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Page 1: A Summer Trip to Europe

A Summer Trip to EuropeAuthor(s): Dorothy Bridaham and Lester BridahamSource: Art Journal, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Spring, 1970), pp. 334-335+337Published by: College Art AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/775463 .

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Page 2: A Summer Trip to Europe

A Summer Trip to Europe Lester and Dorothy Bridaham

Being notes and comments on a trip mostly by automobile, which the Bridahams made last summer, starting with a flight to Vienna and ending with a flight from London to New York.

LESTER: Advance preparations. I made all my important hotel reservations in February, sending with each letter a ten dollar check. Usually my letter was on the hotel desk when I arrived and it helped to have the ten dol- lars to take off my final bill. I'd never trust a travel agent to do this for me.

ANOTHER TRAVELLER: This is a good plan, in fact it is prudent today to do this in cities like London, Paris, Rome, at all times of the year, and, I agree, it's better to write per- sonally than to use a travel agent. However, for smaller cities I depend on telephoning ahead the day before. It allows for flexibility.

LESTER: A few years ago I tried to get an American Express card for charging things but was told that teachers are a poor risk. And being fed up with waiting in line at American Express offices to draw out cash on their letter of credit, I decided to get one from a bank. After weeks of waiting it came made out to my wife! So she would have had to handle all the finances instead of concen- trating on art museums. I told the bank what

they could do with the letter of credit and

bought a money belt, putting all my cash into it. At first it bulged under my shirt un- til I changed some of the fives and tens for larger bills.

OTHER TRAVELLER: I don't understand why you didn't get travellers' checks. If you have a grudge against American Express, you can

always buy Cook's or National City Bank.

LESTER: I wrote to one of the big gasoline companies for road maps. After months of waiting and a letter to the director they finally came the day before we left.

OTHER TRAVELLER: Why bother? You can get maps at gas stations anywhere in Europe.

THE BRIDAHAMS live in Denver where Doro- thy, who has an M.A. from the University of Chicago, teaches art history at the Uni-

versity of Denver. Lester is a painter and photographer and has just published the sec- ond edition of his Gargoyles, Chimeres and the Grotesque in French Gothic Sculpture. He is now working on his second volume on the sculpture of the Middle Ages in England, Germany, Italy, and Spain, with 600 photo- graphs. a

Also I was hoping you'd mention the Miche- lin guides for France and Italy. They're ex- tremely helpful.

LESTER: We decided to buy a Peugeot 404 sedan and have it delivered to Mestre above Venice on July 2. It had to be purchased from Cars Overseas in New York, which caused some delays and frustrations. More about that later.

OTHER TRAVELLER: You don't mention insur- ance, but I assume you received with your automobile papers the international insur- ance certificate (green card) which for your car is what your passport is for you.

LESTER: Before getting the car we went by air to Vienna, and after a few days there, to Ven- ice. Vienna-what a dream for art! And cost of living cheap compared to other countries visited. Twenty museums! But imagine, no el- evators in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The staff carries works of art up and down the marble staircases.

COMMENT BY DOROTHY: Lester remembered Vienna from the '20's-his enthusiasm for the work of Egon Schiele and the Wiener Werkstatte. Since then the war and occupa- tion. Twenty-five years later repairs are still being made to St. Stephan's Cathedral, to the Karlskirche, and to the Belvedere Palace. One wonders how so poor a country can maintain museums so numerous, vast, and impeccably clean. But the Viennese put first things first-art, music, cuisine. In July America landed the first men on the moon.

We stayed at the Graben Hotel on Doro- theergasse (I liked to think the street was named after me), near the Graben with its Baroque fountains, and the Augustinerstrasse with its Albertina and its Spanish Riding School. The food! Leberknodlsuppe, wild boar at the Weincaf6 of the Palais Schwarzenberg, coffee and cake at Demel's. The Original Alt- mann & Kiihne candy store is here. And the music! Bruckner in the mass at the Burgka- pelle. The disembodied voices of the Vienna choir boys floating in space from the loft above us. Next we went by plane from Vienna to Venice.

