DOI Heft:
Nr. 155 (January 1910)
DOI Artikel:Reviews and notices
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19868#0418
Reviews and Notices
heim Collection. He was from the first greatly
appreciated in his native country, receiving com-
mission after commission from important patrons,
and his frescoes are widely distributed in Italian
churches. Signor Molmenti contrasts him with
his famous predecessor Carpaccio, declaring that
he stands for the sunset as the latter does for
the dawn of Venetian art. He looks upon the
one as the antithesis of the other, for the work of
Carpaccio is severe and archaic, yet -full of a
certain dignified repose, whilst that of Tiepolo,
who delights in contorted and audacious attitudes,
seems literally to palpitate with life. The critic
dwells on his extraordinary fertility of imagination,
rapidity of execution, and the courage with which
he conquered technical difficulties, claiming that
though he no doubt belonged to the decadence,
his brilliant achievements shed a fresh lustre on
the city of his birth that remained magnificent
even in her decay. As in the companion volume
on Carpaccio, every conceivable source of informa-
tion has been turned to account by Signor
Molmenti, who has included amongst his carefully
selected illustrations, examples of the work of
some of Tiepolo's predecessors and successors
that will be found useful for comparison.
Tanglewood Tales. By Nathaniel Haw-
thorne. Illustrated by Willy Pogany. (London:
T. Fisher Unwin.) 6s. net.—This children's classic
comes to us in this edition beautifully illustrated—
that is, as regards the line decoration, which so
very well incorporates itself with the character of
the printing and spacing of the letter-press. Mr.
Willy Pogany has done what few artists seem to
have the gift of doing now-a-days; namely, illus-
trate a book with drawings which in their character
show themselves to spring from the inspiration of
the stories which they have in hand. There is
originality in Mr. Pogany's drawings and con-
siderable grace of line, also an appreciation of the
tradition of the Greeks in their own interpretation
of their myths. When we come to the colour
illustrations—fortunately only two—we come to a
part of the book which we regard indifferently.
They fail to retain the Hellenic feeling which the
other pictures have. A child will, of course, turn
first and with most delight to the coloured pictures.
We regret, then, that responsibility for their truth to
Greek character has not been assumed.
The Rub&iyat of Omar Khayyam. Presented
by Willy Pogany. (London : George Harrap &
Co.) 105. 6d. net.—This book, illustrated by Mr.
Willy Pogany, does not give so much pleasure
as " The Tanglewood Tales." In the first place,
to give English words in a lettering which is made
to imitate the character of Persian script is, artis-
tically speaking, a somewhat clumsy attempt to
sustain the Oriental character, and we scarcely
think the readers will thank the publishers for
making the verses so difficult to read. The illus-
trations seem the result of some study of the East,
but they are not Eastern in feeling. In regard
to this, we do not plead for local truths, but for
an imaginative interpretation. There is much
realism in these illustrations that quarrels with the
purely decorative style of the book, and more
especially with the abstract kind of thought to be
expressed.
The Rubdiydt of Omar Khayyam. Translated by
Edward FitzGerald. Edited, with introduction
and notes, by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson,
Litt. D. (London: Adam and Charles Black.)
js. 6d. net.—Mr. James is more successful than
Mr. Pogany, but even his designs lose greatly in
sympathy through the fact that there is nothing
whatever in these colour schemes to help carry out
what is achieved so well in the line, the illusion of
Eastern setting. It is easy to make the right
selection of types, at least with an artist so gifted
as Mr. James, but it is not easy, we admit, to
arrange that the colour scheme of an Oriental
picture shall, in printing, be something different
from what it would be if its subject were a London
street. But decorative restraint might step in here
and save the situation. Is this realism of colour
necessary which publishers encourage ?—a realism
which Mr. James rejects in the line work of every
one of the contours of his beautiful designs.
Grimm's Fairy Tales. Illustrated by Arthur
Rackham. (London: Constable & Co.) 155.net.
—Mr. Rackham's genius is at its best in subjects
that are weird and imaginative, and in this work
he has had a wide scope for his talents. But
Mr. Rackham's work is not always weird, for, when
occasion demands, his drawings are full of quiet
beauty and graceful composition. His consum-
mate draughtsmanship is always evident, and par-
ticularly so in his illustrations to "Grimm." These
wonderful stories have never been so worthily illus-
trated as in this volume. The book is, however,
too bulky and unwieldy. Thinner paper, smaller
type, and the absence of the cardboard upon
which the plates have been mounted, would have
greatly improved its appearance, and rendered it
more handy in use and more convenient to the
reader.
