The Christmas Show, an annual art world institution, has long been one of the more genteel commercial anticipations of December 25. The idea is to make available to an audience which does not usually purchase original works of art, a diversified group of drawings, prints and smaller paintings. The current group show at the Gropper Galleries, being very diversified and often excellent, does just that.

Two rooms are filled with drawings and prints among which are sixteenth century drawings, a woodcut of Durer, etchings by Jacques Callot, and lithographs by Goya and Daumier. The collection also includes the famous Mlle. Eglantine color lithograph by Toulouse-Lautrec, works by Renoir and Rouault, and some by Americans such as Ben Shahn.

Along with these graphics and sketches is a group of paintings, all by contemporary Americans. This section of the exhibition, while not as varied as the other, fails nonetheless to maintain the same level of quality in its own sphere. A few canvases stand out prominently. They are a still-life by Joseph Solman, a Provincetown vignette and still-life by Byron Browne and a still-life and "Judgement of Paris" by Manfred Schwartz.

Going from professional to non-professional, Mrs. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. has an exhibition of her work at Adams House. Over the years painting has become increasingly popular as a pastime over and beyond the TV inspired filling-in of numbered spots. Even the President copies picture post cards in Colorado or paints pictures of Bobby Jones when he isn't up to the game himself. One Fine Arts professor attributed a rise in student interest in his field largely to reproductions and publicity in Time and Life. But it is doubtful that Mrs. Schlesinger takes her cue from Henry Luce.

These paintings are full of spirit and sensitive color. Some are highly decorative and some go beyond that. Some are derivative, but selectively and creatively so. All are tasteful and imaginative.