LESTER: I strongly suggest that everyone in art going to Italy get those free entry cards for the museums which are so kindly sup- plied by Alitalia Airlines at one dollar each. We found we got in free at all national muse- ums but not the municipal ones. The card is a good one to flash on ticket takers even in France. We saved the price of several lunches this way. Always in Italy we stay five days in Venice at the Royal Danieli, the greatest ho- tel in the world in the greatest city in the world. You should see the five-dollar-a-night places we stayed in after this! We always have

room 72 in the old palace building, what a dream of a room! What a view of Guardi from the windows!

DOROTHY COMMIENTS: At the Danieli we were greeted by tubs of pink hydrangeas. Break- fasted in a room seemingly inspired by the coppery and silvery tones of a Tintoretto; we looked out on a constantly changing spectacle of shipping-boats laden with wine casks or vegetables, fishing boats, tugs, tankers, de- stroyers, garbage scows, and transatlantic cruise vessels. Visited San Giorgio Maggiore, Palladio's creation of majestic space and bea- tific harmony; patterns in the marble floor look as if they had been designed by Va- sarely. At the Lido, a small outdoor dance floor crowded with young people, the boys full-lipped Caravaggio types. "La Dolce Vita" come to life.

LESTER: Phoned the garage in Mestre (with the help of the concierge) about delivery of our Peugeot. No car. Phoned Paris. Delivery tomorrow. Went to Mestre. Still no car. More phone calls. Rented Fiat from Avis. Had to produce $68 from my money belt. Garage man sent us to wonderful restaurant, Tratto- ria dall'Amelia. Then Padua, the Giotto fres- coes, and next day our Peugeot arrived. Hur- rah! I always swore I'd never drive in Italy. I know I'd never do so in Rome. But Italy is not as bad as France where they treat driving as a sporting event and come wildly around curves far too much over on your side. Yet, actually we saw more accidents in the U.S.A. on our return than in Europe.

DOROTHY: Not forgetting the Donatello re- liefs at Il Santo. But Vicenza was one of the glorious surprises of our trip with its many stately buildings by Palladio.

LESTER: I am sorry for the art scholar who has never been to Vicenza to see the Teatro Olimpico by Palladio, and his Villa Rotonda out-of-town, and the absolutely knock-out Villa Valmarana three miles out, where you walk into the house and find the most superb Tiepolo paintings, fresh and sharp as if the artists had just finished them. Nothing can match this experience.

DOROTHY: It was fascinating not only to see these decorations in the place where the Tie- polos, father and son, painted them, creating a total environment which made any other adornment unnecessary, but also to catch glimpses of family photographs, beautiful old furniture and books in three or four lan- guages. (The owners were about to take up their summer residence and all was being got ready for their arrival.) What a contrast to the prisonlike atmosphere at the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pa., where ladies even have to check their handbags!

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Page 3: A Summer Trip to Europe

In quick succession we saw some of the trea- sures of Verona, Mantua, Parma, Modena, and Bologna, all fascinating cities throbbing with life (and, alas, traffic) around a me- dieval core. In the Opera del Duomo in Modena, eight magnificent twelfth-century bas reliefs. And the Libreria Este in the same

city with an air-conditioned room in marble,

glass and bronze for the display of its collec- tion of illuminated manuscripts.

And the food! Lasagne verde, which melts in your mouth, bowls of fresh apricots and

peaches, and wild strawberries. In Florence, extensive repair work still going

on (after the 1966 flood damage) on the

Cathedral, Baptistery, Santa Croce, San Marco, Santa Maria Novella. Michelangelo's tondo in the Bargello has lost its soft sf u-

miato, changing the Madonna's brooding ex-

pression. The stone now has a scrubbed look and some black oil streaks on the face and black marks lower down could not be eradi- cated.