Undine. Adapted by W. L. Courtney. Illus-
trated by Arthur Rackham. (London : Heine-
heim Collection. He was from the first greatly
appreciated in his native country, receiving com-
mission after commission from important patrons,
and his frescoes are widely distributed in Italian
churches. Signor Molmenti contrasts him with
his famous predecessor Carpaccio, declaring that
he stands for the sunset as the latter does for
the dawn of Venetian art. He looks upon the
one as the antithesis of the other, for the work of
Carpaccio is severe and archaic, yet -full of a
certain dignified repose, whilst that of Tiepolo,
who delights in contorted and audacious attitudes,
seems literally to palpitate with life. The critic
dwells on his extraordinary fertility of imagination,
rapidity of execution, and the courage with which
he conquered technical difficulties, claiming that
though he no doubt belonged to the decadence,
his brilliant achievements shed a fresh lustre on
the city of his birth that remained magnificent
even in her decay. As in the companion volume
on Carpaccio, every conceivable source of informa-
tion has been turned to account by Signor
Molmenti, who has included amongst his carefully
selected illustrations, examples of the work of
some of Tiepolo's predecessors and successors
that will be found useful for comparison.
Tanglewood Tales. By Nathaniel Haw-
thorne. Illustrated by Willy Pogany. (London:
T. Fisher Unwin.) 6s. net.—This children's classic
comes to us in this edition beautifully illustrated—
that is, as regards the line decoration, which so
very well incorporates itself with the character of
the printing and spacing of the letter-press. Mr.
Willy Pogany has done what few artists seem to
have the gift of doing now-a-days; namely, illus-
trate a book with drawings which in their character
show themselves to spring from the inspiration of
the stories which they have in hand. There is
originality in Mr. Pogany's drawings and con-
siderable grace of line, also an appreciation of the
tradition of the Greeks in their own interpretation
of their myths. When we come to the colour
illustrations—fortunately only two—we come to a
part of the book which we regard indifferently.
They fail to retain the Hellenic feeling which the
other pictures have. A child will, of course, turn
first and with most delight to the coloured pictures.
We regret, then, that responsibility for their truth to
Greek character has not been assumed.
The Rub&iyat of Omar Khayyam. Presented
by Willy Pogany. (London : George Harrap &
Co.) 105. 6d. net.—This book, illustrated by Mr.
Willy Pogany, does not give so much pleasure
as " The Tanglewood Tales." In the first place,
to give English words in a lettering which is made
to imitate the character of Persian script is, artis-
tically speaking, a somewhat clumsy attempt to
sustain the Oriental character, and we scarcely
think the readers will thank the publishers for
making the verses so difficult to read. The illus-
trations seem the result of some study of the East,
but they are not Eastern in feeling. In regard
to this, we do not plead for local truths, but for
an imaginative interpretation. There is much
realism in these illustrations that quarrels with the
purely decorative style of the book, and more
especially with the abstract kind of thought to be
expressed.
The Rubdiydt of Omar Khayyam. Translated by
Edward FitzGerald. Edited, with introduction
and notes, by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson,
Litt. D. (London: Adam and Charles Black.)
js. 6d. net.—Mr. James is more successful than
Mr. Pogany, but even his designs lose greatly in
sympathy through the fact that there is nothing
whatever in these colour schemes to help carry out
what is achieved so well in the line, the illusion of
Eastern setting. It is easy to make the right
selection of types, at least with an artist so gifted
as Mr. James, but it is not easy, we admit, to
arrange that the colour scheme of an Oriental
picture shall, in printing, be something different
from what it would be if its subject were a London
street. But decorative restraint might step in here
and save the situation. Is this realism of colour
necessary which publishers encourage ?—a realism
which Mr. James rejects in the line work of every
one of the contours of his beautiful designs.
Grimm's Fairy Tales. Illustrated by Arthur
Rackham. (London: Constable & Co.) 155.net.
—Mr. Rackham's genius is at its best in subjects
that are weird and imaginative, and in this work
he has had a wide scope for his talents. But
Mr. Rackham's work is not always weird, for, when
occasion demands, his drawings are full of quiet
beauty and graceful composition. His consum-
mate draughtsmanship is always evident, and par-
ticularly so in his illustrations to "Grimm." These
wonderful stories have never been so worthily illus-
trated as in this volume. The book is, however,
too bulky and unwieldy. Thinner paper, smaller
type, and the absence of the cardboard upon
which the plates have been mounted, would have
greatly improved its appearance, and rendered it
more handy in use and more convenient to the
reader.
Undine. Adapted by W. L. Courtney. Illus-
trated by Arthur Rackham. (London : Heine-