Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 103, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1915 — RENSSELAER SCULPTOR SCORES BIG SUCCESS [ARTICLE]

RENSSELAER SCULPTOR SCORES BIG SUCCESS

Miss Mary Washburn and Frederick Webster Gave Joint Display at Matzene’s Studio. The North Shore Review, a publication in that Chicago suburb, contained an interesting account of an art display. at Matzene's studio in Chicago. The display was by Frederick Webster, painted, and Miss Mary Washburn, sculptor. Miss Washburn’s girlhood home was in Rensselaer and she modeled the Milroy monument. The success of the exhibit, not only as a display of art but from a social point of view, will be gratifying to all who know Miss Washburn and her deep interest in her work. Mr. Webster and his wife are both artists of ability and their display of paintings was heralded as a great triumph. He had chosen Miss Washburn at her work for his subject, “The Sculptress,” and the illustrated article in The Review showed Mr. and Mrs. Webster and the painting of the above title. Miss Washburn was in her studio and some of her subjects, notably “Flowers,” was shown in the painting. The Republican is indebted to Mrs. Ora T. Ross, who attended the exhibit, for a copy of The North Shore Review, from which the appended article was clipped. Mrs. Ross attended the exhibit and enjoyed it exceedingly. Space forbids the entire article, but the following has tq do especially with Miss Washburn’s part of the display: “Mr. Webster’s exhibit at Matzene’s is harmoniously re-enforced by the sculptured pieces and low relief work of Miss Washburn. She has the casts of three statuettes on display which have challenged much favorable attention. The statuette of “Mrs. Moore” approaches the Greek ideal in the severe and calssic simplicity of its lines, whereas the much admired statuette of “Philip Paul” is almost uncannily modem and distinctive. The latter piece demonstrates her success in grasping the elfish personality, the whims, the roguish naivete of childhood and depicting is in terms of sculpture. “This success is further demonstrated in her bust of a baby called “Flowers,” a charmingly conceived piece which won encomiums in the exhibit of Chicago artists in the institute last winter. The statuette of “Consolation,” in which childhood’s griefs are epitomized, has been exhibited in bronze in the Salon in Paris. Among the low relief work, the plaque of the sculptor’s mother with its medal reduction in bronze, has been one of the features of the exhibit. So also has been the relief of Mr. and Mrs. Webster with its exquisetely wrought counterpart in medal work. Other striking pieces are “Miss Bosen,” “Susan B. Anthony,” “Lincoln," “Innocence” and “Purity,” all of which are notable for their simple austerity of outline. “Miss Washburn studied originally jn the Chicago Art Institute for some years, later transferring her studies to Parii, where she was a pupil of Sawyer. Almost a score of her pieces have been recently sent to the Panama fair, where they are to be exhibited during the summer.”