SOME BOOKS ON ART.*
Mn. KnizTon PARKEs has written two interesting volumes on modern sculpture.' The first of these treats of America, Great Britain and Japan; and, besides, contains a general introduction and some account of technical methods. The American sculp. ture, to judge by the illustrations given here, is largely occupied with naturalism, and there is not much evidence of any great feeling for sculptural ideas. The same may be said of England too, and,as the author remarks, there is danger for our sculptors owing to the fact that they are so accomplished technically and their powers of representation are so great, that they seem satisfied when a naturalistic result has been achieved. We must regret that no illustrations are given of modern Japanese works. The second volume deals with the European Continental schools, and naturally France takes a prominent place. Though greatly differing in aim and taste, all the French works show extra- ordinary accomplishment. Even in those we dislike we recognize how able they are in the carrying out of the artist's intention. Among the younger sculptors none holds a higher place than Paul Landowski,- whose Hymns to the Dawn is here reproduced as it stands in the garden of the Petit Palais. No more perfect Adam and Eve have been produced in modem times. No apparent means are visible to explain the impressive effect made by these two figures standing side by side, with eyes closed in • (1) Sculpture of To-day. By Kinetou Parkes. 2 vols. London : Chapman and Hall. (555.1—(2) Mantagna s Triumph of Julia. Caesar. By Lruest Law. London : Selwyn and Blount. [Ss.1—(2) Perspective. By Bea IT bat Cole. London : Seeley, Service and Co. [las.] --(41) Pots and Pans. By A. E. Bye. Princeton : University Press. [ a0,00)—(5) fterwie. pal Ambroise Yollard. Les editions Ores. Paris. 191cs.]—(3) A Tour in a Donkey- cart. By Frances Jennings. London : John Lane. [51 The Appre- ciation of Paining. By Percy Moore Turner. London : Selwyn and Blount, (169.]—(8) Some Aspects of Art 'Education. London : Oeorge en and Unwin. [58.1—(9) iroshige. By Yone Novicki. New York: 22 Bast 60th Street. [258.1—(10) Horses and Movement. By L. D. L London : Cassell. [155.]—(11) Broom. London Cecil Palmer. Ps. 044 adoration. The primitive grandeur has been captured by no stylistic imitation : genius alone is the secret Of the Spanish sculptors-, Hurls Casanovas must be singled out on account of a singularly fine bronze portrait head of a young Mall. It has the reticence and refinement of early Greek work in. a high degree. Mestrovic is represented by a very beautiful fragment, and the sculptors of CzechaSlovakia are described but unfortunately not illustrate& Some interesting Goings come from Switzerland —a Michelangelesque figure by Luigi Vassalli of Lugano and a beautiful back view of a Nieman kneeling, by Arnold Eltinerwadel. The Teutonic and, Reandinavian canntriee are disappointing by their vulgarity or- realism and inherent misunderstanding of the nude ; and. the virtuosity of Italy only emphasizes its lack of artistic impulse.
hfr. Ernest Law describes in a little book the actual condition and situation of Mantegna's great series, The Triumph of Jullue Cansar,2 as they are new in their latest resting-place in the Orangery at Hampton Court. As everyone knows, these splendid works suffered the most &lastly outrages at the hands of a seventeenth-centuryclauber, La„euerre. He was incapable of even trying to imitate the technique of Mantegna, and plastered over the delicate and incisive work of the master with heavy, stupid. brushwork. An attempt was lately made by Mr. Roger Fry to get off these terrible blots, in the hopes of finding some of the handiwork of Mantegna below. At first a little of this wan found, but further attempts, seemed to show that either the whole of the original painting had disappeared in the restored patches or else that the repaints had destroyed the work below. The book contains a folding reproduction of the nine works framed by pilasters like those which no doubt framed. the
Mr. Rex Vicat Cole's book on perspectives as applied to pictures is thorough and the author's exposition of the theoretical part clear, because he keeps close to the actual vision of things. The drawings by Mn..Cole, whether diagrams or direct transcripts from Nature, are always clear and to the point. Perspective is, of coulee, now derided by " advaneed " people, and the breaking of its rules calls attention to a picture quicker than anything else. Of course, great masters like Tiepolo take all sorts of liberties with their vanishing points, but the effect is to increase the delight of their works and not merely to startle us by strangeness.
