Art: Two Shows in Modern Gallery

TWO exhibitions open to­day at the Gallery of Modern Art in Columbus Circle. One is a retrospec­tive of work by the contem­porary French painter Jean Hélion, who was born in 1904. The other is a selection from the private collection of Caroline and Erwin Swann, comprising paintings, draw­ings and sculpture by various well‐known modern artists both European and Ameri­can.

The Hélion show surveys his zigzag development from 1928 to 1964. Trained as an engineer and architect, he be­gan painting, in a dogged semi‐abstract fashion, with a rough‐and‐ready simplifica­tion of cubist and construc­tivist forms. In the nineteen­thirties he abandoned this near‐realist style, such as it was, to paint the lyrical geometrical abstractions that constitute his major effort. These handsomely designed, knowingly arranged balances of color and shape are, if you will, period pieces, but they hold up strongly through the years. Considering their merits, and considering what was to follow, one can only

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Hélion must have been one of the first advance guard French artists of his time to turn his back on non‐objec­tivism. Ever since the war, living and painting both in France and in the United States, he has been working as realist, now absolutely straightforward, and again in a more personal and eccen­tric fashion that owes a great deal to Lééger, although without the latter's warmth and humanity. This may be thoroughly professional work, but singularly lacks both sur­face appeal and depth of meaning.

In forming their collection Mr. and Mrs. Swann have cast their nets somewhat out­side the conventional range. They appear to have a pref­erence for also‐rans. Hence the inclusion of Friesz, Mar­chand, Valtat, Bernard, Luce, Masson, and Van Ryssel­berghe, artists whose work furnishes interesting foot­notes to the history of mod­ern French painting, rather than blazing trails.

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When, on the other hand, major artists are represented, men such as Vuillard, Picasso and Klee, their contributions are minor. Still, one must be grateful for the opportunity to see the fascinating art

The Swann collection closes on Nov. 29, while the Hélion exhibition will remain on view through Dec. 27.

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