Gallery Notes Volume 8 Number 5

              The   Memorial   Art   Gallery
Gallery Notes
APRIL EXHIBITIONS
"Soldier Art
from Life
Magazine
Competition"
"Our Navy
in Action"
Index of
American
Design
Collectors'
Corner
VOL. 8 NO. 5 - APRIL, 1943
The Gallery "has gone to war" in April - at least, as far as the these of two
of its current exhibitions is concerned. The first of these is the exhibition
of "Soldier Art", selected from the competition which Life Magazine organized
in the spring of 1942 for men in the armed forces,. Approximately 1,500 young
artists in the Army, Navy, Air Corps, Marines and Coast Guard submitted work
for the event, from which two circuit exhibitions of oils, watercolors, prints,
and drawings were assembled to tour the country. As an expression of what the
average young American is thinking and experiencing today in the armed forces,
the exhibition is a direct, spontaneous and lively record that has immediate
appeal. It is "See Here, Private Hargrove" translated into pigment and canvas,
and boasts the same refreshing humor and keen observation of that current bestseller.
K P duty, the lonely vigils of night patrols, target practice, shore-leave,
barracks life, etc. are all portrayed with the vividness and honesty of direct
experience. The majority of these soldier-sailor exhibitors - ranging in rank
From buck-privates to top-sergeants and representing over thirty different camps
and training stations in the country - were artists or art students before the war,
and the exhibition, therefore, rates professional rather than amateur standing.
A remarkable series of photo-murals of the U. S. Navy in action taken by official naval photographers assigned to the various battle areas around the
world is the second exhibition event this month. Assembled and circuited by
the Navy Department, the photographs vividly record some of the most dramatic
and strategic sea and air battles of World War II. The air attack on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands, the battles of Midway and the Coral Seas, action at
Guadalcanal and Wake Island, and the lurking dangers of convoy patrols are remarkably recorded in action shots whose photographic quality is unusually high,
An exhibition "follow-up" of the University of Rochester's Latin American Conference is the scheduling this month of an exhibit of "Spanish Colonial Design
of the Southwest" from the Index of American Design, now housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Amazingly skillful watercolor reproductions of carved
and painted retablos, santos and chests, of Spanish wrought-iron work, and of
old weathered stone fountains - all reflecting a rich fusion of Indian and
Spanish traditions - make up a colorful spring event.
Roumanian embroidered blouses - the exquisite products of a rich peasant and
convent art - have been generously lent by Miss Anne Trivelli for display in
the Collectors' Corner this month. Brightly patterned native embroidery and
the delicate drawn-work made in the convents of old Roumania and Russia form a
particularly appealing event. In May, a colorful loan exhibit of Pennsylvania
Dutch folk art - pottery, wood-carving fractur drawings and painted furniture
will be presented.
HOURS: WEEKDAYS: 10 A. M. TO 5 P. M.
SUNDAYS: 1:30 TO 5:30 P. M.
WEDNESDAY EVENINGS: 7 TO 10 P. M.
THE GALLERY IS FREE AT ALL TIMES