DOI Heft:
Nr. 341 (October 1925)
DOI Artikel:A shelf of new art books
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19986#0078
mceRnACionAL
SOW©
A SHELF of NEW ART BOOKS
THE PRINCIPLES OF DECORATION. By
R. G. Hatton. Charles Seribner's Smis, New
York. Price, $3.50.
rhe tenor of this book," writes Professor Hatton in
his preface, "is on the whole to urge the decorator to
approach his work with the triple intention of making
it vivacious and effective, intellectual and interesting, and
to proceed as if no decoration had ever existed before—not
from conceit of his own abilities, nor in contempt of the
past, but in order to get rid of the tendency to use inherited
ornamental and decorative forms, so many of which are
neither vivacious nor interesting." This admirable idea
receives rather a shock, particularly if the reader has read
this quotation in the preface, in the decorative illustrations
Professor Hatton uses in connection with his text. For
these are, unless copies of or adaptations of the antique,
thoroughly modern British in character. The "tenor of
the book" would have been much more impressive if the
author had depended upon his text alone for in this he
makes affirmations much more effective than are his
illustrations.
THE LATER CERAMIC WARES OF CHINA.
By R. L. Hobson. Charles Seribner's Sons, New
York. Price, $30.
ro his former elaborate and comprehensive works on
Early Ceramic Wares of China and the Wares of the
Ming Dynasty, R. L. Hobson, Keeper of the Depart-
ment of Ceramics at the British Museum, has added this
third monograph which is a natural sequel to the second
volume in this series. It also naturally ends the trilogy for
it carries the story of Chinese pottery and porcelain down
to our own times since it deals with the potter's art under
the Ch'ing dynasty of the Manchus, or from the year 1644
until as recently as 1912.
As is the practice in works of this character there is a
sharp division in the make-up of the volume, the text
running to 153 pages in the first half of the book, the
remainder of it being devoted to the illustrations of which
there are twenty-six in color and over one hundred in black
and white. In view of the high quality of much work in
color reproduction now published, the color plates in this
costly volume are not particularly satisfactory in light of
the fact that the tactile values of the porcelains reproduced
are scarcely indicated, only form and color remaining.
And one may well ponder the worth of studying Chinese
porcelains in particular through black and white repro-
ductions when their color is so prominent a factor in the
lure of these pieces.
Mr. Hobson does not pretend that there is much
original matter in his text, for the ground has been worked
over too extensively for that in recent years. What he has
chiefly aimed at "is bringing che subject-matter up to date
and making certain necessary emendations." Modest as
this statement is Mr. Hobson's text is important and
valuable in its completeness and interest. Mr. Hobson is
one of the small company of English writers who recog-
nizes the importance of American collections of art objects,
for in writing of the great assemblages of Chinese porce-
lains in the western world, after referring to those of
Europe he writes: "America is not less favored; indeed
in some respects it is even more so, for the vast collections
in New York are not only rich in all varieties of the
Manchu porcelains, but they are distinctly superior to the
European in the matter of monochromes."
Introducing this special field of porcelain with a his-
torical survey of the Manchu dynasty and of the general
processes of porcelain making in connection with the long
enduring porcelain centre of Ching-te Chen, he devotes
separate chapters to the early Ch'ing ware and K'ang Hsi
blue and white; jamille verte porcelain enameled on the
biscuit; jamille verte enameled on the glaze; K'ang Hsi
monochrome porcelain and colored glazes; Yung Cheng
porcelain (1723-35); Ch'ien Lung porcelain (1735-95); tne
nineteenth-century porcelain; the porcelain of Fukien;
pottery of the Ch'ing Dynasty; Chinese ceramic shapes,
and designs on this pottery and porcelain. There is also a
chapter on European influences on Chinese porcelain
which assumed such notable proportions in the eighteenth
century.
THOMAS CHIPPENDALE: Study of His Life,
Work and Influence. By Oliver Brackett.
Houghton-Mifflin Co., Boston. Price, Si5.
Oliver Brackett is wise in the generations of the
Chippendales. He has confined himself in this com-
prehensive study of the greatest of all the Chippen-
dales to Thomas, who was baptized on June 5, 1718, at
Otley in Yorkshire, who wrote The Gentleman and Cabinet-
Maker's Director in 1754 when he was about thirty-six
years old, and who died in 1779 "aged about sixty-one (or
sixty-two according to record at St. Martin's-in-the-
Fields)" as the careful Mr. Brackett states his chronology.
This record does not concern itself with any Chippendale
but Thomas nor with the firm after his death. In spite of
what this writer says about investigations in the last
twenty years bringing "to light many important facts
which have partly lifted the veil of mystery so long
enveloping this elusive personality," the above quoted
record shows that the precise date of Thomas Chippen-
dale's birth is not known and therefore his exact age
cannot be fixed. Certain it is that no one is likely to be
misled by so definite a recorder of the known records as is
Mr. Brackett.
This passion for exactness led the writer of this work
to making an effort to illustrate it with examples of furni-
ture actually made by the great Thomas. In Harewood
House and Nostell Priory in Yorkshire there are pieces of
Chippendale furniture and the original bills for the same
still preserved but (and this is the fly in the ointment to
the expositor of the life and influence of Thomas Chippen-
dale) the bills are from the Chippendale firm and not
definitely from the subject of his study. And the best he
can say for these examples of furniture is that "apart from
the question of records, the furniture of these houses
reflects so plainly the character of Chippendale's work that
there seems little doubt that the commissions were carried
out by his firm, although it is much to be regretted that
evidence cannot be produced." Mr. Brackett would never
do to write catalogues for furniture auction sales.
