International studio (53.1914)

Studio- Talk

landscape be his subject. One discerns in it the
influence of Diirer and Thoma; at any rate, it is
typically German. Steppes is the painter of silence.
He loves the quiet valley and the lonely mountain
tops ; he is attracted also to solitary trees, especially
when they have a bizarre silhouette. Bright sunlight
is not to his taste, he prefers the subdued light of
dawn, evening, and moonlight. Evidences are
present in his art that he is not averse to modern
modes of expression, but he loves to persevere in
his own style. Steppes is a Bavarian, and he
attended the Munich Academy, but he prefers
to be considered a self-taught artist, as he learned
most from nature and the old masters. He
won the State gold medal at Graz, and his paintings
.and other works are to be found in many German
public collections.
The talent of Ernst Aufseeser, which was bound
sooner or later to attract attention, has procured
him a call to the Kunstgewerbe-Schule at Dussel-
dorf, where he has now taken charge of the class of
Prof. Ehmke. His eminent ability as a designer
who combines inventiveness and facility of visualis-
ing decorative compositions with a sound knowledge
of historical ornament and love of actuality is sure
to have a favourable influence on craft students.
The Deutscher Werkbund’s exhibition at Cologne
shows some of his latest achievements and also his

school of Paris, is now dedicating his talent entirely
to a study of the dancing-art which Isadora Duncan
and her sister Elizabeth expound by example and
precept. He lives at Darmstadt so as to be able
to study his favourite models in the school carried
on by Elizabeth Duncan, and his hand essays to
capture their instantaneous movements together
with the atmosphere of circumfluent light and air.
The exhibition of his work at Messrs. Friedmann and
Weber’s also introduced the artist as a characteristic
delineator of Venetian street scenes. J. J.
VENICE.—The exhibition which was in-
augurated on April 24 is the eleventh
in order of these most successful biennial
displays of art organised by the City
of Venice, and it fully keeps up to the level
of previous years, both in the number and quality
of the works exhibited. The quantity is, in fact,
so great that in a brief survey such as is here given
only the works of primary importance can be
noticed. I shall therefore touch but cursorily upon
the Pavilions of the Nations before passing to a
notice of Italy’s contributions, from which our
illustrations are drawn.

Among these pavilions, that of France this year, as
before, claims a leading place, and this year again
its chief interest centres in four excellent individual

pupils’ works. In the Tea-House of Prof,
the only building which will remain
standing after the exhibition, Aufseeser
has provisionally arranged the Munich
Marionette Theatre, which is to be used
as a cafe after the close of the show.
Here the black and pink tiles of the
walls, the green and black frieze on a
white ground, the ceiling reliefs, the
black silk curtains with vermilion ap-
plications and the stage with its var-
nished vermilion frame, have assisted
in the picturesque decoration of a
ceramic interior. His black and white
drawings in the Haupt Halle with their
firm yet loosely interwoven line-work
bear witness to a skill of draughtsman-
ship comparable to that of the old
Netherlandish wood-cutters and en-
gravers. In them the pictorial capacity,
the originality and the rich fantasy of
the artist are summed up.
Mons. T. Grandjouan, a gifted
draughtsman of the impressionistic

Kreis, exhibitions. Emile Bourdelle is a sculptor of power,


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“HELD UP”

PEN DRAWING BY ERNST AUFSEESER