International studio (52.1914)

Studio-Talk

furtherexpeuiuuns undertaken by Prof. Fischer


of architecture. In plan the building is approxi-
mately T-shaped, an arrangement which has
permitted of an ample provision of windows to
each floor. Within the building the rooms set
apart for exhibition purposes are thirty-two in
number, two in the basement and the remainder
on the three floors above. These rooms have
been designedly pitched comparatively low, as it
was considered that lofty rooms would have been
unnecessary and incongruous with the character of
the exhibits, and for the same reason the decoration
of the rooms has been kept as simple as possible.
For the protection of the numerous precious
paintings on silk the use of glass has befcn resorted
to, and in this respect the methods adopted by
the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in America for
the care of its superb collection have furnished
guidance. Glass cases have also been freely
used for the protection of other objects, such
as porcelain, lacquer ware, polychrome wood
sculpture, &c.
The contents of these thirty-two rooms represent
practically every period in the history of Far Eastern
art and every form of artistic production—painting,
sculpture in stone, clay, wood and bronze, ivory
carving, lacquer ware, enamels, glass, pottery and
porcelain, including the special pottery used for
the Tea ceremony (Cha-no-yu) in Japan, arms and
armour, textile fabrics, the carved masks used in
the Nd dances in Japan, the colour-prints of China
as well as Japan, architectural ceramics (tiles,
keystones, &c.), and other varieties of products.
One room is set apart for Lamaistic art, another
for Korean art; and two for Buddhistic paintings
and sculpture; while on the ground floor three rooms
have been specially arranged by a Japanese crafts-
man conversant with the ancient traditions, to

under the auspices of the City of Cologne, and
munificently subsidised by certain of its leading
citizens, such as Herr Arnold von Guilleaume,
Dr. Emil Freiherr von Oppenheim, Herr Alfred
Schutte and Flerr Adolf Lindgens, who with

represent down to the smallest detail the style and
decoration of the reception rooms in a wealthy
Japanese monastery. Of the numerous objects dis-
tributed according to a systematic scheme among
the other rooms it is of course impossible to speak

Oberbiirgermeister Wallraf and others had from
the first taken an enthusiastic interest in the
movement for establishing the museum.

in detail; a fairly full description is, how'ever, given
by Prof. Fischer in the illustrated guide he has
compiled—a handy book of over 200 pages.

The new museum adjoins the Museum of In-
dustrial Art on the Hansa-Ring and is entered
through that building. Externally no attempt has
been made to impart an Oriental character to the
structure, and in fact, all idea of doing so was
abandoned after mature consideration in favour of
an elevation more in harmony wuth the local type

A MSTERDAM.—Louis W. van Soest, whose
/\ painting Afternoon Sun is reproduced
/' "A overleaf, was born in Java in 1867, and.
A. Was at first marked out for a business
career, but from the age of twenty-four art has
claimed his entire devotion. He has exhibited
with success both here in Amsterdam and in

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