Lively variety on every level is the keynote, as members of the gallery’s painting stable join recognized West Coast sculptors and several newcomers. The late John Bernhardt’s proportional measuring rod The Dimensions of Man is spread­eagled in greeting. An A-framed starfish in choice worn redwood and silvery spring tendons, it amply demonstrates again his naive sophistication and inge­nious near-functional inventiveness. Junk for Bernhardt was never discarded, it was aged; raw materials whose use had given them friendly character, wait­ing to be combined with taste and rein­vested with new

The technical achievement that is attained would alone make John Mc­Laughlin’s first series of lithographs historic museum pieces. These are flaw­less works, both in design and crafts­manship. The rectangular relationships of the simple neutral forms are abso­lute. Some of the pieces are conceived in black and white only, others employ primary colors that are exquisitely subtle in tone. Although he owes a partial debt to Mondrian, McLaughlin’s concept is eastern, not western. Whereas Mondrian sought a “plastic quality,” McLaughlin is interested in the “static” and its power to evoke a state of

Two exhibi­tions of Frasconi’s prints; those at the Ankrum are recent prints (1962 and 1963); those at the Sabersky Gallery range over the past 10 to 12 years. One cannot help but be impressed by the consistently high quality of his work. His more recent work, especially in lith­ography, reveals an expanded involve­ment with color. In his “Alhambra Series” he couples a subtle use of brilliant, intense color with his powerful delineation in black areas and linear forms. Several of the prints, such as Beasts and Graves or Dark Night and New Moon create a strange impres­sion with their surfaces

Mr. Evans has gathered a random selection of equally interesting works ranging from the asceticism of Morandi and Giaco­metti to a voluptuous giantess by La­chaise, and from the camera accuracy and academic modeling of Orpen to the diffused labyrinth of Appel. Mirko is represented by a Woman of 1944, with a hard, ornamentally incised feeling which strikes one as almost perversely fin-de-siècle. Henri Gaudier-Brezska and Christopher Wood, seldom seen and little known, are shown in fine gestural observations of the model. Indeed, sculp­tural records of studio nudes, with quali­ties of having come

Several pieces merit mention from this summer review of the gallery’s artists, who, for the most part, verge on taste­fulness of the School of Paris variety.

Faralla’s new Gold Post of small curls and fragmented lengths builds to a Nevelsonian totem which is finished in a fine and unobtrusive working of soft black into an ochre surface, yield­ing a weighty, dense flow with imper­ceptible transitions. Four of Anthony Berlant’s latest constructed, fabric­-covered panels show him working to vary his previous splayed cruciform figures. Miss Beauchamp divides into a split personality, Hello, Lola! 

Examples of each grand name offer a linear feast for the eyes, as Picasso’s amazons and fauns compete for attention with a set of three resting dancers by Matisse. In one corner the tenderly awkward Burch­field contours fight the Eilshemius gaucheries as Braque’s Birds soar be­fore the sun. In this plenitude of riches, Chagall, Leger, Modigliani, Rouault, Ku­niyoshi, Matta, Dalí, Gorky, Rothko, and Kline vie to open the collector's purse; and if this were not enough, real hand­made puddles by Burton, Goodman, and Fields await us on the back walls. As surely as the surplus stock is stacked on

Rodin’s complete absorption with the concept of movement is vividly dis­played in a small collection of water­colors at the Esther Robles Gallery. They are some of the artist’s last works, no more than ten or so in number. Yet they are some of his most exciting drawings available. Leaping figures are caught at the peak of action. The feel­ing of balance is only momentary. Noth­ing comes to rest. The literary romanti­cism that clouded most of Rodin’s imagery seems to have faded. The nude figure has become his vehicle for the communication of motion in a formal sense. Executed with an amazing

In his recent drawings and paintings, Robert Hartman achieves a feeling of freshness and originality that makes his canvases quite enjoyable. Although the pieces read as totally non-objective compositions, they have a direct refer­ence to scenes from nature. Primary colors, offset by vivid greens, dominate. The best of the canvases employ large areas of white to relieve the vigorous and at times overpowering brushwork that has the character of action paint­ing. Further stability is achieved by using a square canvas. Occasionally the artist introduces bits of collage in a manner slightly reminiscent

The history of architec­turally oriented arts (tapestry, mosaics, mural painting) provides three overlap­ping alternates of organization and of spatial considerations: the heraldic banner; the repeated pattern of the frankly and joyously decorative interpretation of a scene or subject; and the least noteworthy Hellenistic phase, the illu­sionistic rendering of a painter’s touch. Thus, while Sicard’s rendered skyscrap­er wins only sympathy for the skilled weaver’s dedication at reproducing brushstrokes of broken analogous tones, Leger’s Constructeurs, because of the master’s two-dimensional

Reflecting the styles and techniques of the ’30s, Harry Sternberg’s prints seem a bit out of date today. It must be rec­ognized, however, that Sternberg was primarily responsible for establishing standards that were necessary in order that the print processes could become what they are today, both commercially and as fine arts media. His “Serigraph Portrait Series” are documents of high craftsmanship as well as delightful re­cordings of many of the outstanding figures of the art world prior to World War II. In these caricatures, Sternberg emulates the style of the artist in a manner that adds

Paul Donin is a student who is being given an exhibition by the Rivas Gallery in line with a policy of the gallery to bring out young talent. His works naturally show a lack of consistency, as he is ex­ploring a number of directions. His figure studies are at their best when he paints them directly, allowing only the brush technique to abstract them. When he uses the figure as a starting point for an abstraction, the result is not very strong. His abstractions show a sense of design, but again, where he attempts a more personal statement, or to utilize objects as the basis of his work, the works

Bearing their certificate of acceptable acade­mism (Royal or National) as if it were a seal of Good Housekeeping product approval, the paintings here divide themselves evenly along lines of old school innocence and contemporary slickness. They ignore the axiom that a lack of pictorial invention or inspiration equals little viewer response. Homely subject matter and illustrative senti­mentality abound in old and new: F. T. Johnson’s cattle ruminate contempla­tively around the ol’ campfire while Burt Proctor’s Indians prove him to be the fastest palette-knife west of True and Argosy.

Stylistic

David Leow took up painting in his forties, and has been fascinated with it ever since. His work does not have an art-school finish or approach, and is uneven in quality. He is at his best with small works, and his largest work Italian Alley displays almost all of his faults and none of his virtues. He is a colorist With a strong sense of design and pattern, and he often utilizes these senses in areas where such qualities would not neces­sarily be present naturally, to the great enrichment of his work. All of his works use either a landscape or still-life as their basis, and the smaller works

This summer group show is composed of paintings and sculptures by the gal­lery artists who use a variety of decora­tive techniques. There are paintings of sweet girls with flowers, boats in the harbor, cute Mexican peasants done with palette-knife and bright color, and flashy non-objectives. The sculptures are slick and well polished. All seem to be the result of monetary motivation on the part of the respective artists.

––Shirley Y. Pettibone

This new gallery opened with a group of paintings, sculptures and prints of mixed quality. Some of the old guard Los Angeles area painters (Phil Dike, Emil Kosa, Doug­lass Parshall) are exhibited along with artists who are somewhat more adven­turous. The work ranges from shallow decoration to pleasant abstraction to work which shows some consideration for esthetic problems. Outstanding in this group is Walter Askin’s Aetna, a stark, black, red and grey abstraction. Also noted was a print, Etching #3, by Ernest Freed.

––Shirley Y. Pettibone