Studio: international art (48.1910)

Reviews and Notices

mind that comparisons of the past with the present
are apt to be one-sided because complete data are
wanting. The author recognises that there is a
certain amount of present-day production to which
his strictures do not apply, but we believe this
quantity is greater than he supposes, and that as
regards architecture at all events there is much
amongst modern achievements that will be re-
garded with approval a hundred years hence—
much that is, moreover, not in conflict with the
best traditions of the past.

Tyrol and Its People. By Clive Holland.
With 16 illustrations in colour by Adrian Stokes.
(London: Methuen.) Price ior. 6d. net.—An
exceptionally interesting historical and descriptive
account of a delightful land and people. Mr.
Stokes's illustrations are in artistic value much in
advance of those usually accompanying such works,
and are reminiscent of the beautiful colouring and
romantic aspect of the natural scenery of the
Dolomite country.

Art in Great Britain and Ireland. By Sir
Walter Armstrong. (London: W. Heinemann.)
6j\ net.—The success of Dr. Reinach's excellent
outline of the general history of art, published
under the title "Apollo," has suggested the
preparation of a series of special manuals dealing
each with the history of art in a particular country,
and forming together a universal history of art from
the earliest time to the present day. A good
beginning to the series has been made with this
little handbook by Sir Walter Armstrong, whose
survey of our art history, beginning with Stone-
henge and ending with Alfred Gilbert, covers the
whole field of artistic activity, including its various
decorative applications and architecture, for, as the
breadth of this survey implies, he is not one of
those who identify art with picture-making, but is
able to find abundance of evidence showing that
in the Gothic ages the metal-worker, the illumi-
nator, the glass painter, the needlevvorker and even
the statue-maker, practised in this country with
hardly less success than elsewhere. It goes with-
out saying that in a volume of just over 300 pages,
with more than 600 illustrations interspersed
throughout, only a very condensed statement is to
be expected, but it is surprising how much the
author contrives to say in a few words.

Beautiful Flowers and Haiti to Grow them.
Vol. II. By Horace J. Wright and Walter P.
Wright. (London : T. C. & E. C. Jack), \os. 6d.
net.—The second volume of this excellent publica-
tion is in every way as interesting and attractive
as the first. The illustrations, of which several are

in colour, are well reproduced and of considerable
value in their relation to the letterpress. Mr. Fairfax
Muckley contributes a number of delightful flower-
studies,, while those by Miss Beatrice Parsons, Miss
Fortescue Brickdale and Mr. Francis James add
to the beauty of the volume. Helpful articles on
arches, pergolas, pillars, stumps, walls and fences,
and flowers for suburban gardens are included in
the second volume. We again commend this
work to all lovers of the garden, and especially to
those interested in the cultivation of flowers.

Allgemeines lexikon der bildenden Kunstler von
der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Herausgegeben
von Prof. Dr. Ulrich Thieme and Prof. Dr.
Felix Becker. Dritter Band : Bassano—Bick-
ham. (Leipzig: W. Engelmann.) Cloth, 35 mks.;
stitched, 32 mks.—The third volume of this com-
prehensive dictionary of artists bears throughout
its 600-odd pages the same signs of painstaking
care that marked the preceding two volumes. The
usefulness of such a work as this is hardly to be
over-estimated, since it makes a point of giving
information about every artist of whom any records
are extant, irrespective of nationality and period,
only those of purely local celebrity being excluded ;
and the footnotes appended to most of the articles
show that the editors and their numerous colla-
borators, of whom there appear to be more than
300, have covered a very wide ground in their
search for information. It should also be noted
that the editors have given an extended meaning
to the term " bildende Kunstler," used in their
title; for they include notices of all the principal
craftsmen and architects whose work has been
characterised by creative talent.

The Souvenir oj the Fine Art Section, Franco-
British Exhibition, 1908, which has been com-
piled by Sir Isidore Spielmann, C.M.G., F.S.A.,
for private distribution by the Executive Committee
of the British Section, is, so far as the letterpress
and illustrations are concerned, an admirable pro-
duction j but the binding might have been more in
keeping with the contents, instead of being, as it is,
more like the cover of a trade catalogue. The
volume does contain a complete catalogue of the
works exhibited, but it contains in addition an
extremely interesting survey of the entire Fine Art
Section, by Mr. M, H. Spielmann, filling some 120
pages, and it is this, with the large number of full-
page reproductions of important works, that gives
to it its high value as a record of a display which,
as regards the British Section at all events, was
unique in its representative character.

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