DOI Heft:
Nr. 342 (November 1925)
DOI Artikel:A shelf of new art books
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19986#0148
mceRnACionAL
stroa©
A SHELF of NEW ART BOOKS
THE ROMANCE CHURCHES OF FRANCE.
A Manual of French Ecclesiastical Archi-
tecture in the Twelfth Century for the
Student and the Traveler. By Oliver E.
Bodington. Houghton-Mifflin Company, Boston.
Price, $5.
t-netween the dark of the architecture of the ages to
/ } which that adjective is generally applied and the
daylight of the Gothic era, otherwise in the eleventh
and twelfth centuries, there came into being in Europe a
style of building that most of us accept as Romanesque,
most of us, that is, outside of Great Britain where they like
to call this pre-Gothic style Norman although using the
conventional term when they wish to be more compre-
hensive. Mr. Bodington is one of the Britons who do not
hold with his fellows in styling every species of architecture
which is to be found in England of the period immediately
prior to the Gothic as Norman. Neither does he approve
of Romanesque as its proper term. He argues that the
English word Romance is more nearly a correct rendering
of the French roman (which they use to describe our
Romanesque) and therefore has written a book describing
France's "Romance churches" of the twelfth century to
put himself on record in this matter of a correct title for
an architectural style. In view of the manner in which the
originally contemptuous term Gothic has become fastened
to that style the outlook for Bodington's rechristening of
the Romanesque does not appear very bright.
Having established his term, Bodington's text and
illustrations resolve themselves into just another book on
French church architecture within the scope of the end of
the tenth century and the beginning of the thirteenth. He
gives his reader an idea of the various schools of his
Romance architecture, describes its geographic origins
(Persia, the Byzantine, Venice, Armenia, Syria) and dis-
tribution, shows the historical influences, and after giving
the reasons for the decorations in the way of painting and
sculpture, takes up separately different classes of churches
from Burgundy to Normandy, Brittany and the Belgian
borderland. The text is clearly written, interesting and
informative. The illustrations, made from the author's
own photographs, are admirable in every way. To the
general reader and student who has not specialized in this
style the book as a whole is distinctly worth while. But
he probably will continue to call churches in this manner
Romanesque.
RARE ENGLISH GLASSES OF THE XVII &
XVIII CENTURIES. By Joseph Bles. Hough-
ton-Mifflin Company, Boston. Price, $25.
Outside of Britain the collecting of English glass is
not very widely pursued and in our own art auction
rooms it figures less prominently than almost any
other style of historic glass. Thus a work of this kind must
have a very limited field of appeal since it assumes to be
nothing more than a catalogue raisonne of pieces in famous
English collections that were made from the last quarter
of the seventeenth century up to end of the eighteenth.
Its thin rivulet of text does not go into the history or tech-
nique of glass-making but only deals with glasses in par-
ticular. And, these again, are limited to wine and cordial
glasses, commemorative goblets, punch bowls, sweetmeat
dishes and candlesticks, the classification of these often
bearing the arbitrary terms so prevalent in British books.
In spite of Bles' statement that these glasses "are now
highly prized for their rarity, their beauty and their his-
torical interest," one may well raise his eyebrows over the
word "beauty" being applied to many of the examples
published here. For surely the Ravenscroft Glasshouse
jug is not a thing of beauty, the Old Pretender goblet is
decidedly ugly, and almost always in the designs there is a
lack of balance between foot, stem and bowl that betrays
a heavy, if not positively clumsy, eye and hand on the
part of the glass-blower.
For the convenience of the student and collector the
glasses have been grouped under their several classifica-
tions as to form and others as to basic materials and tech-
niques such as "glass of lead," "enamelled glass" and
"diamond point engraving." The reproducing of the
various examples is superbly done, the book in this respect
being a masterpiece of half-tone work.
JOHN WENGER. By Carlo de Fomaro. Joseph
Lawren, New York.
arring the absence of dates in connection with
John Wenger's life, an omission always to be re-
gretted in a biographical work however slight, Carl
de Fornaro's critical record of this artist's life is as com-
plete as anyone would wish. Since so much of his work
designing stage settings and scenery has been done for
moving picture theatres, bringing him all the attendant
publicity of that field, Wenger's art is known by name to
a larger public than is usual in the case of men working in
this branch of the theatre and the publication of the book
is both timely and satisfying. Wenger began this work
here almost at the outset of the modern movement in stage
design and his first modest little exhibition of stage models
at the Folsom Galleries in New York made a marked
impression on all those who saw it, his designs being
original, simple and superb in color.
In addition to his many brilliant decors for moving
picture theatres, Wenger has to his record the admirably
conceived and executed setting for the Stravinsky ballet
" Petrouchka," designed for the Metropolitan Opera House
in 1919; a decidedly novel "concert stage setting for
pianist" executed for the Capitol Theatre, New York.
THE WAY TO SKETCH. By Vernon Blake,
Oxford University Press, American Branch, New
York. Price, $2.50.
j tere is a little collection of "notes on the essentials
I I of landscape sketching, particular reference being
made to the use of water-color" in which every "t"
is crossed and every "i" dotted for the beginner in the
always fascinating and entertaining art of making sketches.
Naturally such a handbook can contain nothing new to the
practiced professional; but to the student the instruction
and practical hints, there are literally hundreds of these,
will be of very great assistance. In addition to purely
instructive sketches by the artist-author there are repro-
ductions of sketches by Rembrandt, Corot, Cezanne,
Turner, Claude Lorrain and the Japanese artist Sesshu of
the fifteenth century.
one Jorty-eight
November 1925
stroa©
A SHELF of NEW ART BOOKS
THE ROMANCE CHURCHES OF FRANCE.
