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When King Alfonso XIII of Spain passed through Paris on his way back to Madrid last March he dropped in to visit his good friend Jose Maria Sert. On view at Senor Sert's studio were the great murals he had just painted for the Duke of Alba's elaborate Palacio de Liria. Wrought chiefly in tones of gold, the paintings represented the history of the Alba family, several of whom are saints, since the 14th Century. By the time Alfonso XIII got home, abdicated and got back to Paris, Artist Sert was well along with his next batch of murals. Designed for the new Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, these paintings were to be seen in the Sert studio during July. Last week workmen were gluing the 20 canvases to the walls of the Waldorf-Astoria's swankiest dining room, the Sert Room which looks out on 50th Street and Park Avenue.
Subject of the paintings is the marriage of Quiteria from Don Quixote. Forced into narrow, high panels, the kicking, squealing characters of Artist Sert literally stand on each other's heads to fill the space. Celebrants at the wedding feast include leaping acrobats, hoary strong men, bull tamers, jugglers, drunkards, surrounded by great billows of silver and claret-colored drapery. Other than those which Artist Sert has painted into his compositions, there will be no hangings in the Waldorf's Sert Room. Paris critics credited the paintings with "the potency of a Michelangelo . . . daring of a Goya . . . more than one reminiscence of the great Venetian colorists like Veronese and Tiepolo."
Smart Artist Sert contracted to do the Waldorf job year ago, received approximately $100,000 for it. He is full of honor in his own land: his work hangs in Spanish cathedrals, in the Royal Palace at Madrid, in Barcelona's municipal building. He did the murals for the Joshua Cosden mansion at Palm Beach, now the home of Mrs. Hugh Dillman.
Artist Sert's first wife was a great-grandniece of Composer Franz Liszt. She accompanied Stylist Gabrielle Chanel to Hollywood last spring. The present Senora Sert was once Princess Mdivani of the much-married Mdivanis of Georgia (South Russia). (Brother David married Cinemactress Mae Murray; Brother Serge married Cinemactress Pola Negri, then Soprano Mary McCormic; Brother Alexis married Socialite Louise Astor Van Alen.)
Price Cutters Show
Past the two bronze lions and up the steps of Chicago's Art Institute last week filed a brave little band of Chicago intellectuals to have a look at the museum's latest one-man show. Actually the show was an exhibition of the work of two men — Martin & George Baer — but artistically they are Siamese twins. Their paintings are as undistinguishable as the scrivenings of the Brothers Goncourt.
There are several reasons for Chicago's taking the Brothers Baer seriously. In the first place, they are Chicagoans. Second, they are capable artists. Best known fact about the Brothers Baer, however, is that they sell their paintings cheaply. Brother George, shepherding the collection while Brother Martin is in Paris, earnestly declared :