We loved to look out of our window at the

gardens of the Annalena, a farm in the mid- dle of Florence, with chickens, vegetables, fig, nut, and pear trees, and a cat that liked to

prowl across tile roofs. The traffic roars down the Via Romana and crossing the street ter- rified me. Signora Rossoni lifted her arm with

implicit trust in the humanity of her coun-

trymen and asserted, "They'll always stop!" After visits to Siena, San Gimignano, Vol-

terra, Lucca and Pisa, we drove over the Cin-

queterre on narrow, twisting mountain roads. Paths climbed a fantastic wooded cliff like those in a painting by Patenir and descended to the sea with its rocks and pebbled shore.

At sunset sea and sky melted together in a haze of pink. Next day, a rivederci, Italy.

LESTER: NOW to France. Why in Montpellier, when they go to the trouble to produce a tourist booklet of the city, can't they tell you that the Musee Fabre is closed on Mondays?

OTHER TRAVELLER: Agreed, but you must have

forgotten that many museums close on Mon- days.

LESTER: We got in at ten on a rainy Tuesday. What a collection! But what horrible gritty- voiced guards who scream at one another all

day! And what filthy toilets. Next: to Aix where they charge four francs to get into the Musee Granet and they have two important Ingres paintings but no postcards of any- thing. What kind of art education is this?

OTHER TRAVELLER: I had hoped you might

speak of the museums along the C6te d'Azur -Matisse at Nice, the Maeght collection at Saint Paul, Leger at Biot and Picasso at An- tibes. All small but delightful.

DOROTHY: "La douce France"-everywhere a riot of flowers, wonderful things to see, and

delicious food to eat. Most of all we enjoyed the Marseillan Plage, a great sweep of unex-

ploited beach, the museum at Montpellier, Montauban for its associations with Ingres and Bourdelle, the medieval towns of Sarlat and Conques.

LESTER: The joy of having our wonderful car.

Going to Conques in Aveyron from our base in Souillac. Conques, one of the really great Romanesque churches, and its fabulous trea-

sury of Sainte Foy. On the facade are little heads of men who peek under the linen fold above. Trying to get into the Lascaux caves at Montignac in the Dordogne is mighty frus-

trating, for they don't bother to tell you in town that the caves are closed to avoid con- tamination .... Bourges with its great cathe- dral, but the shortage of hotels there!

Paris in August, bad fumes, very hot. Most of the inexpensive restaurants closed. Tried our Italian cards on the ticket lady at the Louvre. It worked first day. Second time she refused. Said she allowed student price yester- day "pour la gentillesse." What a crazy repro- ductions department, selling postcards from

every museum in the world, even Hartford, Connecticut! Some of the galleries closed for

half-day, but no announcement of it. Yet, what a glorious collection! And as an inde-

fatigable photographer (for my slide col-

lection), I was happy to get a permit for five francs and to find the light so good that with Kodachrome II film I could take detail shots at F2.9, 1/25th second, hand-held, and have them come out perfectly. Of course, there is always some fat lady in a big polka- dot dress and beret working in front of the

painting I want to photograph. If you want to

go to the washroom on the second floor of the Louvre there is an unmarked door at the far end of the Bestegui collection (Ingres and

David). The guard in letting you in offers

you (for a tip) a torn piece of newspaper, for there is nothing in the room.

DOROTHY: We set out for Normandy with its thatched roofs and espaliered fruit trees. Mont-Saint-Michel suddenly appeared ghost- like in the mist and we had a marvelous din- ner at Mere Poulard's. We watched the fa- mous omelette being made over the open fire -for three people, six eggs and a half-pound of butter, the eggs beaten for 200 strokes in a

copper bowl with a whisk; two men took turns whipping them.

Our last night in France was spent in Hon- fleur, long a favorite of ours. We had trav- elled the whole length of France. What riches! What experiences! Adieu, la belle France. Adieu, our Peugeot.

LESTER: I had to get someone to ship the car from France to New York at the end of Au-

gust and luckily got the French Line to ac-

cept it at a reduced rate. But we had a terri-

ble time trying to find the elevated auto office on the Gare Maritime at Le Havre. After asking directions of five people, we

finally heard the phrase, "passage a niveau," which Dottie remembered from a novel by Colette as a grade crossing and that saved us. We had barely enough time to put all our stuff in a taxi and catch the one o'clock

ferry to Southampton.

