Hallmark Winners

The day big business becomes a big and discerning patron of contemporary art may still be a good way off, but it moved a little closer last week. For its fourth international art contest, Hallmark Cards had made eminently sensible rules. The 50 contestants, from a total of 16 countries, were all invited to compete with a free choice of subject matter. The results, on view at Manhattan's Wildenstein gallery, therefore combined quality with diversity.

The three-man jury--Lloyd Goodrich of the Whitney Museum, Henri Dorra of the Corcoran, Alfred Frankfurter of Art News--made a refreshingly sober choice for prizes. Top honor and $2,000 went to Edward Hopper for a calm, direct and powerful water color done at Pacific Palisades, Calif. Charles Sheeler took second prize and $1,000 with an architectural construction called Two Against the White, also inspired by a trip to California. The international flavor of the competition was served when England's John Piper took third prize and $750 for an impressionistic backyard-scape called Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. Honorable mentions (plus $250 each) went to Italy's Gustavo Foppiani, France's Bernard Lorjou and Bernard Buffet, Brazil's Candido Portinari, and Loren MacIver, Walter Stuempfig and Robert Vickrey of the U.S. "This," said Jurist Goodrich, "is the best competition Hallmark has held."

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