International studio (16.1902)

Viennci Secession Exhibition


the sorceress”
Mr. van Hove’s works, with one exception
(-La Vierge Inspirant les Arts), are on a small scale,
and as an exhibitor he has met with great success.
At Barcelona, he obtained a medal of the first
class. He is President of the Royal Academy
at Bruges, and has received the honour of
' Chevalier de l’ordre de Leopold.” He has lately
built for himself a house at Antwerp, the interior
which bears the impress of much of his own
Mediaeval spirit. We heartily wish him good
luck, though we regret his departure from the
fair city which seemed to inspire him with so
^Uch of the poetry and genius of the days that
have long since passed away.
Emma L. Monypenny.
All who take an interest in etching will welcome
*be forthcoming Special Summer Number of The
^W'dio, which will be devoted to a consideration of
present aspect of the graver’s art in Europe and
^■Uterica. The illustrations will be very numerous.

Little more than four
years ago everybody was
asking what that single word
“Secession,” placarded on
the walls of Vienna, could
possibly mean; yet in
March the Association
opened its doors for the
thirteenth time. Things
already show signs of right-
ing themselves. One no
longer sees hanging on the
walls the ultra-secessionistic
art figures which used to
cause nothing but wonder ;
and if the modern artists here
represented do not always
show the outward expression
of the inward struggle to
achieve something, still they
give us ground for hope.
The present exhibition
has been arranged by Kolo
Moser, Professor of Applied
Art at the Vienna Imperial
Arts and Crafts Schools.
Although on the whole the effect is very pleasing,
one misses those “home” touches to which the
Secession has accustomed us. Still we have soft and
low old English couches in old red, and equally
tempting armchairs, all hidden in niches, such as one
would naturally seek for a tete-a-tete. And in niches
and doorways are hidden—but in such a manner as
to be seen and yet not seen—decorative glass-lamps
and pottery. All the pictures are not happily
hung. Bocklin’s Sea Idyll, for instance, “ built ”
into a kind of easel-stand, must needs, by the
prominent position it is placed in, cast shadows
on the portraits hung “ behind its back.” Still,
it is hard to say where the Bocklin could have
been better placed, unless perhaps where the
light might have fallen from the side instead of
from above. Still, this very shade serves to
intensify its blues. A Triton, a seal, a mermaid
with child at her breast, and another child behind
the mother—that is all. There is, nevertheless,
a whole depth of fantastic poetry underlying it.
267

The exhibi-
tion OF THE
VIENNA SE-
CESSION. BY A. S.
LEVETUS.