a United States De
partment of the Interior certificate
of genuineness, stating that it is all
wool, grown on tribal flocks, carded,
dyed, etc., by Indian craftsmen and
woven on Indian handlooms. The
wearing qualities of these rugs are
j now undergoing a rigorous test in
| various locations of the Interior De
: partment. One strip in the cafeteria
was observed to be nearly black
from the daily tread of thousands
| of feet, but it showed no signs of
j wear. However, the test is still on,
and no conclusions have been an
! nounced.
I Silver jewelry here is generally
j Government-stamped. It will be re
called that Senator Ashurst of Ari
zona has from time to time en
deavored to have identifying marks
required on all imitation Indian Jew
elry. But although to date it has not
been possible to stop all deceptions,
there is no possibility of anything
but genuine Indian work being
shown at Indian Arts and Crafts.
Although the Navajos seem to be
the major producers of rugs and
jewelry, quite a number of tribes
make pottery and baskets. Yet so
varied are the techniques, ma
terials and motifs, that one does not
have to be a connoisseur to dis
j tinguish between them. Glistening
black jars and vases with a mat dec
oration of the same color have the
classic simplicity of Greek pottery.
There are other types of a light
pinkish tan color, with earth-red or
dark brown decorations. Baskets
vary even more noticeably to the
lay observer. California Indian bas
kets, for instance, are small and
: very fine in texture (some are said
to be water-tight!, the woven strips
being only a minute fraction of an
inch in width. Hopi baskets are
coarser in materials, woven with an
unusual coil technique. There are
“black-and-white” baskets which are
made from fibers entirely in their
natural colors, the black being from
a tough desert growth known as
devil's claw.
t arvea ny Alaskans.
Ensnaring little polar bears, rein
deer and other animals carved by
Alaskan Indians from walrus tusks
share interest with dolls in real fur
“parkahs.” Dolls of other tribes are
dressed in beaded gowns of soft
hides, or wrapped in blankets. These
dolls have approximately natural
istic Indian faces of cloth or carved
wood. The strange ceremonial fig
ures known as Katchina dolls have
geometric features.
Little boys could “play Indian”
here very realistically, as there are
feathered war bonnets, drums and
bows and arrows, to say nothing of
beautifully beaded moccasins and
soft leather jackets, also beaded and
fringed in contrasting colors.
An arresting feature of the dis
play is the work of Cherokee In
dians, who, it will be recalled, live
in the Great Smoky Mountain re
gion. Many kinds of Cherokee work
were included in the exhibition of
handicrafts of the Southern high
lands, held at the Corcoran Gallery
five or six years ago under auspices
of the American Federation of Arts.
Presumably these Indians, after
long association, have been in
fluenced by the work of their white
neighbors, for their weavings now at
Indian Arts and Crafts have the
color schemes and even the motifs
Of Southern mountaineers of Euro
pean ancestry, the chariot wheel,
Whig rose, etc.
M Quality
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I MATERIALS