In Pittsburgh

In addition to the prize winning paintings at the International Exhibition of the Carnegie Institute (TIME, May 5), intense interest has been excited among distinguished visitors to the show by three portraits: Miss Margaret Kahri-- by Ignacio Zuloaga depicts the American girl in a Spanish costume and shawl against one of those haunting landscapes used as backgrounds by this artist. Portrait of My Mother by Malcolm Purcell shows a filial tenderness somewhat reminiscent of Whistler's famous portrait of his mother in its pose and lighting, although Purcell has used a landscape background for this interior subject. Sir William Orpen's Portrait of Richard F. Knoedler is the most academic of the three, displaying technical skill and a keen insight into character.

Visitors congratulated Homer St. Gaudens (Art Director of the Institute) on his cosmopolitan assemblage of Art, unbiased by academic prejudice.

Augustus St. Gaudens had just completed his famous memorial statue of Farragut, now standing in Madison Square, New York, when his son, Homer, was born at Roxbury, Mass. This was in 1881, just when the great sculptor was achieving the recognition and success for which he had striven. The son was the idol of his father, posing as early as the age of 17 months for a bronze plaque. Here we find one of the earliest essays of the father in low relief, but it has all the characteristics of a masterpiece. The soft lines and curves of the baby are rendered with real love and sympathy, that still avoids sentimentality.

When Homer St. Gaudens was seven, his father visited Robert Louis Stevenson, taking the child with him. The purpose of the visit was to make a bronze medal of the writer, who was then sick-a-bed, making his plans for a visit to the South Sea Islands. There was great difficulty in getting a pose which was not artificial and forced. The sculptor at last suggested that Stevenson write something. He picked up a sheet of paper and began, at once falling into the natural pose immortalized in the famed St. Gaudens Medal. At the end of the pose, Stevenson handed the sculptor the sheet he had been writing. It proved to be a letter to the seven year old Homer, for his reading ten years later. The great writer, much touched by the child, referred to him in this letter as " a very pretty boy, and singularly self-possessed."

Homer St. Gaudens spent much of his youth in the circle of artists and writers gathered around his famed father. He, too, decided to become an artist, went first to Germany, then to Paris, where he studied drawing. Many of his drawings were sent back to the loving parent for criticism.

On his return to America he became interested in the Theatre-- particularly in the work of Maude Adams. He was for years her stage manager. It was in the Theatre that he met John D. Williams, director of Rain. He staged many of his plays (particularly Justice and All Souls Eve). This association continued until the outbreak of the War.

Homer St. Gaudens, with a knowledge of Art, coupled with fluent command of French and German, was chosen to aid the U.S. camouflage corps. He was instrumental in building up this new and important corps of the Army, showing great ability as an organizer and leader. In France he was known to his, men as " Silk Hat Harry"--a name gleaned from his own phraseology in describing the effect of walking across grass as similar to that acquired in brushing a silk hat. During the German drive on Paris in the early part of June, 1918, when the Second Division was thrown in the breach, every available officer was placed on duty. St. Gaudens found himself Secretary to the Chief of Staff of this Division. He showed great bravery during the fearful days and nights when the drive was held and repulsed.

The Armistice and Peace found St. Gaudens back in the Theatre with Mr. Williams who then produced The Letter of the Law.

But the position of Captain of Camoufleurs had brought him into prominence and he was chosen three years ago as the Art Director of the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh. Carnegie is one of the most important art schools in the country and the position of Director is a prominent one. Mr. St. Gaudens has shown great executive ability in this post. For a quarter of a century, the International Exhibition at Carnegie Institute has been the most important show of the year. The new Director has enlarged the scope of the show to include the better known of the modern artists-- Gauguin, Bellows, etc. And this year he made a special trip to Europe to find the best the continent could offer to be shown alongside the best American work. The result was the return with him of Paul Albert Besnard, the foremost French painter (TIME, April 21).

In an address to the ex-camoufleurs last Fall, before his departure, Mr. St. Gaudens said his aim was to connect Art with the ordinary life of the people and to stimulate a more general appreciation of artists and their aims.

With reporting by TIME