International studio (61.1917)

Maurice Sterne at Bali


DANCING MAIDS

BY MAURICE STERNE

have not the grace, the balance, the quiet or the
reverence of the Eastern peoples.
Sterne’s work is saturated with their qualities,
which we have not. He also convinces us of their
health and peace of mind, in which they are very
like the beasts of the field. It is a valuable con-
tribution to our Occidental art and sends some
of the Eastern imperturbability, like a cool wind,
over our restless minds. In the large painting

already referred to the artist has, to use his own
words, “ tried to show one of the religious dances
which play so large a part in the lives of these
people”; he has, I think, failed to show the
dance, but has immortalized the postures of the
dance—quite another matter.
Every picture is always something of an experi-
ment, every painter of real value is an adventurer
and a discoverer: quite as much so as those men
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