Studio: international art (38.1906)

Volendam as a Sketching Ground

FIGS. 20 AND 21. — MAN’S
BELT AND WOMAN'S GIRDLE

FROM UPPER AUSTRIA
(Francisco- Carolinum

Museum, Linz)

to the improvement of
the people. But it does
seem a little out of place
in smoky towns to see the
inhabitants dressed in
what at first sight looks
like spoiled finery; and
here modern dress has
become the order of the
day, not because they do
not respect ancient tra-
ditions, but because it has
become a matter of ne-
cessity. Only in distant
villages and in the eastern
provinces can the wealth
of ornamentation be seen ;
there the air is pure, no
118

factory chimneys darken the horizon, the people rejoice in blue
skies, and nature around them being always decked in glorious
hues they still keep their national garb, for any other would be
felt to be out of place. In Upper Austria and the Tyrol the

national costume is more sober; it harmonises, too, with the
sublime greys of the mountains with their snow tints decking their
hoary heads. Those who know these regions will understand the
differences and wonder at the inborn feeling for tones and harmonies
displayed by these peoples, who, though of the great world, are
still apart from it. What a wealth of ideas, what a power of
endurance, and with what joy they seem to have triumphed over
their almost insurmountable difficulties can only rarely be realised,
for it is not often that such exhibitions are offered to us as that
held at the Austrian Museum this spring, when the opportunity was
given to see the national art of the Austrian provinces and judge
of the artistic qualities of their inhabitants. A. S. L.

VOLENDAM AS A SKETCHING GROUND
FOR PAINTERS. BY JANE QUIGLEY.

The village of Volendam would probably be quite unknown
to the outer world but for the group of painters who have worked
there during recent years and exhibited their pictures throughout
Europe and America. A sense of novelty attracts many tourists
to pay a flying visit to Volendam, but it offers no permanent
interest to idle people, and the painters who love the quaint
village hug this consolation to their breasts, overjoyed to think
that for many years to come they will be left in possession of
their treasure.

Up to the present time Volendam has been more or less
isolated, and still carries on a sleepy existence, the only means
of reaching it being by canal boat from Edam or by the steamer

“volendam: quand l’angelus sonne”

BY AUGUSTE HANICOTTE