Art Digest - May 1950

Pen and Ink Perfection

Dudley Huppler employs in his drawings one of the most exacting of mediums, pen and ink, which requires a surety of hand and purpose that allows of no deviations or alterations. In his use of this usually unresponsive medium he succeeds in obtaining a remarkable sense of substance, of rich tonal values, of varied decorative effects.

It is gratifying to find at this contemporary moment, when drawings are mostly scattered hieroglyphs, an artist with such a gift of securing an exact balance between the things expressed and its means of expression.

There is nothing frigid in these drawings of birds, animals, plants, fruits, for their essential quality is summed up in a precise elegance of design. The squirming little Tree Toad with its outspread pads, the sinister vulture, the elaborately-patterned Guinea Hen all are instilled with a sense of palpitating life in a formalized presentment that escapes both naturalism and distortion. (Hewitt, to May 13.)—M.B.