International studio (25.1905)

Western thought much that is beautiful and best in
Japanese life and characteristics. Sometimes it will
be the artistic and sometimes the philosophical
standpoint that inspires him, but invariably his
writings are interesting. He does not so much
attempt to define, as to convey by means of his
charmingly expressed and equally charmingly con-
ceived ideas, some notion of the other half of the
world, and the ideals as well as of the daily life of
the East. A philosopher or psychologist might
write many volumes on the prevailing differences
in the influence of Buddhism and Christianity, and
would still enlighten but little the general reader.
Lafcadio Hearn unfolds the mystery impalpably
and with a delightful indirectness, by means of the
pictures which he draws of many phases of modern
Japanese life, of many stories from their history,
and traditions from their unrecorded past. He
marks very clearly that part of their scheme of life
which leads them to neglect the development of the
individual in art, and, where we in the West tend so
deplorably towards self-advertisement, to sink the
personality of the worker in the higher interests of
the work.

^URRENT ART EVENTS.
n A'f THE Knoedler Galleries has
recently been held a small exhibition of
six portraits by J. J. Shannon, one of
those artists who can be claimed as of American
extraction, though his art training and educational
influence and inspiration has been derived entirely
from England and Europe. One of the portraits,
entitled is the property of the Carnegie
Art Institute, of Pittsburg, having received the gold
medal at the Pan-American Exposition of 1901.
The other portraits, all treated with the artist's
rare appreciation of character and personality, and
exquisite taste of setting, colouring, and enviable
knowledge of technical treatment, were as follows;
Laify Dfawa AfawTMM, Tfr. PAff Tfay (three-quar-
ters in pink hunt coat); TfarJoHe (niece of the
artist); dlLM KfMy iHrj. Hafwey. It is
understood that the artist is busily engaged paint-
ing a number of portraits during his present visit
to the United States.

AT THE Oehme Galleries the exhibition of the
work of Elizabeth Wentworth Roberts was of
marked originality. Two early canvases showed
the artist's style during the term of her French
pupilage, from which she has struck out along
entirely independent and individual lines, showing
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a feeling for broad, decorative effects and bold
pictorial composition that suggest at once the quali-
ties that go to make success in mural decoration.
Landscape subjects of human interest are the
scenes of most of the pictures, painted chiefly in
Egypt and Spain, where the rich and contrasted
colouring falls in with the artist's other tendencies.
Among the miscellaneous pictures at the Oehme
Galleries was a charming example of L. P. Dessar's
landscape, depicting a scene from his favorite
haunts, Lyme, Conn., and a delightful idyllic work
by F. Thaulon, entitled
I'f WILL interest our readers to hear that in the
January Competition, in which two prizes were
offered for the best twelve suggestions for subjects
of INTERNATIONAL SruDio Prize Competitions, the
first prize was carried off by D. B. Rogers, of
Lawrence, Kansas, and the second prize by E. C.
MacKinnon, of Wellesley College, Mass.
MUCH interest has been aroused by the exhibi-
tion of an important group of paintings by old
masters shown recently at the National Arts Club,
in Thirty-fourth Street. Paintings were on view
attributed to Titian, Ravenstein, Jan Weenix, Van
Dyck, Salvator Rosa and Murillo. But the sensa-
tional feature of the exhibition was a statue of
Aphrodite set forth as the work of no less a
master than Praxiteles. This marble belongs to
Mr. Frederick Linton and has been kept for many
years in storage. While its definite history has not
been made public, it was said to have been found
in Greece in 1889 and to have been bricked up in a
wall, a fact which-would account for its remarkable
state of preservation.
THE GROLIER CLUB has shown a collection of
the work of William Blake, including designs for
the " Songs of Innocence," and "The Book of
Urizen," as well as the better known designs for
"The Book of Job" and Blair's "Grave."
THE COLLECTION of old Chinese' porcelains,
enamels, jades, textiles and other valuable objects
and modern and ancient oil paintings brought to-
gether by Mr. A. D. Vorce, was placed on sale at
the American Art Galleries recently, owing to the
continued ill health of the owner and his decision
not to resume work actively again. Examples of
Chinese porcelain of K'ang-hsi, Yung-Cheng and
Chien-Lung periods were included. Some of the
specimens came from the collections of the Earl of
Chichester, the Countess of Jersey and Captain