International studio (58.1916)

Book Review

acquired a flower-like quality which, though not
great sculpturally, gives it a fine and pleasing
decorative sense. The thin veil of water falling
from the shell is needed to complete the figure.
In great contrast to this is Janet Scudder’s re-
markably modelled figure, appealing as splendid
technique rather than arousing imagination.
Robert Aitken’s garden figure is one of the
most beautiful in the exhibition, and well de-
serves its place of honour in the centre path of
the garden. It is one of the best expressions of
the sculptor’s soundness and saneness of point
of view that he has thus far created, and it
expresses these to a marked degree. The drafts-
manship is unusually clear and crisp, the modell-
ing has a certain sure quality giving a pleasing
feeling of lack of effort, while the whole compo-
sition is a complete and superb answer to the
isms of so-called modern art movements, meet-
ing them on their own ground, and sending all
their theories tumbling to the ground.
One section of the garden was set apart for
the work of Helen Farnsworth Mears, whose
recent death ended a career of unusual promise.
Her dancing nymph and the sketches for the Foun-
tain of Joy suggest the qualities of grace and buoy-
ant joyousness.
The photograph herewith given, showing one
end of the Gorham Garden, gives the readers of
the Studio an idea of the placing of the exhibits
and of the general ensemble. To Mr. Purdy, to
whom public and sculptors alike are grate-
ful, are due the beauty and success of this garden,
where the fruit may be enjoyed, in the sun, and
on the soil where it grew.
OOK REVIEW
Chats on Japanese Prints. By Arthur
Davison Ficke. (Frederick A. Stokes
& Co.) $2.50.
We must first quarrel good naturedly with Mr.
Ficke about his title. “.Chats” are quite proper
in their place, but the word sounds a false note
in this instance. Apparently its use was arbi-
trary, as the book is one of a series by various
authors, on different subjects, issued by the same
publishers, all of which are called “Chats”—
some of them, at least, justly so.
Hamerton’s “Graphic Arts” would hardly be
called “chats,” and neither should Mr. Ficke’s
valuable contribution to our art literature bear

such a word on its title page. It is a thoughtful
treatise, and deserves to rank high among the
best works we have on art subjects.
The message of Japanese art to the Western
world is well expressed in the opening chapter:
“That sublimated pleasure, which is the seal
of all the arts, reaches its purest condition when
evoked by a work in which the aesthetic quality
is not too closely mingled with the every-day
human. . . . The graphic art of an alien race
has therefore an initial strength of purely aesthetic
appeal that a native art often lacks. It moves
free from the demands with which unconsciously
we approach the art of our own people. It stands
as an undiscovered world, of which nothing can
logically be expected. The spectator who turns
to it at all must come prepared to take it on its
own terms. If it allures him, it will do so by vir-
tue of those qualities of harmony, rhythm, and
vision, which in these strange surroundings are
more perceptible to him than in the art of his
own race, where so many adventitious associa-
tions operate to distract him. . . . Here, in
unfamiliar environment, the fundamental powers
of design stand forth free.
The atmosphere is delightful and the pages
irresistibly impart the joy of the enthusiast who
is revelling in a field that he loves, and which he
is teaching us to love. He tosses flowers in his
revels, for the little poems scattered through the
book are most beautiful and appropriate. Some
of his lines in “A Portrait of a Woman, by Hosoda
Yeishi’ (page 263), might well be applied to our
own aesthetic art.
“A holy image in the grasp
Of pagans careless to adore;
A pearl secreted in the clasp
Of oozy weeds on some lost shore.”
This and other thought-gems, which might
almost be culled at random from among the
pages, appeal to the mind and heart, and waft
us into Arcady from a world of prose.
The author is essentially a poet, but his poetic
standpoint does not interfere with the practical
value of his work as a text-book. It deals with
the history of Japanese prints in a concise and
well-ordered way—how and when they were
made, and who made them. Their relationship
and value to the world’s art are discussed in an
able and scholarly manner. The book is a dis-
tinct addition to modern art literature, and it
may be accepted as authoritative.


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