DOROTHY: We rented a Ford in Salisbury and were off on a tour of the cathedral towns. Our daughter, Vivi, who had joined us was

adept at driving on the left, even in London traffic. We especially enjoyed Salisbury, Wells and Durham. England respects the dignity of the individual. Hotel lounges are like draw-

ing rooms, pubs like family sitting rooms. Even the underground railroad cars have up- holstered seats with arms. Man is not sub-

jected to unnecessary stress and strain. High standards of conduct, performance, and hon-

esty are taken for granted. God bless En-

gland! In London we had the thrill of seeing Les-

ter's scintillating print, Grand Canyon Blaze, which the Victoria and Albert purchased, in the print study room of that great museum.

LESTER: Someone is always taking care of

you, either the taxi driver, the bobby, or the hotel keeper; you always have a faithful

nanny. Where else could it happen that on

finding that the rates of a hotel are too higll for your budget, the clerk will call a cheaper hotel and book for you?

London, what a city for art collections! And where there is never an admission charge. The British Museum, where you can take a camera everywhere and photograph anything without special permission. I en- joyed shooting the Elgin marbles in full sun- light-horses, legs, heads, anything I liked; same for the Egyptian and Mesopotamian collections. The well-planned bookstore with thousands of fine postcards-both color and black-and-white. The Henry Moore sculpture, Moon Head, shown next to the Cyclades figures with an original letter from Moore to the Director. The superb new installation of the classical collections. The ease with which the art student can get a pass to the Reading Room.

One arrives back in the U.S.A. with a dull, sickening thud. To hit Kennedy Airport on

August 28, just before Labor Day, with 250,000 tourists coming through! As guests of the U.S. Treasury Department with no one to show you what to do, you stand in line inter-

minably while the immigration officers check each name against a black list. Then you fight for a cart to get your baggage off the conveyor belt. The night when we went

through, someone from a Greek charter flight had brought a plastic bag of olive oil which broke on the baggage conveyor belt-no one

(Continued on page 337)

335

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Page 4: A Summer Trip to Europe

A tapestry or carpet, the design of which is created by a leading artist; a work of art or dutiable under the tapestry or carpet provi- sions of the Tariff Schedules?

Sculpture having a utilitarian use or de- scribed in item 513.51 or 534.11 set out above as being the product of a professional sculptor; are such pieces not works of art?

Mechanical art which is being created to-

day by several artists incorporating the use of machines; works of art?

Similar examples like the above could con- tinue in an unlimited manner. The above situations are not hypotheticals. They are not the fancy of this article. They represent cases which have actually occurred and which have met with disturbing, mixed results. Suffice it to say that one arm of the Government, the Smithsonian Institution, with its accredited

experts on art, is often at odds with the Bu- reau of Customs, on how an import should be

classified; the Smithsonian claiming the arti- cle to be a work of art; Customs not easily convinced although they are arguing with ex-

perts. Private collectors of art, as well as mu-

seums, have shared, and presently share, in this problem and have a significant vested in- terest in its solution.

Congress should promptly solve this di- lemma. Otherwise, they, by their own created

law, are discouraging the free importation of works of art into the United States; a situa- tion which was never intended. How should

Congress act? This article suggests three possible solu-

tions to this problem. 1. Congress should amend the Tariff Act

of 1930, as amended, by providing that all tariff questions concerning works of art should be decided by the Smithsonian In- stitution rather than the Bureau of Cus- toms. This would, most likely, necessitate a

newly created division of art experts within that Institution.

2. Form a department or bureau of art to deal with the above mentioned problems and with any other matters concerning art in its entirety. Such a department or bureau would naturally be composed of experts on the subject of art.

3. Staff the Bureau of Customs with an office of experts in the subject of art to deal

exclusively with the discussed problems.

