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ART NEWS. APR. 9.'38

New Exhibitions of the Week 

CORNELIA CHAPIN: OUTSTANDING WOMAN ANIMAL SCULPTOR 

MAGNIFICANT is a word that is rarely used in connection with contemporary art. It is applicable, however, to the sculpture of Cornelia Chapin, just as it is to the art of the Assyrians, or of the ancient Egyptians themselves-and for identical reasons. These works have been directly carved, with infinite labor and also infinite subtlety, from some of the most enduring of all materials: volcanic rock and granite. They have all the vitality that amazes us in the animal sculptures of the Nile valley and, in common with the Egyptians, Miss Chapin has a living sense of design. Her stylization, by contrast with the average decorative reductions that pass under this name, serves to magnify the individuality of the model in addition to interpreting in ideal sculptural terms. 
The most imposing piece among those now on view at the Fifteen Gallery is undoubtedly the enormous black granite frog. With amazing skill and patience the stubborn material has been wrought into a stream-lined, abstract desgin of greatest beauty. When it is considered that this creature actually emerged from the rock by taille directe, without mechanical aid, its subtlety of modeling and inviting perfection of surface are almost unbelievable. One of her most recent works, Miss Chapin inthis has, both technically and artistically, equalled her teacher, Hernandez.
In addition to their sculptural qualities, Cornelia Chapin endows her animals with a definite personality. The rose sandstone Pig has humor, the Pelican in Repose a beady, sagacious glance and the black granite Penguin a farcical dignity. Contrasting with these is an exquisitely delicate intaglio woman's head whose pure line resembles that of the Florentine Renaissance profile portraits.
R.F.

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EXHIBITED AT THE FIFTEEN GALLERY 
CORNELIA CHAPIN: "PELICAN IN REPOSE,"CARVED DIRECT FROM LIFE; IN GREEK MARBLE