Studio: international art (19.1900)

Reviews

PORCELAIN VASE BY T. SCHMUZ-IiAUDISS

thank our painters for many new ideas and fresh
developments. Many years ago Otto Eckmann
devoted himself to this work with much ability;
and now another of our painters, Eduard Gabels-
berger, of Diessen (Upper Bavaria), is engaged
in a similar task. He confines himself to the
old-fashioned style, but is yet always fresh and
original, and can be relied on to produce the
most admirable effects. The imprcvu, the
splendour of these momentary inspirations, com-
bined with their wonderful sense of style, mark
them out as works of quite exceptional merit.
In many of them the artist has doubtless been
inspired by modern Danish work, yet the general
impression is in no way Scandinavian, for they
ever bear the stamp of an originality that is all
their own. Undoubtedly Herr Gabelsberger has
rendered a great service to (German book-binding

by his remarkable ena-papers, just as others of
his fellow-artists have by their ornamentations and
their book-plates.

Another department of applied art which should
appeal strongly to the painter is ceramic work.
Among the German artists of to-day who are
occupying themselves in this direction, perhaps the
most successful and the most talented is Theo.
Schmuz-Baudiss, of Munich. Readers of The
Studio have already been made familiar with a
selection of this artist's ceramic work. He has
now turned his attention to porcelain. As is the
case with most young, experimental work, the
specimens of porcelain he is now producing are
not without their defects, but they are nevertheless
full of promise, as they reveal absolute simplicity
and sincerity of purpose in the handling of the
material. One sees here, as in his other work, that
he takes his ornamentation almost entirely from
floral sources, these furnishing him with an infinity
of delightful themes. As to his colouring, he has
abandoned the light spring-like method in which
he treated his pottery, for warmer, deeper tones,
and bolder contrasts. Especially he affects a
smooth, darkish blue-grey and a full-bodied green,
without neglecting the light blue peculiar to the
Copenhagen manufactories. He employs glazing
with fine effect in many cases, the result, after the
firing, being very satisfactory, and bringing out to
the full the beauty of the material.

G. K.

REVIEWS

Sir John Everett Millais: His Art and In-
fluence. By A. L. Baldry. (London: George
Bell & Sons.) Price ys. 6d. net.—To artists and
to all those who have a genuine love of the art of
painting Mr. Baldry's volume essentially appeals.
The author has wisely left to other hands a
detailed biography of Sir John Millais, and
has confined his attention chiefly to the
progress and influence of the great painter's life-
work. Mr. Baldry's art criticisms always de-
serve close attention. No writer approaches his
subject with a more genuine desire to discover the
true aims and intentions of those with whose
work he deals. His vision is a broad one and
he is full of genuine sympathy for all earnest
efforts at artistic expression. The charge of
narrow-minded intolerance, so detestable in
art criticism, cannot be laid at his door. His
judgments are well balanced, and display careful

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