In all three solutions, the importation of an article claimed to be a work of art need not be delayed at the United States port of entry until a decision is reached on its dutiable sta- tus. Such articles could immediately be re- leased to importers, temporarily free of duty, until a decision is reached by art experts, wherever they may be housed in our Govern- ment. Of course, photographs, the history, composition, and a complete description of the imported piece should be furnished the

proper Government art experts, at the im-

porter's expense, so that an intelligent deci-

A tapestry or carpet, the design of which is created by a leading artist; a work of art or dutiable under the tapestry or carpet provi- sions of the Tariff Schedules?

Sculpture having a utilitarian use or de- scribed in item 513.51 or 534.11 set out above as being the product of a professional sculptor; are such pieces not works of art?

Mechanical art which is being created to-

day by several artists incorporating the use of machines; works of art?

Similar examples like the above could con- tinue in an unlimited manner. The above situations are not hypotheticals. They are not the fancy of this article. They represent cases which have actually occurred and which have met with disturbing, mixed results. Suffice it to say that one arm of the Government, the Smithsonian Institution, with its accredited

experts on art, is often at odds with the Bu- reau of Customs, on how an import should be

classified; the Smithsonian claiming the arti- cle to be a work of art; Customs not easily convinced although they are arguing with ex-

perts. Private collectors of art, as well as mu-

seums, have shared, and presently share, in this problem and have a significant vested in- terest in its solution.

Congress should promptly solve this di- lemma. Otherwise, they, by their own created

law, are discouraging the free importation of works of art into the United States; a situa- tion which was never intended. How should

Congress act? This article suggests three possible solu-

tions to this problem. 1. Congress should amend the Tariff Act

of 1930, as amended, by providing that all tariff questions concerning works of art should be decided by the Smithsonian In- stitution rather than the Bureau of Cus- toms. This would, most likely, necessitate a

newly created division of art experts within that Institution.

2. Form a department or bureau of art to deal with the above mentioned problems and with any other matters concerning art in its entirety. Such a department or bureau would naturally be composed of experts on the subject of art.

3. Staff the Bureau of Customs with an office of experts in the subject of art to deal

exclusively with the discussed problems.

In all three solutions, the importation of an article claimed to be a work of art need not be delayed at the United States port of entry until a decision is reached on its dutiable sta- tus. Such articles could immediately be re- leased to importers, temporarily free of duty, until a decision is reached by art experts, wherever they may be housed in our Govern- ment. Of course, photographs, the history, composition, and a complete description of the imported piece should be furnished the

proper Government art experts, at the im-

porter's expense, so that an intelligent deci-

A tapestry or carpet, the design of which is created by a leading artist; a work of art or dutiable under the tapestry or carpet provi- sions of the Tariff Schedules?

Sculpture having a utilitarian use or de- scribed in item 513.51 or 534.11 set out above as being the product of a professional sculptor; are such pieces not works of art?

Mechanical art which is being created to-

day by several artists incorporating the use of machines; works of art?

Similar examples like the above could con- tinue in an unlimited manner. The above situations are not hypotheticals. They are not the fancy of this article. They represent cases which have actually occurred and which have met with disturbing, mixed results. Suffice it to say that one arm of the Government, the Smithsonian Institution, with its accredited

experts on art, is often at odds with the Bu- reau of Customs, on how an import should be

classified; the Smithsonian claiming the arti- cle to be a work of art; Customs not easily convinced although they are arguing with ex-

perts. Private collectors of art, as well as mu-

seums, have shared, and presently share, in this problem and have a significant vested in- terest in its solution.

Congress should promptly solve this di- lemma. Otherwise, they, by their own created

law, are discouraging the free importation of works of art into the United States; a situa- tion which was never intended. How should

Congress act? This article suggests three possible solu-

tions to this problem. 1. Congress should amend the Tariff Act

of 1930, as amended, by providing that all tariff questions concerning works of art should be decided by the Smithsonian In- stitution rather than the Bureau of Cus- toms. This would, most likely, necessitate a

newly created division of art experts within that Institution.

2. Form a department or bureau of art to deal with the above mentioned problems and with any other matters concerning art in its entirety. Such a department or bureau would naturally be composed of experts on the subject of art.

3. Staff the Bureau of Customs with an office of experts in the subject of art to deal

exclusively with the discussed problems.

