Studio: international art (53.1911)

Studio-Talk

water-colours, but at the same time one thought have remained in obscurity. But from among the

with regret of how few of our Swedish artists general mediocrity of the collection, several works

devote themselves to this enchanting art. stand out which by their sheer individuality and

- cleverness justify the exhibition's raison d'etre. A

Perhaps in no country has the influence of bust by Filippo Cifariello, of Scotti, the famous bari-
Cezanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Matisse been tone, as Baron Scarpia in " La Tosca" dominates
stronger than in Scandinavia. All our young men the first room. Its treatment is marked with great
who study art in Paris—and they are, alas ! legion simplicity and strength, and the smallest details,
—go to the school of Matisse. Two winters they although entirely free from exaggeration, are care-
have shown in Stockholm the results of their fully calculated to contribute to the dramatic effect
studies, but as far as I can judge we cannot expect of the whole,
from them the same boom to Swedish Art as that

which was given twenty-five years ago by Josephson, In the second room, a remarkably lifelike bust
Zorn, Nordstrom, Larsson and their friends. This of Crispi, the work of Francesco Jerace, holds the
year a young Norwegian, Henrik Sorensen, a pupil place of honour. It is full of power and the artist
of Matisse, created a great sensation with a collec- almost seems to have succeeded in infusing into
tion of his paintings at the Hallin's Konsthandels the marble some of the keenly intense and
Galleries. His art is much riper than that of the energetic spirit of the famous Italian politician,
young Swedish artists of his generation. Sorensen In the same room Cifariello exhibits a second bust,
follows the principles of the above-mentioned that of a woman, her head thrown back with
French artist and his own compatriot, Edward smiling eyes and lips. There is a strange fascina-
Munch, and devotes himself totally to
colour, without caring for such unneces-
sary things as drawing, composition,
modelling, and so forth. To my mind
his best works were The Willow Whistle,
a young boy cutting a whistle (influenced
by Pissarro) and What do you think ? a
dancing-girl posing for a middle-aged
lady, smoking a cigarette.

Carl Larsson, who has painted the six
superb frescoes in the main staircase of
the National Museum of Stockholm, and
also King Gustaf Vasa's Entrance into
Stockholm, 1^23, the big painting at the
head of the same stairway, has just ex-
hibited his new cartoon for the decora-
tion of the opposite wall. It is called
Midwinter Sacrifice, and represents an
ancient Swedish king being offered to
the gods at Upsala temple for the wel-
fare of the people and the crops of the
year. The cartoon has not met with the
admiration from the public and the critics
to which Larsson is accustomed; it is
therefore doubtful if it will ever be
executed. T. L.

NAPLES.^Of the four or five
hundred works exhibited by
the Salvator Rosa Society of
Arts in Naples, many might,
without appreciable loss to lovers of art, bust of Francesco crispi by fra.nxesco jerace

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