Studio: international art (52.1911)

Reviews and Notices

At the Slade School all the prizes and scholar- fri volous pictorial plates what Chaloner Smith's
ships, with one exception, are awarded at the end monumental work does for English mezzotin t
of the summer session. The exception is a prize portraits, and collectors will find it just as indis-
of ^25, given at Christmas for figure composition, pensable. For its comprehensive compilation, the
The successful student for the session 1909-1910 is authors have personally visited the principal Print
Miss Elsie McNaught, who had already gained' in Rooms of Europe, as well as the most famous
June one of the first prizes for painting the figure, private collections, in their conscientious search
Mr. Roger E. Fry will deliver at the Slade School beyond their own collections, for examples of the
on the 17 th inst. the first of a course of lectures prints in all their varieties of state. Thus students
on " Italian Art during the first half of the Fifteenth will find, as nearly as possible, every published

Century." _ state of each print—generally three in number,

though often more numerous—together with every

The rumour of the possible discontinuance of the known progress-proof, detailed with a reference to
National Art Competitions has carried dismay in- the public or private collections in which it may
to art schools throughout the kingdom, and art be seen. But this volume appeals to the general
masters have raised their voices from all quarters lover of beautifully illustrated books as well as to
to protest against what they think would be an the print-collector, for it presents eighty-two excel-
unwise and retrograde step. The National Art lent photogravure plates faithfully reproducing
Competition may have some weak points, but it practically all of the most famous and desirable
should be strengthened, not abolished, for its value prints of this particular school of engravers. Here,
as a stimulus to students is beyond doubt. It for instance, are such favourite examples of the art
would be interesting to know who desires its of Nicolas de Launay, the most eminent French
abolition and what, if it is abolished, is to take engraver of the period, as Lavreince's " Qu'en dit
its place ? The annual exhibition of the Competi-
tion works, although held in a temporary building
in an obscure back yard, attracts increased attention
year by year, and a steady improvement is visible
in the quality of the examples of applied art which
are now, as they should be, the principal features of
the show. Apart from its undoubted educational
value, this exhibition is the outward and visible
sign to the taxpayer of the result of the large sum
spent on art teaching, and much more should be
made of it. It should be opened a few weeks
earlier—before the close of the London season—
it should be displayed prominently in one of the
spacious new courts of the Victoria and Albert
Museum, and it should include the best work
done in the Royal College of Art, which until
recent years always took part in the National
Competition. W. T. W.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES.

Frencli Line-Engravings of the late XVIII. Cen-
tury. By H. W. Lawrence and B. L. Dighton.
(London : Lawrence and Jellicoe, Ltd.). £5 5s.
net.—All those print-collectors who have surrend-
ered their taste to the appealing charm of the
Estampes Galantes which delighted social France
in the Louis Quinze period and the early Louis
Seize, must feel indebted to Messrs. Lawrence
and Dighton for this sumptuous volume. As a

Catalogue Raisonne, it does for these gay and (Royal Academy Schools)

78

MODELLED DESIGN FOR A WALL FOUNTAIN

BY EDMUND T. W. WARE