Art
[THE GRAFTON GALLERIES. SARLUIS EXHIBITION.]
M. LEONARD SARLUIS set himself a Herculean task when he undertook to illustrate the Bible, both Old and New Testa- ments, and this work of his, shown for the first time in England, has taken ten years to complete. The drawings are termed " Mystical," and, according to the introduction in the cats.. logue, they are " Inspired." The task of the viewer, too, is not a slight one. All the three hundred drawings are in monochrome, are the same size, and are framed in a similar manner. Secondly, each picture in the catalogue has a text assigned to it, together with the artist's interpretation of that text, so that each picture has to be studied from this dual aspect. Yet withal; the exhibition holds 'the attention. The drawings vary from comparatively simple -designs, such as Moses Divides the Waters, with its single figure, to com- plicated ones like The Bondage in Egypt, with its temples, sphinxes, slave-drivers and the chained Children of Israel." Three illustrations of the Psalms (Nos. 151; 153, 156), where the design is set in a large circular halo, are very well conceived. It is difficult to accustom oneself to the continued represen- tation of the First Person of the Trinity with varying, and often exaggerated facial expression.. Such facial expression, in fact, is carried to excess throughout the drawings, and seldom adds to the effect. The exhibition is an unusual one, howeVer, and should be seen, even if its theological intricacies may leave one somewhat perplexed.
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