ARTnews

Summer in Chicago by Marilyn Robb Trier

Momentum '54

There is always a youthful atmosphere sweeping like a fresh breeze through the annual exhibition "Momentum Mid-continental" at the Institute of Design [through August]. This may be due to the method of judging which Momentum has established as well as to the caliber of jurors it manages to attract. Betty Parsons, Robert Motherwell and James Johnson Sweeney selected the show this year, each independently picking his winners from the entire field. Over two hundred and twenty-five pieces were accepted; fourteen were triplicates, i.e., chosen by all three jurors. Of these, the towering monarch is Gene Hedge's untitled collage. This is a powerful religious work, an abstract crucifixion which captures the mood of the passion in color and texture. A flowing, free-form cross fills three-quarters of the frame. The only allusion to the recognizable is a narrow strip of acetate which reads, "80 percent of the Shepherd's Sacred Heart."