Pictures of People. By Charles Dana Gibson. (John Lane.)— This
is a fresh series of sketches in pen-and-ink by a well-known American hand. Besides pictures of society in America and England there are some studies in Parisian cafés-chant ant s. Mr. Gibson, however, is not very successful in catching the physiognomy of Paris, and throughout the book one is more struck by the recurrence of models and by the fashion-plate
brilliancy of their clothing, than by close or humorous observation. The pen-work is brilliant of its kind, but it is not clear what is the advantage of so large a scale, since the result often is to give us faces modelled into a metallic vigour. Du Maurier was a great social satirist, Keene a humorous physiognomist and a great draughtsman. Mr. Gibson is neither, but rather a technically accomplished person, like our own Mr. Bernard Partridge.
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