International studio (26.1905)

It is enough to say that the present volume is fully
up to the level of its predecessors, and includes, as
they do, a great variety of drawings of complete
buildings, p'ans, elevations, and details, some long
familiar to the student, others not yet as well
known as they deserve to be.
A/iVs-Ay No. i. Baillie-Scott.
No. 2. C. R. Macintosh. (Darmstadt : Alex.
Koch.)—The zeal displayed at the present time in
Germany for the study of architecture and the
decorative arts, and especially of all that tends to
advancement in style, is most remarkable. The
work of Mr. Baillie-Scott and Mr. C. R. Macintosh,
among others, has been well known for some years
past to readers of THE STUDIO. That it should form
to-day the subject for two expensive portfolios of
drawings published in Germany is a remarkable
sign of the times, but one which British prejudiced
minds will fail to understand. Only a few months
ago a certain section of the British public was
holding up its hands in horror at the authorities of
South Kensington Museum daring to exhibit some
examples of modern French furniture in its sacred
precincts. That the British student should be
kept conversant with what is going on abroad to-day
is looked upon by some people as ridiculously
superfluous. So long as he studies the three orders
of Vitruvius, what more is necessary? In the
meantime, however, the minds of the students in
the great schools of Austria, Germany, and America
are being instructed upon broader lines, which
lead to progress and advancement. The work of
British architects, which shows individuality of
thought, is as eagerly studied as that by their own
masters; and the effect of this is seen not only in
the designs of the young schools abroad, but also
in the work turned out by German and American
manufacturers. Mr. Baillie-Scott and Mr. C. R.
Macintosh are artists working upon very different
lines of thought. Their ideas are heretical to
many " Little Englanders" in art, but they each
have an individuality of expression and a genuine-
ness of purpose which will in time serve them in
good stead. The Baillie-Scott portfolio is devoted
to the illustrations of a house in his characteristic
style, in which some large coloured plates are given
of the decoration of hall, music-room, and dining-
room. Mr.Macintosh's ideasofhouseand decoration
are set forth in an introductory essay by Hermann
Muthesius. Mr. Macintosh's designs display a
remarkable breaking away from all precedent, and
are not likely to win applause from the man in the
street. There is a continuity and harmony of idea
throughout this work, however, which will commend

it to many; and there can be no doubt that he has
already many admirers and imitators, especially in
Germany and Austria.
//a ZzwaA (7a/Ay/<M. (London :
Cassell & Co.)—A small percentage only of the
paintings chosen for reproduction in this volume
can be classed with the great, but the subjects
of most of them are calculated to appeal to the
man in the street; and for this reason the publica-
tion will probably achieve the kind of success at
which its promoters doubtless aim. The " three-
colour " process has been requisitioned for the
reproduction of the pictures, and the result justifies
once more what has often been urged in these
columns—that this process, whatever its value in
other respects, seldom succeeds in rendering the
subtle qualities of an oil painting or a water-colour
with any pronounced degree of success.
Aw/ By FORD MADOX HUEFFER.
(London : Alston Rivers.) gy. ??<?/.—In his defini-
tion of the ideal author who, he says, " must be
passionately alive to all aspects of life and must
depend for the picturesqueness of his work upon
actual contrasts vividly presented," the writer of
" The Soul of London " proves that he realizes to
some extent the onerous character of his own self-
imposed task. He would, however, have been
wiser to have given a less ambitious title to his
brightly written but discursive essays on certain
aspects of the great city, and his plea that he tried
for months to find a better name is scarcely a
valid excuse for a mistake that gives a misleading
impression of his aim. He hits off skilfully many
of the idiosyncrasies of his subject, showing much
familiarity with the floating population of London,
and making by the way several valuable suggestions
to those responsible for its well being. Yet for all
that he fails to reveal in any true sense the real
soul of the complex personality of the mighty
organism, in which an incalculable number of
conflicting elements are fused into one throbbing,
palpitating whole, in intimate touch with the very
latest development of the modern spirit yet deeply
imbued with that of the past. For such revelation
the insight of a genius and the eloquence of a poet
are required, and it is no disparagement to Mr.
Hueffer to say that, though he is a keen and sym-
pathetic observer, there is no evidence in this new
work that these greater gifts are his.
By MARIE VAN VoRST.
(Paris: Brentano.)—Reprinted from the " Pall
Mall Magazine," these brightly-written essays on
Puvis de Chavannes, Cazin, Rodin, Besnard, and
Steinlen well sustain the test of reproduction in
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