In another gallery in this neighborhood, Edwin Abbey's art is presented
very comprehensively in a number of large and small illustrations -
canvases of more than passing interest. While they are largely
illustrations, their interest is made permanent by reason of the
subjective note which all of them have. Abbey's intense imagination
allowed him to carry a convincingness into his work which is largely
responsible for the very high rank he attained. His art is not the art
of an American in any sense. It is true he was born in Philadelphia, but
a long and successful life spent in Europe has left on his work the
imprint of an aristocracy foreign to our interest. In design, in colour,
Abbey's work is always supremely interesting, and with the astonishing
development of illustration in America, it seems incredible that we
should not have been able to make him return to the land of his birth.

Galleries fifty-five and fifty-six are modern in aspect and their
contents came into this part of the building for practical reasons.
Wedged in between older periods, it is difficult to combine them with
the rest of modern American art, largely represented in the north side
of the Palace.

Gallery 56.

Here two interiors in distinctly different styles stand out among the
multitude. Marion Powers and Elizabeth Nourse add considerably to the
achievement of our women artists in these well-painted canvases. Miss
Powers is very original in an older school, while Miss Nourse displays
all the technical dexterities of the present day. Hitchcock's "Dutch
Tulip Beds," with figural staffage, remind one of a most original
American who after a long struggle established himself with these