Arts: In Berlin

Totem poles, collapsing airplane of colored glass, a kult room, a hall of children’s painting, a collection of bicycle parts, window panes, scraps of roofing material, were all part of an exhibition of modern Art in Berlin, free from all limitations of jury. The kult room was the heart of the exhibition. A sign, “Keep off the Tapestry,” warned spectators off the Navajo rug on the graveled floor. A square white column, carefully off-center, held up the roof. The rear wall consisted of a sheet of plate glass end-on to the room, an “S”-shaped strip of celluloid, all against a background of awning stripes. A little red balloon hung in front. A rug-covered box served as divan. Two cups and saucers lay on a stool—a home-like touch.

Among the pictures were: Tiger Dodging Rainbow-colored Buckshot, Starling Hermit Baying at the Moon, A Saint with an Ulcerated Tooth, Adam and Eve (Adam looked like a lemon), Husband Splitting His Wife’s Head with Hatchet (this sympathetic piece priced at $300), A 110-Fear-Old Woman Playing Solitaire (price $250). The nude is eschewed as oldfashioned. Female figures appear exclusively in cotton underwear.