17 FEBRUARY 1923, Page 22

THE ARTS.

We cannot too enthusiastically welcome the announcement of the Philips Publications, two series of illustrated mono- graphs, the first on the great artists of the past, American and European, represented in the Philips Memorial Collection, the second on living artists. If the high standard of letter- press and production which so distinguishes the first volume, Julian Alden Weir, is maintained, the series will constitute as delightful and valuable an addition to an art library as any publishers have yet issued. It is, perhaps, unfortunate that an artist of wider world fame and greater significance was not chosen to inaugurate the undertaking. Naturally the publishers wished to give an American the first place, but even in America Weir's position is not unassailed; In Mr. Gallatin's book his water-colours are referred to as " of no more significance in the history of painting than his oils." It is from the reproductions only that most of us in England can judge between that estimate and the eulogiums' of the distinguished contributors to his memorial. We find it difficult to trace that Americanism which is so emphatically attributed to him. Although he is certainly more than an imitator of the French, although he has, that is, an individual, if unimportant vision, it does not seem to us necessarily American, nor' can it be connected up with any of the work in Mr. Gallatin's book to show a distinctly American school. The qualities of vitality, of intensity, of virility which inform the work of the best American contemporary painters can be found without more than individual differences in that of the best French, English, or German. Nationalism seems to be the least noticeable characteristic of modem art. American Water-Colourists is a book no less beautifully produced than Julian Alden Weir. The title and dedication pages are charmingly printed and laid out. We are impressed by the reproductions from the work of Mr. Winslow Homer and Mr. John Marin, although we cannot agree to Mr. Gallatin's state- ment that only M. Raoul Dufy and M. Matisse in Europe are worthy to be mentioned in the same breath " with the latter painter. Mr. Gallatin is too exuberant.