Inside an Aesthete
THIS essay in the psychology and xsthetic appeal of space will puzzle many readers. Taking isolated experiences and sensations from his own childhood, Mr. Adrian Stokes attempts to build up his own theory of xsthetics, and the book culminates in a brilliant study of Cezanne andr of that painter's approach to art. Always a subtle and elusive writer, Mr. Stokes in Inside Out has attempted one of the most difficult forms of writing—the evocation of moods, reactions to art, and the .analysis of sensations by the means of sym- bols. That he succeeds so well in his aim is one more proof that he is a writer of unusual sensibility and a genuine poet. But the book as a whole lacks that classic sense of form which the author goes to such lengths to extol and which he finds in the painting of Cezanne.
I have said that this little book of some seventy beautifully printed pages will baffle many readers, but it will delight the discriminating few who have already appreciated and enjoyed the tame writer's earlier Venice: An Aspect of Art and The Stones of Rimini. It abounds in penetrating observations on art and some of the longer descriptive passages have the beauty of prose poems. The mood of the book is caught in the opening lines of the authoes preface where he writes: "In the nursery, that is where to find the themes of human nature: the rest is 'working-out,' though it be also the real music." Then follows a disturbing description of episodes from the writer's childhood. The little boy, already an aesthete, is shocked by the ugliness and brutality of the outside world. Taken for walks in Hyde Park, he finds the railings " cruel " because against them lean benches that harbour the poor and outcast. The colour red frightens him too and even the red tunics of the Guardsmen walking out with their girls become the symbol of violence. This whole long passage has a menacing beauty which recalls Mr. Sacheverell Sitwell's treatment of a similar theme in his Splendours and Miseries.
Like so many other sensitive and gifted young Englishmen, Mr. Adrian Stokes soon felt the call of the Mediterranean—that fountain- head of European culture—and using his early memories of a visit to Italy he employs this background for many subtle meditations on the plight of the civilised artist in the modern world. Light, colour, sound, the effect of space are all analysed in this writer's very per- sonal manner. Inside Out describes the search of an esthete and lover of art for peace of mind. It ends with a study of Cezanne. In the work of this painter, the author finds an answer to most of his problems. Discussing Cezanne's painting he says: "The observa- tional truth of light, space, colour, tone and mass in their subtlest, no less than in their generalized, modes, are the sole materials of his structure." For this section alone, this book deserves the atten- tion of all serious readers of contemporary letters.
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