International studio (21.1903/1904(1904))

art, filling our exhibitions with amateurish work
altogether devoid of skill or character; at the
same time, one notes certain happy exceptions to
this rule. Such is Madame Besnard, for instance,
who does honour to her art; while Madame Vaigren

and Madame de Frumerie, too, are both artists
displaying individuality of the highest Order.
Madame Alexandra Thauiow, wife of the great
Scandinavian painter dwelling in Paris—one of the
most familiär ltgures at our exhibitions—may also
take pride in possessing a thoroughly
personal art. In binding, where, alas!
one sees so much that is hesitating and
inharmonious, Madame Thauiow has
already won a well-merited reputation,
which has gone beyond the circle of
what is known as " Society," and be-
come a matter of common knowledge
among the public generally. When
the exhibition of bookbinding was
held some time ago at the Musee
Galliera, Madame Thaulow's show-
case attracted attention by its variety
and its grace. The charm oh these
bindings lies in the fact that they
have none of the massive heaviness
of so many productions of this kind.
One should be able to handle a
book with ease, and not be forced
to rest content with beholding it
displaying its beauties behind glass
or on the library shelf; and Madame
Thauiow understood this perfectly when
she executed the bindings now repro-
duced here. But these bindings are in-
teresting, not only front the standpoint
of their Utility and intelligent appli-
cation; their ornamentation delights
one by its graceful interpretation of
Nature, rendered with a very special
sense of decoration; moreover, the
colouring of these mosaics of leather is
restrained and fresh, and the hollyhocks

EXECUTED BY T. SHOUKOTA