Studio: international art (12.1898)

Studio-Talk

produced, we have the ac-
cidental pose caught and
recorded in a careful study
of more than usually tender
greys and browns. The
worn hands, the time-
honoured plaid, the
" mutch " from which look
out the tired features of the
octogenarian—subjects
such as this are truly
national in character, and
full of that pathos which
has its counterpart in the
finer elements of modern
Scottish literature.

X.

USSELDORF.
-The Art
Union of the
Rhin elands
and Westpha-
lia which has contributed
so greatly to the develop-
ment of Rhenish art, has
year by year, since its estab-
lishment in 1829, continued
to progress with the hap-
piest results. It has pro-

, , r . PORTRAITS BY GEORGE SAUTER

moted the art of engraving (See Munich studio-Talk)
on copper with great suc-
cess ; but above all it has

been instrumental in supporting all sorts of artistic monumental wall decoration of this kind. A

undertakings of a public character, accessible to healthy innovation such as this must be welcomed

all, and in some instances it has carried out the with the utmost satisfaction,

work by itself. The art productions in question -

are very numerous, and include altar paintings for A few weeks ago the Union to which I have

churches and mural decorations for schools and been alluding—" l)er Kunstverein fiir die Rhein-

town halls, stage curtains, statuary, &c. &c. lande und Westfalen " has received a commission

for the decoration of the " Rittersaal " in the
During the past month the Union was engaged, recently rebuilt castle at Burg a.-d. Wupper. The
inter alia in the fui therance of Professor A. Kampf's cost of the work has been fixed at 50,000 marks,
scheme for the decoration of the Session Chamber The castle chapel is also to be decorated, and
in the Diet House at Burtscheid. I have had an Willy Spatz, the painter, has been requested by the
opportunity of seeing the designs, and am delighted State to send in designs for the work. It is also in
to be able to say at once that they promise to contemplation to entrust to another Diisseldorf
result in a work of art of great merit, and entirely artist the task of ornamenting the Ladies' Apart-
modern in the best sense of the word. The scenes ment within the castle,
depicted are in no way "historical," as the word is

usually understood, but deal rather with the aspects The busy firm of Bismeyer and Kraus, art

of the life of to-day ; and this, so far as I know, is publishers to the Court, are proposing, with the

the first time in Germany that modern subjects assistance of a number of our best artists, to

have been considered worthy of representation in organise an International Exhibition of Lithographs

193