Cambridge Art Association

The small gallery at 37 Palmer St. remains open this month, but the Cambridge Art Association has its heart at the Busch-Reisinger Museum where four rooms have been set off for the Association's 11th Annual Spring Exhibition. On display are 63 paintings and 9 pieces of sculpture selected from entries by 90 Cambridge and Boston artists.

The selection shows a fair balance between realism and abstraction. Some attempts to "be modern" like Paul Biechel's abstraction "City and Street" betray a lack of technical skill or real imagination. Many of the best artists in the exhibit, however, do find natural expression in less realistic styles.

David Sheppard's "Jazz Band" mirrors Picasso's cubist period but no "staircase" angles challenge the rhythm of curves. Modifications of other European styles sprinkle the walls. More typically American, in the tradition of Ben Shawn, is Beverly Hallam's "Evolution," which shows a row of children exhibiting their paintings to the class. She catches the boys' expressions "Look at mine" and "What's his like" as well as the little girls' embarrassment.

"Iupine and Rocks" by Charles Wardsworth, awarded the first prize, is a study of flowers and foliage. Elongated "corn cob" flowers reach up like snakes under the spell of a charmer's flute. The subject and Wardsworth's careful painting suggest comparison with the primitive, Theodore Rousseau, although the atmosphere is not quite so mysterious or internal. In another oil painting honored by the judges, "Meyer Gate," Donald Outerbridge uses the staccato brush technique of the pointillists to create a Seurat-like composition.

The watercolors are on the whole less inspired, with the exception of Katherine Compton's bold, stylized head "Medusa" and Margaret Philbrick's "Willard Brook." Charles Demetropoulos demonstrates his usual skill in the treatment of reflections; a very wet wash catches the slick rain-swept pavement outside the "Museum of Fine Arts." Unfortunately he is not so meticulous in the overall composition.

A more careful arrangement of the sculpture would have shown the pieces off to better advantage. Susan Chamber's "Gulls Coming to Field" gets lost in a corner. The problem is circumvented by No.66, "Fish Feeding." A slight push starts the fancifully whiskered fish in rotation. Franz Deughausen seems to have drawn inspiration from mobile-maker Alexander Calder. "Adagio," a piece by Elizabeth McLean Smith, is equally alive in a different way: the body of the dancer is taut and convincing through the folds of a long dress which painfully inhibit her motion.

The big weakness of the exhibit is a decreasing quality of work from room to room. Exhibit space seems to have been an over-riding factor in the last decisions of the judges.