In all three solutions, the importation of an article claimed to be a work of art need not be delayed at the United States port of entry until a decision is reached on its dutiable sta- tus. Such articles could immediately be re- leased to importers, temporarily free of duty, until a decision is reached by art experts, wherever they may be housed in our Govern- ment. Of course, photographs, the history, composition, and a complete description of the imported piece should be furnished the

proper Government art experts, at the im-

porter's expense, so that an intelligent deci-

sion can be rendered. Similar procedures are followed today. However, as stated, the ulti- mate decision on works of art are made, not

by experts, but by a group of Government officials who are, self-admittedly, laymen in their knowledge of the subject of art.

There are other possible solutions besides the three discussed. It is hoped that an inter- est may be generated among those sincerely interested in seeing a free flow of art im-

ported into the United States, thereby in-

creasing the scope and quality of art in this country.

Those genuinely interested in the discussed

problem should urge Congress to strive for its solution. It is interesting to note that, at the present time, no efforts are known to ex- ist in Congress to alter the existing situation.

A SUMMER TRIP TO EUROPE

(Continued from page 335) from Customs would think of cleaning it up. Then we got our 10 pieces, including a doll from India in its carton and a tube of prints and posters, spread out on the Customs counter.

OTHER TRAVELLER: With your previous travel

experience you could have reduced that amount of baggage. Lots of travellers get by with one suitcase and one cabin bag per person.

LESTER: You forget that I'm a photographer. I have to carry 60 rolls of film and bring them all back for developing, plus three cam- eras and two lenses, wide angle and telephoto, and all the sun shades and a tripod, plus a tube for prints. After the Customs struggle came the battle for a porter. Five times I tried in vain to get one. Finally we made it to the taxi stand. I ran out, as I always do after the theater, and flagged one, only to get thrown out because we didn't have a num- bered ticket; but the cab driver was smart. He got a man with a ticket and took the two of us along with his regular fare. By this time I could hardly count our luggage, I was so dead tired. A fitting end to this surrealistic return was the 80-mile per hour ride with the

competent but mad Puerto-Rican driver who had his radio screeching loudly with rock mu- sic all the way to town.

Next day after a lot of red tape and brib-

ing a stevedore I finally got our Peugeot from the French Line unscratched, and with duty of only $62.50 since we had put 3,300 miles on the car. And after a hectic Labor Day visit to the Metropolitan Museum, we began the long drive to Denver.

P.S. I sent these notes to you because I

thought some of them might be helpful to readers planning to travel abroad this sum- mer.

sion can be rendered. Similar procedures are followed today. However, as stated, the ulti- mate decision on works of art are made, not

by experts, but by a group of Government officials who are, self-admittedly, laymen in their knowledge of the subject of art.

There are other possible solutions besides the three discussed. It is hoped that an inter- est may be generated among those sincerely interested in seeing a free flow of art im-

ported into the United States, thereby in-

creasing the scope and quality of art in this country.

Those genuinely interested in the discussed

problem should urge Congress to strive for its solution. It is interesting to note that, at the present time, no efforts are known to ex- ist in Congress to alter the existing situation.

A SUMMER TRIP TO EUROPE

(Continued from page 335) from Customs would think of cleaning it up. Then we got our 10 pieces, including a doll from India in its carton and a tube of prints and posters, spread out on the Customs counter.

OTHER TRAVELLER: With your previous travel

experience you could have reduced that amount of baggage. Lots of travellers get by with one suitcase and one cabin bag per person.

LESTER: You forget that I'm a photographer. I have to carry 60 rolls of film and bring them all back for developing, plus three cam- eras and two lenses, wide angle and telephoto, and all the sun shades and a tripod, plus a tube for prints. After the Customs struggle came the battle for a porter. Five times I tried in vain to get one. Finally we made it to the taxi stand. I ran out, as I always do after the theater, and flagged one, only to get thrown out because we didn't have a num- bered ticket; but the cab driver was smart. He got a man with a ticket and took the two of us along with his regular fare. By this time I could hardly count our luggage, I was so dead tired. A fitting end to this surrealistic return was the 80-mile per hour ride with the

competent but mad Puerto-Rican driver who had his radio screeching loudly with rock mu- sic all the way to town.

