Studio: international art (25.1902)

Reviews

When Mr. Menpes talks upon the Living Art 01
Japan he touches upon a subject of vital interest
to us in the West. A nation may produce many
pictures and many works of artistic value, but at
the same time, as a nation, it may not be possessed
of those * essentials which give it the right to be
called an artistic one. In Japan " the artistic
sense is shared by .the peasant and the prince, as
well as by the carpenter, the fan-maker, the lacquer-
worker, and the stateliest daimio whose line dates
back to the creation of things." Mr. Menpes rightly
says that we should not hold the Japanese respon-
sible for the artistically degraded work with which
they flood the Western markets. The degradation
comes wholly from Western influence. So long as
we are blind to the beauties of Japanese work, and
insist, as we do, on buying vulgar, tawdry objects,
so long will that evil influence be felt. In the chap-
ter upon " Painters and their Methods," there are
some interesting and valuable hints to workers in
the West, and in that upon " Placing," Mr. Menpes
values the instinct which the Japanese as a race
seem to possess, and which enables them to give
the correct balance to compositions, whether in
painting, decoration of a room, or tree planting.
The illustrations in colours, with which the book
is prodigally filled, represent the author's work,
sometimes at its slightest and sometimes at its
best. Many of the drawings are worthy of a more
exact rendering than is possible by the process
employed ; and we cannot but feel that if the
author (or the publisher) would be content to
reproduce fewer illustrations by a process which
would do fuller justice to them, the result would
be in every respect more admirable and satis-
factory. But as the general public prefer quantity
to quality, it might not pay so well.

The Brothers Dahiel. A Record of Fifty Years'
Work. — (London: Methuen.) Price 2\s. net.
From the days of Bewick, whose Book of British
Birds was first published in t797, the mass of mag-
nificent wood engraving which has been executed
will remain in history as one of the most distinctive
phases of art of the late Georgian, and still more
particularly of the Victorian period. Among the
prominent engravers of that time, the names of
George and Edward Dalziel will always stand pre-
eminent, not only on account of the large amount
of illustration executed by them, but also, and more
especially, because of its persistent excellence.

The story of their lives and labours is a record
of faithful work, well conceived and nobly per-
formed. It is a chapter in the history of England's
art of which they have reason to be proud. Asso-
144

ciated in work with such men as John Leech,
Frederick Walker, Sir John Tenniel, George
Cruikshank, Richard Doyle, Sir John Gilbert,
D. G. Rossetti, Sir J. E. Millais, Sir J. Noel Baton,
A. Boyd Houghton, Frederick Sandys, G. I. Pin-
well, and others of equal eminence, their remi-
niscences are of a particularly interesting character,
and their book is eminently readable.

English Villages.—By P. H. Ditchfield, M.A.,
F.S.A. (London : Methuen & Co.) The many
points of interest connected with villages and
village life, the relics which remain here and there
of Roman, Saxon, and Norman times, the manor
houses, the parish churches with their stores ot
records and remains of a bygone time and art, the
village sports and pastimes, the superstitions and
folklore, all are matters of deep interest to the
intelligent observer. Mr. Ditchfield, in his charm-
ing little book, has done a good work in bringing
together, in an entertaining manner, much useful
and interesting information upon the subject, and
we cordially recommend the volume to our readers.

The Cloister and the Hearth. — By Charles
Reade. Illustrated by M. B. Hewerdine. (Lon-
don : Chatto & Windus.) Price \os. 6d. net. A
good book deserves good paper, good finishing and
a good binding, and this edition of Charles Reade's
great novel has been worthily treated in all these
essentials. The numerous photogravure and other
illustrations supplied by Mr. Hewerdine show
much research in matters of mediaeval costume and
other details, and add materially to the excellent
appearance of the volume.

The Essays of Elia.—By Charles Lamb. Illus-
trated by A. Garth Jones. (London : Methuen.)
Price ioj-. 6d. We are sometimes apt to resent
new editions of old books, and particularly so it
they betray any falling away from the earlier
standards of excellence. Fortunately, however, for
our peace of mind, the new robing of old friends
has of late been conducted with unwonted decorum.
The Essays of Elia, as they now appear, printed in
fine, large type upon a substantial paper, and deco-
rated with illustrations by so powerful a draughts-
man as Mr. Garth Jones, are in every way acceptable.

Bocklin, Henri Mendelssohn. Geisteshelden
Band 40. (Berlin : Ernst Hofmann.) Price 2s. 6d.
— This study of " the great untruthteller," as
Bocklin has been styled, is less a biography than
a monograph. It is wanting in those small per-
sonal details that set the man before us; it aims
rather at presenting the artist in relation to his
time. Arnold Bocklin represented the new move-
ment towards the ideal which is more consonant