Undiar the heading of Pore and Pane' we have a study of the- history of still-life painting. Before the development of this- art as a. thing by itself there was a great deal of this kind of painting- in the way of accessories and backgrounds. Mr. Bye- begins with Carpaceio, but he might have looked earlier and found the beginnings- in the marvellously, beautiful work of the early illuminators. When we get to the full-blown Dutch still-life painting an element of heaviness and dullness settles. clown till new life is instilled by Charclin, the prince of this kind of art. We are given a reasoned if not very enthusiastic account of the nature merle painting of Ciezanne, which has had such an influence on his followers.
M. Vcdlard has' written a book of very spirited conversations with Renoir,s. whn must have been. agood talker,andhis criticisms of painters and, pictures, old and new,. are full of point and the anecdotes amusing, though inclined sometimes to be Rabelaisian.
Frances Jennings6 was- a very remarkable person who unfor- tunately did not accomplish what she seemed destined to do. She made a mark at the Slade School by the power and originality of her drawing; though she was, as Professor Tonics says, um teachable. 111-health overtook her but in no way diminished her passionate hive of liberty and hatred of dependence on other people. The present volume consists chiefly of letters written when the artiat was making a tour ma gaily-painted donkey-cart, finding chance takings in barns and cottages. It was at this time she made the very remarkable series of drawings reproduced here. These heads, mostly in profile, are drawn with a pen line of the moat incisive kind, There is little or no suggestion of modelling ; absolute outline was evidently the passion of the artist, for the rough wash of tint merely enforces the silhouette. In looking. at these remarkable works the drawings of Pollaiuolo and even Leonardo inevitably come to mind. The artist's health became worse and her freedom of movement was reduced; though lie wax apparently not endangered, she died by her own act at. the age of thirty.
Mr. Tura& seta himself out to instruct and inspire that problematical personage- the men who has a taste for pictures in the abstract but does not know what to admire. If such a one reads this book he will be much the better for it, for Mr. Turner has wide sympathies and understanding. It seems rather strange advice to give to one beginning to be interested in Italian art that he should start with the Bolognese in general and Guido. Reni in particular. One would have thoug-ht that something more human, and of greater emotional appeal, like the painting of Bellini, would have been a better beginning. This book is not a history of art but " an attempt has now been made first to suggest how latent aesthetic emotion may be stimulated, and secondly to show how the different schools of painting may be approached upon the line of least resistance."
Those interested in the teaching of Art in schools will find much to interest them in a little books authorized by the National Society of Art Masters, in which different people deal with various subjects. The problem, which is as yet unsolved, is how to improve national taste. At present little headway seems to have been made. People are taught to appreciate good things, and they do so genuinely, but they appreciate equally the bad at the same time.
The great landscape painter Hiroshige worked in the first half of the nineteenth century. A number of his exquisite colour prints have been reproduced in a volume5 which also contains an essay, or perhaps we should rather say rhapsody, by Mr. Yone Nognehi, who, having studied Western art, believes- in the superiority of his own country's painters, inasmuch as they give the spirit rather than the appearance of things. That there is great truth, in this is indisputable, and many of the reproductions in this book support the contention. The examples reproduced in, colour are not well clone and have a crudeness not to be found in the originals.
Mr. Lizard is a passionate student of horses in movement.10 He delights' principally to draw the heavy horses working on the banks of the Seine. He is at his best in his most rapidly executed drawings, like the one drawn with the brush called "Led Horses"; to overpraise it would be difficult. When he collects his impressions into a picture he is apt to become commonplace. The artist has written a " note " on, the drawing of movement and quotes an instance given by Rodin to show the snare of the posed model. A man standing to he drawn in the position of bringing down a hammer has to put into action to maintain the position all the muscles which would be in rest were he actually doing the thing he simulates.
A magazine called Broonsfi- has been started by Americans living in Italy, which is to be international and devoted to the Arts. We are reminded by it very much of such ventures as the Yellow Book. Among the known contributors are M. Picasso and Mr. W. de la Mare. The best thing, perhaps, is the repro- duction of &statue of a horae,whkh is primitive and very much symbolized but very fine ; it would be better still if the acrobat in contortions on its back had been left out. The sculptor is M. Jaques Lipchitz. The magazine, of course, concludes with a manifesto.
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