International studio (58.1916)

Studio-Talk

illustrated some few months ago. They were a
few out of a large number which he designed and
made as models for the Board of Trade, who were
anxious to stimulate the home production of toys
which before the war were imported mainly from
Germany. On this occasion, however, we are con-
cerned with Mr. Polunin, who as we stated before
is a Russian artist residing in England, in his
capacity as an etcher and draughtsman, and in
reproducing two examples of his work we give the
comments of Mr. Alexander Bakshy on the artist’s
work in this field.

“ It is a strange fact,” he says, “ that the
dominating movement of the last two decades in
Russia, which has generally been described as a
graphic school, has scarcely shown any interest in
etching. Drawing on paper and book illustration
held the minds of the Russian artists to the exclu-
sion of all the other methods of graphic statement.
And yet, had it been otherwise, we should probably
have a school of etching distinct from the schools
of Western Europe. In the work
of Mr. Polunin we can trace the
influence of the Russian graphic
school, cloaked under the forms of
a later and more cosmopolitan
origin. The manner developed by
the Russian artists can be best ex-
plained by comparing it with modern
English work. Since the time of
Whistler a tradition has set in,
in English etching, which may be
described as a combination of
naturalistic suggestiveness with
decorative treatment. The first
element, however, had the preced¬
ence, and was able for this reason
to determine the use of the second.
The consequence was that decora¬
tive, i.e., in the case of etching,
graphic, treatment was for ever
confined to the narrow sphere of
sketchy impressionism. Manner-
isms in the drawing (in the treat¬
ment of the sky, for instance) and
in the method of biting (a set grada¬
tion in the strength of bitten lines)
have naturally followed, and be¬
coming fixed and stereotyped, have
set their stamp on all the average
English work. A curious exception
to this graphic style were the Pre-
Raphaelites and Beardsley, but
126

their conventional 'forms have found practically no
expression in the medium of etching. The Russian
artists were nearer in spirit to the last-mentioned
English artists than to Whistler and his followers.
With them, in their graphic work, suggestion of
nature was a matter of less concern than expres-
sion of a definite style. More independent of
realistic nature they were able to concentrate their
efforts on the graphic side of drawing, and to
evolve a number of original graphic forms. This
characteristic feature of the Russian school is also
evident in the work of Mr. Polunin, for whom
the graphic treatment is foremost, and suggestive-
ness merely an unavoidable attribute. Mr.
Polunin's design is always complete and thorough,
though it is never naturalistic. When one looks
at his work it is his original manner of statement
that immediately steps forward in one’s impression.
The peculiarity most conspicuous in his work is
the persistence with which the artist tries to avoid
outlining the object. By using parallel strokes
varying in direction, he succeeds in indicating at


“lamb’s court”

ETCHING BY VLADIMIR POLUNIN