The extraordinary thing about Chippendale's career,
aside from his work as a cabinet-maker, was his writing,
editing and publishing the Director. Nothing is known of
seventy-
eight
october I925
SOW©
A SHELF of NEW ART BOOKS
THE PRINCIPLES OF DECORATION. By
R. G. Hatton. Charles Seribner's Smis, New
York. Price, $3.50.
rhe tenor of this book," writes Professor Hatton in
his preface, "is on the whole to urge the decorator to
approach his work with the triple intention of making
it vivacious and effective, intellectual and interesting, and
to proceed as if no decoration had ever existed before—not
from conceit of his own abilities, nor in contempt of the
past, but in order to get rid of the tendency to use inherited
ornamental and decorative forms, so many of which are
neither vivacious nor interesting." This admirable idea
receives rather a shock, particularly if the reader has read
this quotation in the preface, in the decorative illustrations
Professor Hatton uses in connection with his text. For
these are, unless copies of or adaptations of the antique,
thoroughly modern British in character. The "tenor of
the book" would have been much more impressive if the
author had depended upon his text alone for in this he
makes affirmations much more effective than are his
illustrations.
THE LATER CERAMIC WARES OF CHINA.
By R. L. Hobson. Charles Seribner's Sons, New
York. Price, $30.
ro his former elaborate and comprehensive works on
Early Ceramic Wares of China and the Wares of the
Ming Dynasty, R. L. Hobson, Keeper of the Depart-
ment of Ceramics at the British Museum, has added this
third monograph which is a natural sequel to the second
volume in this series. It also naturally ends the trilogy for
it carries the story of Chinese pottery and porcelain down
to our own times since it deals with the potter's art under
the Ch'ing dynasty of the Manchus, or from the year 1644
until as recently as 1912.
As is the practice in works of this character there is a
sharp division in the make-up of the volume, the text
running to 153 pages in the first half of the book, the
remainder of it being devoted to the illustrations of which
there are twenty-six in color and over one hundred in black
and white. In view of the high quality of much work in
color reproduction now published, the color plates in this
costly volume are not particularly satisfactory in light of
the fact that the tactile values of the porcelains reproduced
are scarcely indicated, only form and color remaining.
And one may well ponder the worth of studying Chinese
porcelains in particular through black and white repro-
ductions when their color is so prominent a factor in the
lure of these pieces.
Mr. Hobson does not pretend that there is much
original matter in his text, for the ground has been worked
over too extensively for that in recent years. What he has
chiefly aimed at "is bringing che subject-matter up to date
and making certain necessary emendations." Modest as
this statement is Mr. Hobson's text is important and
valuable in its completeness and interest. Mr. Hobson is
one of the small company of English writers who recog-
nizes the importance of American collections of art objects,
for in writing of the great assemblages of Chinese porce-
lains in the western world, after referring to those of
Europe he writes: "America is not less favored; indeed
in some respects it is even more so, for the vast collections
in New York are not only rich in all varieties of the
Manchu porcelains, but they are distinctly superior to the
European in the matter of monochromes."
Introducing this special field of porcelain with a his-
torical survey of the Manchu dynasty and of the general
processes of porcelain making in connection with the long
enduring porcelain centre of Ching-te Chen, he devotes
separate chapters to the early Ch'ing ware and K'ang Hsi
blue and white; jamille verte porcelain enameled on the
biscuit; jamille verte enameled on the glaze; K'ang Hsi
monochrome porcelain and colored glazes; Yung Cheng
porcelain (1723-35); Ch'ien Lung porcelain (1735-95); tne
nineteenth-century porcelain; the porcelain of Fukien;
pottery of the Ch'ing Dynasty; Chinese ceramic shapes,
and designs on this pottery and porcelain. There is also a
chapter on European influences on Chinese porcelain
which assumed such notable proportions in the eighteenth
century.
THOMAS CHIPPENDALE: Study of His Life,
Work and Influence. By Oliver Brackett.
Houghton-Mifflin Co., Boston. Price, Si5.
Oliver Brackett is wise in the generations of the
Chippendales. He has confined himself in this com-
prehensive study of the greatest of all the Chippen-
dales to Thomas, who was baptized on June 5, 1718, at
Otley in Yorkshire, who wrote The Gentleman and Cabinet-
Maker's Director in 1754 when he was about thirty-six
years old, and who died in 1779 "aged about sixty-one (or
sixty-two according to record at St. Martin's-in-the-
Fields)" as the careful Mr. Brackett states his chronology.
This record does not concern itself with any Chippendale
but Thomas nor with the firm after his death. In spite of
what this writer says about investigations in the last
twenty years bringing "to light many important facts
which have partly lifted the veil of mystery so long
enveloping this elusive personality," the above quoted
record shows that the precise date of Thomas Chippen-
dale's birth is not known and therefore his exact age
cannot be fixed. Certain it is that no one is likely to be
misled by so definite a recorder of the known records as is
Mr. Brackett.
This passion for exactness led the writer of this work
to making an effort to illustrate it with examples of furni-
ture actually made by the great Thomas. In Harewood
House and Nostell Priory in Yorkshire there are pieces of
Chippendale furniture and the original bills for the same
still preserved but (and this is the fly in the ointment to
the expositor of the life and influence of Thomas Chippen-
dale) the bills are from the Chippendale firm and not
definitely from the subject of his study. And the best he
can say for these examples of furniture is that "apart from
the question of records, the furniture of these houses
reflects so plainly the character of Chippendale's work that
there seems little doubt that the commissions were carried
out by his firm, although it is much to be regretted that
evidence cannot be produced." Mr. Brackett would never
do to write catalogues for furniture auction sales.
The extraordinary thing about Chippendale's career,
aside from his work as a cabinet-maker, was his writing,
editing and publishing the Director. Nothing is known of
seventy-
eight
october I925