Art: Young Americans Abroad

On the walls of Manhattan’s Downtown Gallery last week was a lively “Americans in Europe” show, featuring 45 paintings and sculptures by 23 young U.S. artists. Most of the young artists are good enough to have won fellowships, but all are still too “unknown” to have regular dealers. Nine are still in their 205. and all but four are under 35. Not all of them will make the grade, but the combined effect of their paintings and sculptures is a heartening indication that this generation of American artists has genuine talent.

The fact that the “unknowns” are on view at all is pure luck. Last spring brisk, greying Edith Halpert, 55. owner of the Downtown Gallery, went to Europe on a ten-day vacation. In the familiar busman’s-holiday pattern, she took time to drop in on Rome’s 62-year-old American Academy. After a look at what the young Americans were doing there, she promptly started buying their work. And concluding that they rated a show, she turned her ten-day vacation into a three-week business trip that included Florence and Paris.

The resulting “Americans in Europe” is not only a cross section of younger talents but a progress report on where U.S. painters are trending. Confirming the southward migration of painters, Mrs. Halpert found Rome bursting with energy and independence, with Americans leading the way. Among the canvases she picked up are a boldly painted Galleria, Naples by Manhattan-born Al Blaustein, 32, and a startling Crucifixion by Abbey Scholarship Winner Thomas H. Dehill Jr., 31, of Cambridge. In Paris Mrs. Halpert found young Americans hemmed in by high costs and an abstractionist syndrome, but she spotted some work she liked, including the clouded-in abstractions of Duluth, Minn. Artist Don Fink, 33, and the bright, exuberant March Yellow by Fulbrighter John Freed, 25, of Oklahoma City.

Edith Halpert believes that her show will do much for the young Americans abroad. Present indications are that at least six artists will be picked up by other dealers. Abroad her purchases have prompted other Americans and even Europeans to buy. At home early-season shoppers have already snapped up 19 of the 45 works she has on show.