Congress Critics

In the ground-floor hallway of the east wing of the White House hangs a large portrait of Mrs. Grace Goodhue Coolidge, showing her in a red gown and an aloof expression, with a white dog at her feet. The work of 65-year-old Howard Chandler Christy, it has the characteristics that have made him the most commercially successful U. S. artist, the painter of such celebrities as Mussolini, William Randolph Hearst, James Farley, Chief Justice Hughes, Vice President Garner.

But last week in Washington, Mr. Christy's portrait of Mrs. Coolidge may have cost the artist more than most painters earn in a lifetime. When Representative Sol Bloom, director general of the Constitution Sesquicentennial Commission, sponsored a resolution commissioning Mr. Christy to paint a picture called The Signing of the Constitution for $35,000, Representative Allen Treadway of Massachusetts protested: "I do not want to pose as an art critic . . . but I have seen Mr. Christy's portrait of Mrs. Coolidge in a red gown with a white dog and I am opposed to giving him this commission." Other Congressmen, quite willing to pose as art critics, called Mr. Christy the greatest living portrait painter, panned his portrait of the late Speaker Rainey, called one of his paintings a "garish nightmare," said he had a "flamboyant style," painted charming magazine covers, that his portrait of Mrs. Coolidge was no credit to her, and besides, the money was needed for relief.

Five months ago, after it had been revealed that Howard Chandler Christy's official Sesquicentennial poster, We, the People, had been sold to a Tammany leader of Representative Bloom's district, Congressmen demanded an investigation of the commission, eliminated a $50,000 appropriation for it. Last week, although Representative Bloom protested that $35,000 for the new picture would include the frame and cost of hanging, Congressmen, a bit fed up, rejected the resolution.

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