Appropriation?

Congress has already provided a site for a National Gallery of Art in Washington, and the Smithsonian Institution has commissioned Charles Adams Platt to design the building (TIME, April 21). Last week, Congress was formally asked to appropriate $2,500,000 for the building--about one-third of what it will cost. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts did the asking.

"Hogarth, Jr."

Rockwell Kent, known best for his woodcuts and his Wilderness, a book about Alaska, is holding an exhibition this week at the Wildenstein Galleries, Manhattan. Mr. Kent is most generally known as "Hogarth, Jr.,"over which signature he has done many delightful cartoons for Life and other publications. The present show is of his serious work and contains many of the original drawings for Wilderness. The surprising characteristic is the direct and sure technique, with few alterations and erasures. More recent works are Figure Head, the prow of a ship against a black night sea; The House of Dread, The Burial of a Young Man. Kent shows a command of the mysterious--not the deep, impenetrable mystery of the warm Russians, but a clear, clean mystery, inspired by arctic nights and a cold climate.

Besnards in Boston

M. and Mme. Paul Albert Besnard (TIME, April 21) visited Boston where they were the guests of Mrs. John L. Gardner at Fenway Court. At a dinner at the Women's City Club, Mme. Besnard, artist and philosopher, delivered an address on The Continuity of Art on the Globe Since the First Appearance of Man. Under this comprehensive title, she discussed the various periods of artistic development and their relation to the cycle of Art. The Besnards have remarked particularly on the work of Winslow Homer, George Bellows, Arthur B. Davies.

In Wilmington

The Wilmington (Del.) Society of Fine Arts is holding a national exhibition in the galleries of Wilmington's new library. This show has been arranged by Fred Wagner and includes many artists of country-wide reputation.

The effort has been to collect in Wilmington an exhibition representative of all parts of the U. S. The most conspicuous canvas is Warships on the Hudson by George Bellows. There is a Portrait by Eugene Speicher, American

Motherhood by Charles W. Hawthorne. Among the other exhibitors are Eric Hudson, Robert Henri, Hugh Breckenridge. The Wilmington Society aspires to an annual national exhibition.

Leyendecker Dead

Frank X. Leyendecker, 45, known all over the country as the founder of the

American style of masculine beauty through his Arrow Collar drawings, died last week at his home in New Rochelle, N. Y.

Born in Germany, the young Leyendecker was brought to Chicago by his parents at the age of six. He attended the Art Institute where he specialized in the design of stained glass windows, later going to Paris and studying at the Academic Julien. For the last 15 years, he made his home in New Rochelle and established a reputation as an illustrator for commercial and magazine cover work. Leyendecker was much admired for his crisp, clear style. His death is a loss to the field of good commercial art.

Joseph C. Leyendecker survives his brother. He is also well-known for a similar style of work. The two brothers studied together, lived and worked together all their lives.