EUROPEAN WOMEN ARTISTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23205, 1 June 1937, Page 16

EUROPEAN WOMEN ARTISTS

EXHIBITION IN PARIS . Women artists from 15 countries recently showed their work in Paris, under the auspices of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women. the picturesque Jeu de Paume Museum —which stands in the Tuileries Garden, so full of memories, glorious and tragic, of the French people’s historical past—an atmosphere of their own. Good art transcends national boundaries, is international in character, and yet, as I walked through the rooms, allotted to this or that country or region, I discerned traits, lights, and colours particular to each group like the varieties shown by flowers and plants of the same kind, but grown on different soil and under different skies (writes Genevieve Dardel in the National Council of Women Bulletin). In the pure features of the virgin who bends over her harp, her long fingers touching the cords from which delicate notes seem to spring, we recognise a Santa Cecilia of Italian inspiration; the sensitive hands of Amalia Panigati have created this beautiful stained-glass window. How is one to convey, through the medium of words, an idea of the harmonious attitude, the youthful grace of the “Harvesters,” a nigh-relief in mosaic by Antoinette Pogliana? I should love to live in one of Filli Levasti’s “ Ruined Houses.” and I had to go back to look once more at these crumbling walls on which the clothes spread out to dry make vivid colour patches. Adelina Zandrio’s “ Motherhood ” has an appeal poignant as life itself; the instinctive movement in which sweetness mingles with something primitive, almost savage, of a mother hugging her baby to her breast is beautifully observed and rendered. And then wc travel north, over the St. Gotthard and come to Switzerland, whore the landscapes seem bathed m a light more transparent in Us quality. The one painted by Suzanne Schwob expresses the atmosphere of the country particularly well. Marguerite Frey Surbck has seen the

“ Faulhorn ” with the true artist’s eye, and she renders to perfection the delicate softness of snowy peaks under a pure and limpid sky. Germaine Halliard Roten’s “ Torrent ” carries in its foamy bubbling waters something of the pure whiteness of the eternal snow from which it has sprung. Now we turn our heads a little and we are in Poland. Here the pictures are distinctly influenced by the popular character. The colours are almost rough in their uncompromising hardness, with no half-tints, but the persons who animate the boldly-composed scenes are- of a striking realism. The swaying banners, the surging of the crowds in streets and Diaces gives to Mary Litauer Sznejder’s picture, “Procession” an animation all of its own. Etchings and wood-cuts depict the traditional celebrations of St. John’s Day, scenes in ports, the life of fishermen and of the people in the mountains. Quite other impressions are m store for us in the Dutch section. Even while writing this I can feel again the effect which Else Berg’s picture, The Dying Peasant,” made upon me. With his livid hands, the hands of a skeleton, crossed over his breast, the peasant s whole body as it leans ba.ck in a movement of acute pain seems just like an empty shell from which the soul_ is already gone. Only the expression in the deep-sunk eyes, the emaciated cheeks, the skin drawn tightly over the high cheek-bones witness that the man is alive and suffering. Flowers and fruit were abundantly represented in the Dutch section. Mme. de Jounge has a lovely study of

grapes, and M. C. Altena Regteren’s tangerines have on their golden skin the reflections of the southern sun under which they have ripened. J. Surie’s “Fishes,” with their rosy flesh and the pearly lustre of their scales, seem to have been dragged up from the water only a moment ago. There is life and spontaneity of expression in Charley Toorop’s “Peasants at the Bar”; the beer foams in the glasses, and the animation of which it is the cause is reflected in the men’s jovial f3CGS. We ascend the staircase and enter the hall where France beckons to us. The milkv atmosphere of Hermine David’s "Forum” is characteristic pf Italy seen through French eyes; Latin sensitiveness, its poetry and grace have gone to the making of this picture with its vibrant colouring. In their delicate fragility the "Anemones” which Therese Debains has painted seem to be of the stuff of which dreams are made. Andree Joubert’s “Wild Orchids” carry in their cups the dew of the mountains from whither they came; they sway in the high wind that seems to blow over high mountain ranges. The “ Interior ” with its greenish and blond tones exhibited by Denis Fleury is a, masterpiece of barmonious composition. A symphony m black and white is Louise Hervieus “Fan.” Young and fresh against a background pf mauve blossoms, Madeleine Luka’s “Child and Lilacs” has something very moving in its candour but there is also in its attitude that touch of quiet determination which is characteristic of the child of a people of individualists. This little girl is quite different from the “ Playing Child ” and the “ Child’s Head,” by the Belgian artists Juliette Emery Moens and Juliette Cambier, respectively. “Youth,” by Suzanne Fabry, is a good portrait of a young girl with small breasts and narrow hips. . , , The young women in the pictures by Mrs Guevara Meraud, Anna Zinkeisen, Elizabeth Rackman have the beautiful colouring which we admire in the women of the British isles. Radiant in colours, Czechoslovakia greets us. The sea glitters and sparkles outside Lucie Klimova’s “Loggia.” Fina Maternova’s “ Interior,” with its lively blue armchairs against orange curtains is very different from the “ Interiors ” painted by our own compatriots, but it impresses by the warm richness of its colouring. In the Hungarian room wo are under the spell of the dark flashing eyes of Edith Bash's “Italian Mother” and the sweet smile of her bambinos. A strange nostalgia haunts the eyes of the “ Young Girl before the Cage.” by Olga Szckcly-Kovacs, and we wore very much struck to find the same expression in the pale face of (lie “Convalescent,” a work by the Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck. The works contributed by Swedish artists revived an old wish t visit that country, to see its ports and islands and the “Boats” which Fru Hjerten has so beautifully brought to life with her brush; to experience the charm of the Nordic "Summer Night.” the eerie quality of which is so well rendered in Mollie Faustman’s canvas. Another striking picture in the Swedish section is “The Old Hat," by Maja Bring. The " View of the Port of Syra.” by the Rumanian painter Lactitia Lucascevic, also appealed to my appetite for travel; deeper chords are struck by her countrywoman, Mine. Eleutriadc, in her expressive picture “ Prague.” Among the Norwegian pictures Miss von Hanno’s “ Round a Table,” Louise MittoKlion’s “ Bark ” and Christiane 01berg’s " Haymakers ” deserve a special

mention and with a glance at the “ Retrospective,” where the work of 10 or more living women artists have found a place of honour, our visit, of which we can only record some impressions, comes to a close. The Arts Committee of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women to whose efforts this interesting exhibition was due, deserves much praise for an initiative which has enabled the art-loving public to make themselves acquainted with the works of women painters and sculptors of so many countries and to appreciate thdir valuable contribution to the creative art of our time.