A Manual of French Ecclesiastical Archi-
tecture in the Twelfth Century for the
Student and the Traveler. By Oliver E.
Bodington. Houghton-Mifflin Company, Boston.
Price, $5.
t-netween the dark of the architecture of the ages to
/ } which that adjective is generally applied and the
daylight of the Gothic era, otherwise in the eleventh
and twelfth centuries, there came into being in Europe a
style of building that most of us accept as Romanesque,
most of us, that is, outside of Great Britain where they like
to call this pre-Gothic style Norman although using the
conventional term when they wish to be more compre-
hensive. Mr. Bodington is one of the Britons who do not
hold with his fellows in styling every species of architecture
which is to be found in England of the period immediately
prior to the Gothic as Norman. Neither does he approve
of Romanesque as its proper term. He argues that the
English word Romance is more nearly a correct rendering
of the French roman (which they use to describe our
Romanesque) and therefore has written a book describing
France's "Romance churches" of the twelfth century to
put himself on record in this matter of a correct title for
an architectural style. In view of the manner in which the
originally contemptuous term Gothic has become fastened
to that style the outlook for Bodington's rechristening of
the Romanesque does not appear very bright.
Having established his term, Bodington's text and
illustrations resolve themselves into just another book on
French church architecture within the scope of the end of
the tenth century and the beginning of the thirteenth. He
gives his reader an idea of the various schools of his
Romance architecture, describes its geographic origins
(Persia, the Byzantine, Venice, Armenia, Syria) and dis-
tribution, shows the historical influences, and after giving
the reasons for the decorations in the way of painting and
sculpture, takes up separately different classes of churches
from Burgundy to Normandy, Brittany and the Belgian
borderland. The text is clearly written, interesting and
informative. The illustrations, made from the author's
own photographs, are admirable in every way. To the
general reader and student who has not specialized in this
style the book as a whole is distinctly worth while. But
he probably will continue to call churches in this manner
Romanesque.
RARE ENGLISH GLASSES OF THE XVII &
XVIII CENTURIES. By Joseph Bles. Hough-
ton-Mifflin Company, Boston. Price, $25.
Outside of Britain the collecting of English glass is
not very widely pursued and in our own art auction
rooms it figures less prominently than almost any
other style of historic glass. Thus a work of this kind must
have a very limited field of appeal since it assumes to be
nothing more than a catalogue raisonne of pieces in famous
English collections that were made from the last quarter
of the seventeenth century up to end of the eighteenth.
Its thin rivulet of text does not go into the history or tech-
nique of glass-making but only deals with glasses in par-
ticular. And, these again, are limited to wine and cordial
glasses, commemorative goblets, punch bowls, sweetmeat
dishes and candlesticks, the classification of these often
bearing the arbitrary terms so prevalent in British books.
In spite of Bles' statement that these glasses "are now
highly prized for their rarity, their beauty and their his-
torical interest," one may well raise his eyebrows over the
word "beauty" being applied to many of the examples
published here. For surely the Ravenscroft Glasshouse
jug is not a thing of beauty, the Old Pretender goblet is
decidedly ugly, and almost always in the designs there is a
lack of balance between foot, stem and bowl that betrays
a heavy, if not positively clumsy, eye and hand on the
part of the glass-blower.
For the convenience of the student and collector the
glasses have been grouped under their several classifica-
tions as to form and others as to basic materials and tech-
niques such as "glass of lead," "enamelled glass" and
"diamond point engraving." The reproducing of the
various examples is superbly done, the book in this respect
being a masterpiece of half-tone work.
JOHN WENGER. By Carlo de Fomaro. Joseph
Lawren, New York.
arring the absence of dates in connection with
John Wenger's life, an omission always to be re-
gretted in a biographical work however slight, Carl
de Fornaro's critical record of this artist's life is as com-
plete as anyone would wish. Since so much of his work
designing stage settings and scenery has been done for
moving picture theatres, bringing him all the attendant
publicity of that field, Wenger's art is known by name to
a larger public than is usual in the case of men working in
this branch of the theatre and the publication of the book
is both timely and satisfying. Wenger began this work
here almost at the outset of the modern movement in stage
design and his first modest little exhibition of stage models
at the Folsom Galleries in New York made a marked
impression on all those who saw it, his designs being
original, simple and superb in color.
In addition to his many brilliant decors for moving
picture theatres, Wenger has to his record the admirably
conceived and executed setting for the Stravinsky ballet
" Petrouchka," designed for the Metropolitan Opera House
in 1919; a decidedly novel "concert stage setting for
pianist" executed for the Capitol Theatre, New York.
THE WAY TO SKETCH. By Vernon Blake,
Oxford University Press, American Branch, New
York. Price, $2.50.
j tere is a little collection of "notes on the essentials
I I of landscape sketching, particular reference being
made to the use of water-color" in which every "t"
is crossed and every "i" dotted for the beginner in the
always fascinating and entertaining art of making sketches.
Naturally such a handbook can contain nothing new to the
practiced professional; but to the student the instruction
and practical hints, there are literally hundreds of these,
will be of very great assistance. In addition to purely
instructive sketches by the artist-author there are repro-
ductions of sketches by Rembrandt, Corot, Cezanne,
Turner, Claude Lorrain and the Japanese artist Sesshu of
the fifteenth century.
one Jorty-eight
November 1925