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THE NEW YORK TIMES, FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 1982

By JOHN RUSSELL

Hedda Sterne, C.D.S. Gallery, 13 East 75th Street. Hedda Sterne has lived in New York for a considerable time, but even so it is a surprise to find that this exhibition covers the work of 40 years. It proves that she is to New York what Vieira da Silva is to Paris - a reticent but indispensable presence, and a painter who goes her own way without regard for fad or fancy.

She is a very good portraitist. Her "Annalee Newman" (1952) suggests at once that the sitter (or stander in this case) is a beacon of straightforwardness and good sense. Her "Frederick Kiesler" (1954) tells us exactly how that peremptory little genius would settle into a very small chair and dare us to think that it dwarfed him.

Interior space - the space of the studio, above all - tempt her to build them like arks, compartment by compartment, on the canvas. But there are also huge outdoor spaces in the white paintings of the 1970's. What are we to make of them, and how are they populated? We have not seen such ambiguous marks since Henri Michaux, poet and painter, made his first ink drawings. Are they trees? Skiers? Pilgrims? Refugees? Miss Sterne isn't telling.

There is also something very distinguished about the tall thin paintings of the early 1960's that roll downward like banded scrolls. Once again, ambiguity pervades them. They can be read as earth, water and sky, or simply as organ-chords of pure color. (Through April 12.)