Dallas Armistice

The running battle between the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts and a band of vociferous Texas patriots came to a temporary halt last week. The winners, on points: Dallas Museum trustees, who refused to ban from an art exhibit the works of four painters who were locally suspected of Communist-front activities.

At issue this time was the traveling "Sport in Art" show (sponsored by SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and the American Federation of Arts), which is due to open in Dallas this month, eventually wind up in Australia for the Olympics, under the auspices of the U.S. Information Agency. The four pictures in dispute: the Addison Gallery of American Art's Skaters by the late Yasuo Kuniyoshi; Cleveland Museum of Art's The Park, Winter, by Leon Kroll, 71; Manhattan Museum of Modern Art's Fishermen by William Zorach, 69; and National Pastime, by Ben Shahn, 57.

"The Reds are moving in upon us," warned Colonel Alvin Mansfield Owsley, 67, a past national commander of the American Legion (1922-23), who accused the four painters of being Communist sympathizers. "Let us hold together . . . Let those who would plant a red picture supplant it with the red, white and blue. White for purity, blue for fidelity, as blue as our Texas bluebonnets."

Speaking for 16 Dallas societies, banded together as the Dallas County Patriotic Council, Owsley demanded that the museum reimpose the ban it had temporarily clamped down on art by Communists or suspected Communists after a similar ruckus last year (TIME, May 2). But this time the museum held fast. It also got the backing of the Dallas Morning News ("The issue is not the allegiance or sympathies of the artists over a period of years, but actually one of censorship") and Dallas Merchant Stanley Marcus, who refused to withdraw as a local sponsor of the show.

Last week the Patriotic Council's attempt to go over the museum's head was stalled by the Dallas park board, which passes on city funds for maintenance of the museum. Said the board: "We see no compelling reason to seek the withdrawal, in whole or in part, of the exhibit." But after Colonel Owsley's angry query, "Has the park board gone soft on Communists?" Park Board President Ray Hubbard indicated that the main issue was far from being settled for good. Said he: "The issue of Communist art in the museum may come up for review again."

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