Next day after a lot of red tape and brib-

ing a stevedore I finally got our Peugeot from the French Line unscratched, and with duty of only $62.50 since we had put 3,300 miles on the car. And after a hectic Labor Day visit to the Metropolitan Museum, we began the long drive to Denver.

P.S. I sent these notes to you because I

thought some of them might be helpful to readers planning to travel abroad this sum- mer.

sion can be rendered. Similar procedures are followed today. However, as stated, the ulti- mate decision on works of art are made, not

by experts, but by a group of Government officials who are, self-admittedly, laymen in their knowledge of the subject of art.

There are other possible solutions besides the three discussed. It is hoped that an inter- est may be generated among those sincerely interested in seeing a free flow of art im-

ported into the United States, thereby in-

creasing the scope and quality of art in this country.

Those genuinely interested in the discussed

problem should urge Congress to strive for its solution. It is interesting to note that, at the present time, no efforts are known to ex- ist in Congress to alter the existing situation.

A SUMMER TRIP TO EUROPE

(Continued from page 335) from Customs would think of cleaning it up. Then we got our 10 pieces, including a doll from India in its carton and a tube of prints and posters, spread out on the Customs counter.

OTHER TRAVELLER: With your previous travel

experience you could have reduced that amount of baggage. Lots of travellers get by with one suitcase and one cabin bag per person.

LESTER: You forget that I'm a photographer. I have to carry 60 rolls of film and bring them all back for developing, plus three cam- eras and two lenses, wide angle and telephoto, and all the sun shades and a tripod, plus a tube for prints. After the Customs struggle came the battle for a porter. Five times I tried in vain to get one. Finally we made it to the taxi stand. I ran out, as I always do after the theater, and flagged one, only to get thrown out because we didn't have a num- bered ticket; but the cab driver was smart. He got a man with a ticket and took the two of us along with his regular fare. By this time I could hardly count our luggage, I was so dead tired. A fitting end to this surrealistic return was the 80-mile per hour ride with the

competent but mad Puerto-Rican driver who had his radio screeching loudly with rock mu- sic all the way to town.

Next day after a lot of red tape and brib-

ing a stevedore I finally got our Peugeot from the French Line unscratched, and with duty of only $62.50 since we had put 3,300 miles on the car. And after a hectic Labor Day visit to the Metropolitan Museum, we began the long drive to Denver.

P.S. I sent these notes to you because I

thought some of them might be helpful to readers planning to travel abroad this sum- mer.

The Index of Twentieth Cen- tury Artists: Obscure but Valuable

Helene Barbara Weinberg A brief note in Art News for January 28,

1933, announced that:

The Research Institute of the College Art Association will introduce in February, 1933, a new service in the form of a

monthly publication called The Index of Twentieth Century Artists. It will contain full reference material in compiled form, not only on contemporary artists but also on their immediate forerunners. . . .

No further publicity is to be found in con-

temporary periodicals. The Foreword of the first issue, dated October, 1933,2 outlined the

purpose of the publication. It was

to make available data about the artists of our own time, concerning many of whom little research has as yet been undertaken. The material which we are to provide will have its field of usefulness in the compila- tion of catalogues, the writing of books, the studying of contemporary art history, etc.3

Although its publication ceased, without

explanation, after less than four years, the Index is a useful tool for the student of American art. It is, however, not widely known. It is listed in such general bibliog- raphies as Elizabeth McCausland's "Selected

Bibliography on American Painting and

Sculpture from Colonial Times to the Pres- ent".4 In Art and Life in America, Oliver Larkin includes it as a good reference for artists after 1900, advising his reader to con- sult it on individual artists for whom space is not available in his bibliography.5

If the researcher is, by such sources as these, made aware of the existence of the In- dex, he will still not know what it actually contains.6 Its title is misleading in that a

large number of issues were, in fact, devoted to artists generally associated with the nine- teenth century, although in many cases, the dates of their death fall within the twentieth. Such imporant native painters as Winslow

Homer, Thomas Eakins, and Albert Pink- ham Ryder are represented, as well as major expatriates John Singer Sargent, Mary Cas- satt, and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.'

