International studio (17.1902)

American Studio Talk

gauge the result by the recent action of the hang-
ing committee at the Champ de Mars. The Jury
of Selection accepted certain prints by Eduard J.
Steichen in response to the advocacy of Rodin, but
the committee refused to hang them ! The possi-
ble, nay, probable, attitude of the foreign repre-
sentatives was bound to be considered, and no
doubt offered the most delicate problems to Colonel
Ockerson and Prof. Halsey C. Ives in their en-
deavor to meet the wishes of the photographers.
It is only fair to realize this in estimating their
decision.

But while Professor Ives cannot interfere with
the home rule of the foreign sections, he has a direct
power within that of the United States and a con-
trol over the whole structure of the Art Building.
He could do one of two things: definitely assign
a space within the United States section for display
of pictorial photography; or, independently of all
the sections, allocate a small wall-space, say of two
hundred square feet, for an international exhibit.
The latter would be the more interesting, as
giving a brief summary of the world’s work in this
direction.

If one may venture upon a suggestion, such an

exhibition should be in the interest of the art
rather than of the photographers. One may say
it should be mainly in the interest of the public;
a representation in small compass of prints that
have already been shown at the salons in Phila-
delphia, London, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. It is
customary at international expositions of paintings
to fill the galleries by invitation and selection.
The same plan might be adopted for this group of
photographs, the organizing of the exhibit being
placed in the hands of a few photographers whose
real knowledge of the home and foreign field
of the movement would commend them to photog-
raphers at large. Their main duty would lie in
judicious invitation of those prints that have already
stood the scrutiny of juries of selection at the vari-
ous salons. This was the method adopted by the
management at the Exposition of Glasgow, and this
year of that at Turin, and it is the one that would
undoubtedly prove popular with the public. More-
over, it is probably the only one that under the
circumstances would give a really adequate idea of
the progress that has been made along the higher
lines of pictorial photography.

Charles H. Caffin.

BOOKS

Painting in France after the Decline of
Classicism : An Essay. By Philip Gilbert Ham-
erton, author of “ Contemporary French Paint-
ers,” “ The Graphic Arts,” “ A Painter’s Camp,”
“Paris,” “Etching and Etchers,” etc. With
fourteen photographic illustrations reproduced in
photogravure. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co.
Pages xiv + 125. Newedition. i2mo. #1.50net.

RECEIVED

Contemporary French Painters : An Essay. By
Philip Gilbert Hamerton. With sixteen photo-
graphic illustrations reproduced in photogravure.
Boston : Little, Brown, & Co. Newedition. Pages
xiv + 123. i2ino. $1.50 net.

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