Studio: international art (46.1909)

A rt School Notes

As regards the pictorial treatment of incidents in
old Russian life, mention should in the first place
be made of the young painter, S. Ivanoff. This
artist pays little heed to archaeological reconstruc-
tion and niceties of costume, but has the faculty of
grasping the essential character of the period, and
it is this which gives such value to his broadly
painted historic sketches. An admirable reflection
of typical Russian life in the seventeenth century
is to be seen in his work depicting the arrival of
a boyar among the country people. E. Lanceray
also appeared in a historic garb with a series of
extremely attractive and finely composed illustra-
tions which he has executed for an important
publication on the subject of the Imperial palaces
in St. Petersburg and its vicinity. Lanceray may,
without exaggeration, be described as the Russian
Menzel. Somoff’s piece de resistance consisted of
some charming illustrations to a book published
in Munich—the “ Lesebuch der Marquise ”—and
offered an additional fascination in his beautifully
delineated portrait of Lanceray, as well as in some
other drawings in which as always he showed him-
self a master. A. Benois, Bakst and Dobuzhinsky
showed some of their earlier productions of no
great importance. _

Among the younger members of the “Soyouz,”
Sapunoff occupied a prominent place. His marked
talent for colour is developing most happily, and
the rich, ample colour-harmonies of his festal
gatherings and floral displays proved a veritable
feast for every eye susceptible to good painting.
Krymoff has not yet found himself, and contented
himself this time with compositions showing a
certain affectation for the primitive. Sudeikin, too,
strives to be naive, but this naivete, which gives to
the pictures of our great-grandmothers their charm,
is here not natural, and leaves the spectator cold.
A new comer to Moscow was N. Petroff with his
masterly but unexciting interiors in water-colour.

In landscape, as already remarked, it was the
juste milieu which prevailed. Almost the only
things of particular note were a sympathetic winter
landscape by Meshcherin, a bouquet of delphiniums,
steeped in colour, by Grabar, and some pictures by
K. Korovin and Youon. Sculpture was chiefly
represented by Stelletski, whose large polychrome
bust of Leonardo da Vinci must at any rate be
regarded as an important work, although the barock
mode of gilding the hair seemed scarcely con-
gruous with the general character of the bust,
which is Florentine. Much interest centred in some

delightful wood-carvings by Madame Ostroumova-
Lebedeff, mostly views of St. Petersburg, which,
both as regards delineation and colour, gave proof
of the refined and mature taste of this gifted
artist.

The posthumous exhibition of works by Serge
Korovin (brother of Konstantin Korovin), who died
last year, evoked a feeling of disappointment.
Serge Korovin left behind nothing of particular
importance, but he was a modest, genial artist,
whose strength lay especially in draughtsmanship.
In certain small genre-like transcripts of Russian
life he struck a lyric note peculiar to himself, and
this gave them a very pleasing effect, which was
shared by his studies and variations of Russian
pilgrims. P. E.

ART SCHOOL NOTES.

LONDON.—In May, the art-student, weary
of indoor light after a long winter’s work
in the life school, begins to get ready
his sketching-easel and its accompanying
paraphernalia, and to make plans for painting in
the fields. The lengthening days, the lovely
evenings that fill with charm the streets even of
the most prosaic town, and the developing colour
of flower and foliage, combine to arouse in him
new hopes and ambitions. Of the experiences of
last year the student recalls only the joys, forgetting
the peculiar difficulties that encompass painting in
the open air and his previous failures to render the
atmosphere and colour of a landscape. Of course,
if he has the feeling of the true artist he will always
fail to reach the standard of achievement that is in
his mind, but he will have a better chance of
relative success if he allows his earlier efforts to be
guided by one who has walked longer in the same
paths. And perhaps there is no better way of
obtaining such guidance than to join one of the
summer classes held by artists who have made
outdoor painting a special study.

The summer outdoor class now forms a part of
the regular curriculum of the larger private art
schools in London, and most of them have by now
completed their arrangements for the forthcoming
season. Mr. Walter Donne, of the Grosvenor
Studio, Vauxhall Bridge, intends to take his class
again to Berneval, a village in whose locality such
masters as Lhermitte, Cazin,and Thaulow have found
the material for many sketches and studies. Berne-
val, which is not far from Dieppe and close to the
sea, offers to the artist an infinite variety of subject,

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