Studio: international art (44.1908)

Reviews and Notices

English, in four volumes, of which this, dealing
with Ancient Art, is the first. In this volume there
is compressed within a handy compass a great deal
of information. The book is divided into two
sections, the first dealing with Oriental art and
the second with classic art, both of which subjects
the author treats of in a most comprehensive man-
ner, and with its very numerous illustrations the
work should be of great value to the student. There
is an excellent index ; and a new bibliography, con-
taining a greater number of references to English text
books, has been specially compiled for this edition.

George Baxter, Colour Printer. By C. T.
Courtney Lewis. (London : Sampson Low & Co.)
6s. net.—Few are likely to endorse the very high
praise bestowed on George Baxter by his bio-
grapher, who speaks of him as a genius. Baxter
himself would, we think, have been the first to
deprecate the over-estimation of his work, for he
was essentially humble-minded, and quite aware of
the fact that it was rather as a faithful pictorial
chronicler of contemporary events, than as an
artist or an inventor, that he held the high position
he did during his lifetime. With infinite pains,
however, Mr. Courtney Lewis has pieced together
the fragmentary records of Baxter’s life, supplement-
ing his biography with numerous reproductions of
typical prints, an exhaustive Catalogue Raisonni of
all he produced, including illustrations of books
and music, and an appendix containing quotations
from contemporary literature, and letters that will
do much to aid the collector and connoisseur, even
if they do not appeal to the general public.

Messrs. Otto Schulze & Co., of Edinburgh, have
issued the third part of their Early English Prose
Romances. The subject of this volume is “ The
Famous History of Fryer Bacon ”—“ very pleasant
and delightfull to be read”—and, as in the case of the
preceding parts, the illustrations and decorations
for it have been done by Mr. Harold Nelson,
whose forte certainly lies in the decorative embel-
lishment of the pages rather than in the pictorial
compositions, which are wanting in verve. The
price of each volume of this work is 12s. 6d. net.

A recent addition to Messrs. Duckworth’s
Popular Library of Art (2s. net per vol.) is a study of
Whistler by Mr. Bernhard Sickert. One might
seek very far amongst the small books upon art
which nowadays are issued in such numbers to find
again a book so pleasantly written as this one. The
writer shows insight into his subject. Breadth of
vision has enabled him to see the painter’s art in
relation to contemporary feeling, in its relation to
his opponent Ruskin’s criticism, and to the artistic

aspects of the modem world. The real, and not the
superficial, points about Whistler’s art are under-
stood, and the selection of etchings reproduced for
illustration is the best that could have been made.

The A. B. C. of Collectitig Old English China,
published at ir. net by the London Opinion Curio
Club, is obviously intended for the tyro in col-
lecting. The author, Mr. J. F. Blacker, starts with
a careful explanation of the difference between
hard and soft paste, and then proceeds in subse-
quent chapters to discuss the products of the
numerous famous factories in England. Consider-
ing its price, the book is well got up and should
prove useful. The illustrations are very numerous.

The Annuaire General et International de la
Photographie, 1908, which is published by MM.
Plon-Nourrit et Cie, Paris, is like its predecessors
a veritable storehouse of good things. The menu
provided by M. Roger Aubry and his fifty colla-
borators is, as usual, very varied, the more
interesting of the items being the essays by M. Abel
Buquet on Radiology and Stereoscopy, Dr.
Niewenglowski’s papers on various methods of
photographing in colours, and on pseudo-photo-
graphic phenomena, and other essays on aerial
photography by means of kites, submarine photo-
graphy, etc. The various essays are illustrated
with reproductions of photographs and the section
containing formulae and receipts is brought up to
date. An exceedingly useful feature of this annual,
which is published in cloth binding at 6 frcs. net,
is the comprehensive directory of photographic
societies in France and elsewhere.

Raumkunst is the title of a small portfolio of
designs for interiors by Georg Honold, sent us by
Max Reichel’s Buchhandlung fur Architektur und
Kunstgewerbe, Berlin. The straight line predomi-
nates in these designs, in some of which it is
rather too insistent; and it cannot be said that the
architect-designer is altogether happy in his colour
schemes if one is to judge by those reproduced as
coloured plates. Some of the designs, however,
are excellent.

The Guild of Decorators Syndicate, Limited, is
the name of an organisation which has recently
been formed, with offices at 29 Newman Street,
Oxford Street, W., by a group of artists and crafts-
men of recognised ability and experience, for the
purpose of undertaking every kind of decorative
work, domestic, ecclesiastical, etc., in competition
with tradesmen. The management of the Guild is
in the hands of men who have gained wide prac-
tical experience in this field.

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