Mrs. Logan Keeps Mum

Mrs. Frank G. Logan got so hopping mad when the Chicago Art Institute gave the Logan prize to Doris Lee's painting Thanksgiving that she founded a group called Sanity in Art to fight against "insane" modern art. That was in 1935. Since then Chicago artists have kept a leery eye on Mrs. Logan, especially on the day when the Logan prize ($500) is awarded.

Last week the Logan prize went to a piece of sculpture, Kneeling Women by Abbott Lawrence Pattison, now in the Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School in Chicago. There was not a peep from Mrs. Logan. Chicago Art Institute Director Daniel Catton Rich, who puts on the yearly show of Chicago's artists, breathed a sigh of relief.

To Director Rich's show, 174 painters and 26 sculptors of Chicago (and vicinity) sent a work apiece. Most famed was Landscapist Aaron Bohrod (who won the Logan prize in 1937), noted for his glowing watercolors of Chicago back streets. Less well-known, but in the front rank of contemporary U.S. artists is Art Institute Instructor Francis Chapin, who was picked by the Museum of Modern Art for its recent show of little-known U.S. artists (TIME, Feb. 2). Copeland Burg, who paints between jobs as a crime reporter on the Herald-American, won a prize at the Institute show this year; so did Felix Ruvolo, with a quizzical portrait, Girl with Dog, and Russian-born Raymond Breinin, who paints imaginary scenes somewhat like of famed Russian Marc Chagall.

Chicago's progressive artists hope the day of Sanity in Art is waning. One sign: they have found a Chicago collector who doesn't seem to care whether Chicago art is sane or not: he likes it. Advertising executive Earle Ludgin is mighty proud of his collection of Ivan Le Lorraine Albrights (TIME, Nov. 24); he has recently added a batch of Burgs and Bohrods.

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