DOI Heft:
No. 128 (October, 1907)
DOI Artikel:Brinton, Selwyn John Curwen: The seventh international exhibition of art at Venice, 1907
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28252#0285
The Venice Exhibition, igoy
VENICE EXHIBITION
(Photo. A. Tivoli)
T
HE SEVENTH INTERNA-
TIONAL EXHIBITION OF ART
AT VENICE, 1907.
The exhibition of modem art now being held in
Venice is generally considered the best, both for
quality of work exhibited and for sales effected, of
the whole series. The foreign sections especially
are this year admirable in selection and arrange-
ment ; but I can also note considerable advance
all round upon the exhibition I visited in 1905.
Venice herself, for centuries a world-centre, first
of commerce then of art,
then later of pleasure, is
the ideal location for such
an international exhibi-
tion, and in Sgr. Frade-
letto, with his untiring
energy and sound judg-
ment, she has found a no
less ideal director.
My subject here is
extensive and my space
limited, so I come at
once to the Sala Centrale,
whose walls are entirely
devoted to the decorative
panels of Aristide Sartorio.
The artist has sought here
“ to illustrate, with the
myths of classical anti-
quity, the poem of human
life,” and it has taken him venice exhibition
two pages in close type of
the catalogue, with the aid
of “four hendecasyllabic
legends ” to explain to us
what it is all about. As
decoration these figures in
monochrome—dark green
and brown and black—
have great merit, but do
not entirely harmonise
with the room ; and again,
they are terribly uneasy ;
whether nude or draped,
whether they treat of
human passion or the
silence of the tomb, they
are alike restless, per-
turbed, destitute of any
sense of repose, which
surely sometimes belongs
to their theme. The
colour scheme, however, is pleasing and perfectly
under control, the drawing of the nudes — in
which I venture to trace something of Leighton’s
influence — exquisitely delicate, delightfully vi-
vacious.
Having studied Sartorio’s paintings we may
glance at the sculpture in this room, where we shall
find, wifh Auguste Rodin’s Penseur, a Fecondite of
the Belgian Meunier (the last work before his
death); and here, too, Max Klinger has an
upright female figure, Baigneuse, where the sin-
cerity of the modelling, the solidity and power of
THE VENETIAN ROOM
(Photo. A. Tivoli, Venice)
THE GERMAN ROOM
269
VENICE EXHIBITION
(Photo. A. Tivoli)
T
HE SEVENTH INTERNA-
TIONAL EXHIBITION OF ART
AT VENICE, 1907.
The exhibition of modem art now being held in
Venice is generally considered the best, both for
quality of work exhibited and for sales effected, of
the whole series. The foreign sections especially
are this year admirable in selection and arrange-
ment ; but I can also note considerable advance
all round upon the exhibition I visited in 1905.
Venice herself, for centuries a world-centre, first
of commerce then of art,
then later of pleasure, is
the ideal location for such
an international exhibi-
tion, and in Sgr. Frade-
letto, with his untiring
energy and sound judg-
ment, she has found a no
less ideal director.
My subject here is
extensive and my space
limited, so I come at
once to the Sala Centrale,
whose walls are entirely
devoted to the decorative
panels of Aristide Sartorio.
The artist has sought here
“ to illustrate, with the
myths of classical anti-
quity, the poem of human
life,” and it has taken him venice exhibition
two pages in close type of
the catalogue, with the aid
of “four hendecasyllabic
legends ” to explain to us
what it is all about. As
decoration these figures in
monochrome—dark green
and brown and black—
have great merit, but do
not entirely harmonise
with the room ; and again,
they are terribly uneasy ;
whether nude or draped,
whether they treat of
human passion or the
silence of the tomb, they
are alike restless, per-
turbed, destitute of any
sense of repose, which
surely sometimes belongs
to their theme. The
colour scheme, however, is pleasing and perfectly
under control, the drawing of the nudes — in
which I venture to trace something of Leighton’s
influence — exquisitely delicate, delightfully vi-
vacious.
Having studied Sartorio’s paintings we may
glance at the sculpture in this room, where we shall
find, wifh Auguste Rodin’s Penseur, a Fecondite of
the Belgian Meunier (the last work before his
death); and here, too, Max Klinger has an
upright female figure, Baigneuse, where the sin-
cerity of the modelling, the solidity and power of
THE VENETIAN ROOM
(Photo. A. Tivoli, Venice)
THE GERMAN ROOM
269