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Sculptors' Show In Brooklyn New Yorkers will have to travel a little farther - to the Brooklyn Museum - for their second sight of a Sculptors' Guild show than they did last spring, when the initial presentation was held in an empty lot in midtown. But so rewarding was that first exhibition there will be few, we think, to carp about the distance. And there will be fewer still, of those who make the trip, to regret it. For the second display is livelier than the first, and better. There are fewer inconsequential things included, and actually none occur to us now in retrospect as bad. Original Approach It was because of the deadly combination of realism and romanticism made immensely popular by Rodin, that American sculptor so long remained either unrelievedly pedestrian and dull, or cheaply theatrical. To observe how thoroughly have the twin canons been thrust aside by America's younger sculptors one has only to see the Brooklyn Museum show. Piece after piece impresses one with its original approach, its creator's unwillingness to accept generally approved formulae of expression. Nearly all of the artists conceive of sculpture as meaningful form to be extracted from existing material. In some cases it may mean hammering it out of a sheet of metal, in others chipping away marble, in some others shaving a log. In any case the process and the initial approach are entirely at variance with the painty business of modeling so long approved. Formulae can develop for this process, too, and in the first Sculptors' Guild show we had fears that they already had. Doubts Dispelled. The current presentation dispels such doubts. Nat Werner, in his powerful sandstone relief, "Worker's Stong," conceived in rhythmic horizontal and vertical planes, and his intricate but very witty and smoothly worked out group sculpture, "Swing Trio"; Saul Baizerman, in his superbly realized eight-foot hammered copper figure of a reclining nude; Ahron Ben-Schmuel, in his slim column of a male torso; Cornelia Van Chapen, in a bold, simplified granite carving of a stylized frog Robert Cronbach, whose "Industry" is a striking combination of dynamic force and decorative grace, the play of light and shadow serving at once to model form and heighten rhythms; Jose de Creeft, seen in his by now familiar hammered lead sculpture, "Semitic Head"; Aaron Goodelman, represented by an original and soundly composed, amusing piece called "East Side Bath", Maldarelli, Hebald, Minna Harkavy, Chaim Gross-- these can never be accused of unimaginative adherence to pet formulae. E.G. World Telegram Oct. 29 '38 GENAUR WASHINGTON, D.C. POST NOV 20 1938 Sculptors Guild Show Continues In Brooklyn Open Until Nov. 27 Exhibit Well Arranged Not Confined To Nudes The second exhibition of the recently organized group, known as the Sculptors Guild, opened at the Brooklyn Museum last month and will continue there until November 27. The Exhibit is arranged to avoid crowding and is lighted to bring out contours to get best advantage. Dark green walls give the necessary al fresco atmosphere which those who saw the guild's first show outdoors might otherwise miss. Some of the pieces seem to call for a garden setting; as, for example, Cornelia Van A. Chapin's gigantic frog. However, the smaller pieces benefit by being under a roof. Whether or not one accepts the more extreme ventures which have naturally followed on the heels of Brancusi and the others who have attracted such a following here, one is bound to admit that this group has vitality and originality. To prove the point one need only wander through the gallery of nineteenth century sculpture in any museum. The choice of medium has been expanded to include such a diversity as Keene's cement, lacquer, aluminum and a substance called Dextrine, which Eugenie Gershoy employs in vivid color to do "The Fallen Toreador." Nor is subject matter confined to allegory, nudes and portraits. Social significance is displayed, as in Nat organized last season with Lisa Gardiner as director, will present a series of five performances on Friday evenings in the King-Smith playhouse, with an extra program for children. Each program will include a ballet number with music by a resident composer to a choreographis scenario by Miss Gardiner. The first performance is set for December 16. Members of the Washington Composers' Club, who will be represented on the program, include Mary Howe, Dorothy Radde Emery, Edward C. Potter, R. Deane Shure, La Salle Spier and Robert G. Barrow. It is planned to sell tickets for the series on a subscription basis.
