Studio: international art (32.1904)

Studio-Talk

D. Gonzalo Bilbao, of
Seville, is certainly one of
the best and most original
of Spain's modern painters.
His three canvases, Going
to Church, The Slave, and
I he Black Mantilla, are all
thorough works of art. He
has studied, but not imita-
ted, Goya and Zuloaga: the
beggars, theSevillian dames,
and he portrays them with
all their faults and virtues,
their mocking scorn and
degrading servitude.

Among the landscape
painters there are three

who merit special mention ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H.

Aureliano.de Beruete,

' group of pottery executed by the class of the

Santiago Rusinol, and Chicago art institute

Antonio Muiioz Degrain.

Spain can boast of an excellent pastellist —
Maximinio Pefia. As colourist in the old style,
who neither follows foreign tendencies nor
swerves one inch from the trodden path, he is a
first-class artist.

To conclude, this year's exposition is more
flattering to Spain than that of 1901. Native
art is slowly but surely freeing itself from French
and other influences. If traces of pre-Raphaelitism
are to be found here and there, they do not prove
to be the general rule; and, judging by the
enthusiasm of the younger generation, we can
fairly hope to see, sooner or later, the renaissance
of Spanish art. C. H.

CHICAGO. — Although having sprung
from exceedingly modest beginnings,
pottery in America has attained,
during recent years, a very important
position. In the matter of artistic design, quality
of material, and perfection of process, some half-
dozen establishments throughout the country have
received creditable recognition abroad as well as
at home.

It is owing to the encouragement derived from
successes which have grown out of early struggles
in well-established works, such as those above-men-
tioned, that the promising class at the Art Institute

feels justified in aspiring to a further development.
Indeed, what with the possibilities, through a co-
operation with the department of decorative design,
and the possession of two of the largest kilns in
the West, it does not seem unreasonable to predict
the establishment of a strong industry within the
near future. Already it has been quite forcibly
demonstrated that the sense of proportion, of line,
and of colour is cultivated in a more marked and
rapid degree through the turning and firing of
household utensils than through the conventional
academic training. Evidence as to the truth ot
this statement is shown by the fact that, in many
cases, students, upon entering the pottery class,
have had no previous knowledge of drawing, and
yet the feeling of relation and of graceful contour
seems almost immediately to have asserted itselr
in their minds. From the study of pottery, there-
fore, the pupil is often led instinctively into the
alluring branch of painting or of sculpture, perhaps.
It would seem more logical, of course, if the pro-
ceedings were reversed, but good results are being
obtained by the present system, so it might be
unwise, possibly, to alter it. However, the condi-
tions now existing are not due to an arbitrary
regulation, because the movement, so far, is too
young for any fixed curriculum, and whether or
not it will be found advisable to institute one
cannot as yet be definitely determined. Only a
little over two years the plant has been in opera-
tion, but, during that time, it certainly has

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