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THE ART NEWS         

Sculpture in the Open Again
The Guild's Second Park Avenue Show
BY ROSAMUND FROST
[[Image]] 
SCULPTOR'S GUILD: OUTDOOR EXHIBITION
DE CREEFT: "SATURNIA," LEAD

THERE is the self assurance of success about the second Park Avenue sortie of the Sculptor's Guild which confirms the fact that in just twelve months this venture has developed from a daring experiment in popularizing the art into an institution which will soon be too well established to require championing. The mechanics of this year's presentation alone cannot be too highly praised. Landscaping of the plot, far more elaborate than before, serves both to set off a few pieces at a time in enwreathing galleries of greenery and to give more spacious general vistas. Two levels have bee used to advantage with the result that the enclosure at 39th St. appears larger than last April. As the labor involved was all contributed by the sculptors themselves it deserves special mention and one is gratified to learn that the set-up will remain intact for no less than two months. 
A distinct advance is seen in the sculpture itself. There are fewer haphazard, unfinished looking pieces, work is technically smoother and more proficient - one might even say more conservative in the sense that it is less experimental. For most of these artists have by now struck out along a given line with the continuity and logic which alone can be the basis of an authentic style.
Among the large figures the conciseness and dignity of Slobodkin's Lincoln, Symbol of Unity set it apart from the many painfully overdrawn characterizations of our most picturesque national hero. Lincoln is shown as a young man - a farm hand, perhaps, stubbornly obsessed with the idea of grafting together living branches. This a quiet sort of dramatics, but its emotional content powerfully invades the sculptural form. The enlarging of the figure has not daunted Slobodkin, who has evidently known how to readapt his artistic cannons during the process of transforming the small model into its present heroic reality.
[[Image]]SCULPTOR'S GUILD: OUTDOOR EXHIBITION
"LINCOLN, SYMBOL OF UNITY" BY SLOBODKIN
[[Image]] "DRILLER," GOODELMAN'S PLASTER STUDY
SCULPTOR'S GUILD: OUTDOOR EXHIBITION

The presence of Zorach's The Embrace of 1932 Museum of Modern Art fame, introduces, the progressive note upon which the Sculptor's Guild should thrive, and its acceptance by the general public-out of doors- scores a triumph over the type of censorship which recently banned a well known art periodical for reproducing "nudes." (For those who find it hard to dissociate erotic implications from sculptural reality we may draw up a preliminary list of Ledas headed by Michelangelo's Bargello group.) The finished production of Concetta Scaravaglione, though one of the numerous legitimate progeny of Maillol, has a dreamy quiescence which is entirely its own. The knowing composition, the rhythmic progression from small to large forms, the tenderness of the gesture between Mother and Child (reproduce on the cover of this issue) give fresh life to what in themselves have become stale, classical attitudes. Another full length figure of distinct quality is Davis' Girl (reproduced in THE ART NEWS for May 7, 1938) with its expert granite carving and invigorating sense of strength and freedom. This artist's sandstone Bear is among the good animal pieces, though bears are easier to carve than girls. In his Driller Goodelman has given us compositional unity satisfying as Barlach's, but less linear, more three-dimensional. One may look forward to seeing this piece carved in the limestone the artist handles so competently in the memorial head of his son and in the memorable mother and child group of last year. Cornelia Chapin's animals need no introduction-one has the feeling they always have been there. Her standstone relief is proof that a living theme may be adapted to the same conventions that dictate the full-length heiratic figures of ancient Egypt. Two reliefs stand out with remarkable power: Baizerman's hammered copper Exuberance with its marvelously controlled, intertwining forms, and (continued on page 22) are further names whose inclusion in these events is rapidly making the Sculptor's Guild a decisive factor in American art.

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