MRS. WEINBERG, who is writing her doctoral dissertation in American art at Columbia

University submitted this report which we believe will be of interest to others engaged in research. a

The Index of Twentieth Cen- tury Artists: Obscure but Valuable

Helene Barbara Weinberg A brief note in Art News for January 28,

1933, announced that:

The Research Institute of the College Art Association will introduce in February, 1933, a new service in the form of a

monthly publication called The Index of Twentieth Century Artists. It will contain full reference material in compiled form, not only on contemporary artists but also on their immediate forerunners. . . .

No further publicity is to be found in con-

temporary periodicals. The Foreword of the first issue, dated October, 1933,2 outlined the

purpose of the publication. It was

to make available data about the artists of our own time, concerning many of whom little research has as yet been undertaken. The material which we are to provide will have its field of usefulness in the compila- tion of catalogues, the writing of books, the studying of contemporary art history, etc.3

Although its publication ceased, without

explanation, after less than four years, the Index is a useful tool for the student of American art. It is, however, not widely known. It is listed in such general bibliog- raphies as Elizabeth McCausland's "Selected

Bibliography on American Painting and

Sculpture from Colonial Times to the Pres- ent".4 In Art and Life in America, Oliver Larkin includes it as a good reference for artists after 1900, advising his reader to con- sult it on individual artists for whom space is not available in his bibliography.5

If the researcher is, by such sources as these, made aware of the existence of the In- dex, he will still not know what it actually contains.6 Its title is misleading in that a

large number of issues were, in fact, devoted to artists generally associated with the nine- teenth century, although in many cases, the dates of their death fall within the twentieth. Such imporant native painters as Winslow

Homer, Thomas Eakins, and Albert Pink- ham Ryder are represented, as well as major expatriates John Singer Sargent, Mary Cas- satt, and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.'

MRS. WEINBERG, who is writing her doctoral dissertation in American art at Columbia

University submitted this report which we believe will be of interest to others engaged in research. a

The Index of Twentieth Cen- tury Artists: Obscure but Valuable

Helene Barbara Weinberg A brief note in Art News for January 28,

1933, announced that:

The Research Institute of the College Art Association will introduce in February, 1933, a new service in the form of a

monthly publication called The Index of Twentieth Century Artists. It will contain full reference material in compiled form, not only on contemporary artists but also on their immediate forerunners. . . .

No further publicity is to be found in con-

temporary periodicals. The Foreword of the first issue, dated October, 1933,2 outlined the

purpose of the publication. It was

to make available data about the artists of our own time, concerning many of whom little research has as yet been undertaken. The material which we are to provide will have its field of usefulness in the compila- tion of catalogues, the writing of books, the studying of contemporary art history, etc.3

Although its publication ceased, without

explanation, after less than four years, the Index is a useful tool for the student of American art. It is, however, not widely known. It is listed in such general bibliog- raphies as Elizabeth McCausland's "Selected

Bibliography on American Painting and

Sculpture from Colonial Times to the Pres- ent".4 In Art and Life in America, Oliver Larkin includes it as a good reference for artists after 1900, advising his reader to con- sult it on individual artists for whom space is not available in his bibliography.5

If the researcher is, by such sources as these, made aware of the existence of the In- dex, he will still not know what it actually contains.6 Its title is misleading in that a

large number of issues were, in fact, devoted to artists generally associated with the nine- teenth century, although in many cases, the dates of their death fall within the twentieth. Such imporant native painters as Winslow

Homer, Thomas Eakins, and Albert Pink- ham Ryder are represented, as well as major expatriates John Singer Sargent, Mary Cas- satt, and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.'

MRS. WEINBERG, who is writing her doctoral dissertation in American art at Columbia

University submitted this report which we believe will be of interest to others engaged in research. a

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