19 MARCH 1932, Page 17

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—" If a Man

hacking in fury at a block of wood make there an image of ti cow, is that image a work of art ? If not, why not ? " Surely these words of James Joyce find a parallel in Epstein and his " Genesis " ? It does not follow that because a man has earned a world-wide reputation as a great artist and sculptor that everything he produces is an example of art or beauty. " Genesis " is neither.

I dare to suggest that if any other artist except Epstein, Dolnkai, Mestrovic, Despiau and one or two others had exfilhited such a work it would not have aroused any interest

from the aesthetical point of view. To the man in the street " pulcra sunt quae visa placent." "Genesis " does not fulfil