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NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE,
SUNDAY, AUGUST 9, 1953

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"The Post Office," a painting by David Gilmour Blythe, documenting with humorous observation life in America in the early nineteenth century.  One of ninety oils in an exhibition of American paintings assembled by the American Federation of Art for showing at the Berlin Festival in September.

Arts Federation Gains New Levels of Service
By CARLYLE BURROWS

So impressively has art education mounted throughout he country during the past two decades that services such as the national exhibition program of the American Federation of Arts are considered virtually indispensable.  This is a service available to museums, college and university art departments and art centers which wish to avail themselves of the resources of leading art authorities, art institutions and collections in presenting to the public condensed, authoritative and informative art exhibitions.

To go out and assemble independently for one's following an exhibition such as the federation supplies to its subscribers would require an expenditure of extreme effort, time, patience and influence on the part of any group or individual with ample funds at his disposal.  But to be on the list of subscribers for a show that is carefully planned and realized by experts with the full authority of the Federation itself is not a difficult goal to achieve as hundreds of individuals and art groups have learned to their satisfaction and pleasurer.  Burton Cumming, director, who manages and co-ordinates the multiple educational activities of the federation speaks well of this organization and its accomplishments as they appear at this time.

During the last year the federation circulated more than sixty exhibitions, with over 400 bookings among 150 cities of the United States and Canada, and included at least one show traveling to Europe, including Germany and Italy.  That it now has 305 bookings of shows from its 1953-'54 catalogue of fifty-eight exhibitions currently, or soon to be, available for subscription shows to some extent the impressive scope of the art work the organization is engaged in.

A Balanced Diet

Sponsors who may wish to exhibit to their organizations precisely the latest fad or nouveau manifestation of art, as opposed to any art form more historical or provably durable will not perhaps make the federation their first place of application.  For, as Mr. Cumming explained:  "We try to give a balanced diet of art exhibitions that the public will enjoy, while trying more and more to provide exhibitions from the past in order to meet what has lately proved to be a wide demand for this type of art display."

The biggest users of the exhibition service are cities up and down the east coast, Mr. Cumming pointed out, or in an area from Manchester, N.H., to Louisville, Ky., and through the eastern Middle West.  .Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Texas are art-conscious states where institutions frequently subscribe for art exhibitions.  Notable among these are important museums such as the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis, the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and the Fort Worth Museum of Art in Texas.  But the subscription lists of the Federation show groups and schools getting art shows in far-away places, some of them only a little known to the general public.

An important exhibition at present traveling abroad comes under the head of the federation's international exchange program.  Composed of ninetieth-century American paintings, selected by a group of leading art authorities, who were invited by the federation to assist in the final preparation of the display, it was sent to Germany in March of this year, and will be seen by the public early in 1954 in Italy.  It has been extremely well received.  The show is entitled, "One-hundred Years of American Painting, 1800-1900" and consists of ninety oils (catalogued by John I.H. Baur, of the Whitney Museum of American Art) from folk-art portraits to our most substantial productions.  Going late this month from Hamburg, Germany, to Berlin, for the Berlin Festival in September and October it will close its German tour in December in Dusseldorf.

Another major exhibition prepared for foreign service is widely known.  This is the four-man show of works by Calder, Stuart Davis, Hopper and Kyniyoshi, totaling fifty exhibits, that was presented last summer in the Biennale, the international art show held in Venice, Italy, from early spring through September.  Here, again was placed in evidence the kind of cooperation the Federation frequently receives, with the State Department and private foundations together underwriting the exhibition with generous grants.  The American exhibition in Venice was prepared by a committee especially chosen by the Federation itself.

Future Exhibitions Varied

Mr. Cumming turned to future exhibitions, calling the new project entitled "Printmakers of America," (which is a tie-up of present work and the idea of the Metropolitan Museum's famous 1939 exhibition of "Life in America,") the "best effort" of the Federation's exhibition committee so far this year.  This aims to present "through the media of prints, both black and white and in color, a panoramic view of life in America, historically and sociologically, from the founding of the Republic to the beginning of the Twentieth century."  Set to open at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, early in October, it likewise will go abroad, with the blessing of the State Department, at a later date.

What makes the Federation's shows distinctive, with a guarantee of quality in their composition, Mr. Cummings said, is the procedure which places the authority for each selection in the hands of qualified art experts, experts who are invited to undertake a specific assignment.  Thus, for "Printmakers," Marshall Davidson, editor of publications, and A. HYatt Mayor,m curator of prints, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Herman W. Williams, director of the Corcoran Gallery, and Charles D. Childs were entrusted with the choice of subjects and media.

The American Federation of Arts was organized in 1909, its specific aim:  "To unite in fellowship all those who strive for the development of art in America."  An early function was circulating art shows, in which field it was a distinct pioneer.  While this activity proved sporadic, the year 1946 saw the creation of a period of new growth.  With a full-time curator in charge, the exhibition service received fresh emphasis.  From about fifteen to twenty shows prepared for the public in 1946, the program expanded in a recent year to a total of eighty available exhibitions.

A glance at "AFA Traveling Exhibitions," a small carefully prepared brochure shows the extensive and intelligent effort which is being applied by the Federation to art education through exhibitions.  Ranging from Painting ("French, at Mid-Century," "American Water Colors, Drawings and Prints," "Harnett and His School" and "Biblical Paintings-Ben Zion.") through Graphic Art, Photography, Sculpture, Architecture and Crafts, the shows are sufficiently appealing and varied.  Most are available from Sept., 1953, to June, 1954, with a few being booked to as late as June, 1955.  With details such as description, size (in running feet), rental costs, etc., included in the pamphlet, the reader learns about everything essential to his making of an intelligent selection for his particular interest or need.