It is impossible to read Mr. Christopher Hussey's Tait McKenzie
: A Sculptor of Youth (Country Life, 25s.) without sharing his enthusiasm. He does not claim for McKenzie's art that it possesses the specialized aesthetic significance of some modern work : " in that sense it may be superficial," he says, and one may agree. But he warms to it on other gronnds—its universal quality, its unabashed exultation in
the beauty of humanity, its classic intention—and is himself so clearly moved by these elements in it that we are moved by them in sympathy. It happens, too, that this sculptor's work has associations that interest us and that touch us intensely. McKenzie practised science before art—is, perhaps, a scientist first and an artist afterwards—and fell back on modelling to assist his researches into physical education. His athletic sculpture has a direct appeal on the score of its subject, of which Mr. Hussey contrives to make excellent use. Then came the War, and following it McKenzie's art was engaged for Memorials. And here especially about the Cambridge " Home Coming," the Woodbury Victor," and " The Call " and its associate frieze at Edinburgh—Mr. Hussey writes with an admirable sincerity and tenderness that give a character to his whole study. The volume is excellently and copiously illustrated.
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