Public Works of Art Now on Display in Portland
BY CATHERINE JONES
Nine of the 16 regions in which the public works of art project operated are represented in the 3 oils and 19 water colors now on view at the Portland Museum of Art. The exhibit is being circulated by the American Federation of Arts, a national organization for the cultivation of the arts, with headquarters at Washington, D. C.
The names familiar to the west are listed. They are Maynard Dixon, California, artist whose oil painting, “Stiff-Leg Derrick, Boulder Dam,” provides both a record of colossal engineering feat and a decorative composition, and Alfred Crimi, one-time Portland artist and now a resident in the east.
Mr. Crimi was one of six who won the recent mural competition sponsored by the treasury department and will take part in decorating the postoffice at Washington D. C. Frank Mechau, Colorado springs, Colo., and Ward Lockwood, Taos, N. M., were other western artists who will do murals for the postoffice building.
American Scene
Depicted
The present exhibit at the Portland Museum of Art shows both urban and suburban America, with the balance in favor of the farmer. Street scenes, radical activities in the park, industrial scenes, mingle with landscapes and farm scenes.
“Subway Passages,” by Bernard Gussow, is a vivid impression of hurrying hordes of people anxious to get through the oppressive and stifling atmosphere and on their way to some destination, an effect intensified by overhanging girder plates and cold white and steel slate-gray walls.
“San Francisco From Russian Hill With Yerba Buena Island,” by Ray Strong, shows blocks of buildings from considerable height, creating an interesting pattern, but nevertheless composing a true portrait of that portion of the city.
“Virginia Countryside,” by Mary E. Nottingham, shows the rolling country of that state fading into the Blue Ridge mountains in the distance.
Also at the museum is a new exhibit of the series now being presented by the museum and arranged by the young artists who organized the creative art gallery for the winter season of 1933-34. Six shows are scheduled, each to begin on a Monday and run one week. The work shown is essentially creative rather than descriptive or imitative, and is the sort which grows naturally from the environment in which these artists live.
Exhibitors last week were Olivia Shepard, Ruth Patterson and Katharine Talbott McNab. Water colors, oils and sculptures were included. This week Herbert Ackley, Pete Leavestrand and Dora Erickson will be presented.
Jourdan Prints
in East
Some 50 prints by Albert and Alda Jourdan are included through invitation in the annual photographic show in Norwich, Conn., Art association. Mrs. Jourdan sent a number of her fine portraits, and Mr. Jourdan is showing prints which have been taken for general illustration and advertising.
The annual meeting of the Portland Art association will be held Monday, February 10, at 4 P. M., following which tea will be served and a new exhibition, “Eighteenth Century Portraits,” sent by the College Art association, will be opened.