Studio: international art (55.1912)

Reviews and Notices

that the training of the power to draw from memory is of
ar less importance. It is interesting that Sir Francis
Galton in his book ‘ Inquiries into Human Faculty and
its Development,’ cites Lecoq as having trained the
faculty of mental imagery of his pupils.

“ May I say I am very grateful to Mr. Luard for having
translated the book, and that I have recommended my
teachers and pupils, and many others as well, to read it.”

REVIEWS AND NOTICES.

John Lavery and his Work. By Walter Shaw
Sparrow. (London : Kegan Paul.) 105. 6d. net.
—This finely printed and excellently illustrated
volume is “ dedicated to Sir James Guthrie by his
sincere admirers John Lavery and Mr. Shaw
Sparrow.” The fact that the subject of study joins
in the dedicatory compliment seems to confirm an
impression given by the reading of the book, that
though the work is hardly of the nature of a
compilation, yet it contains much that is auto-
biographical. To say this, however, is not to detract
from its value. Indeed, it adds to its authoritative-
ness as a document which will materially assist the
historian of the future. Mr. Shaw Sparrow has been
particularly thorough in his search for material,
of which his book contains a liberal amount,
grave and gay, reminiscent and didactic. He pre-
sents us with an introduction by that fascinating
Scots writer Mr. Cunninghame Graham, in which
occurs a three-paged account of the origin and
descendants of Labhradh Loingseach, who lived
500 b.c., “ which being put into the Saxon tongue
means Lavery the Mariner,” and whose representa-
tive to-day is John Lavery the painter, “ Irish by
race and Scotch by education.” From this parent-
age and training Mr. Shaw Sparrow deduces a series
of theories which are plausible enough even to be
convincing. Amongst other matters we have a
fairly adequate history of the rise and evolu-
tion of the Glasgow school of painters, the
International Society, and other bodies which
the genius of Mr. Lavery helped to make notable.
Sandwiched between biographical and historical
facts are extensive dissertations by the author on
art and most things pertaining to the craft of
painting, from the influences of Velasquez and
Hals, the methods of Whistler, Guthrie, and
W’alton, down to the aspirations of the Post-Im-
pressionists. So that the reader closes the book
not only knowing more than he ever knew about
the actions and tendencies of any modern painter,
but having a fairly complete impression of Mr.
Shaw Sparrow’s own attitude to the craft of paint-
ing. If the writing can hardly be called distin-
guished it is illuminative and suggestive. In
250

dealing with the influences which affected the
painter, we are glad to see that the author prints
the oft-repeated acknowledgment which Mr.
Lavery has made of the debt he owes to the
distinguished president of the Royal Scottish
Academy. “ I feel greatly indebted to James
Guthrie, who has ever been my ideal of a man
and of an artist, and his influence, I believe,
has told most upon me in my study of painting.”
The appendix supplies us with a useful list of the pic-
tures and sketches painted by Mr. Lavery between
1880 and 1911 and a reminder of the remarkable
number of his canvases which are to be found in the
public collections of the world.

Everyman: A Morality Play. Illustrated by
J. H. Amschewitz. (London: P. Lee Warner
for the Riccardi Press.) Boards, J2 2s. net;
limp vellum, J2 12.?. 6d. net.—The old morality
play which was revived on the stage some years
ago is here presented, beautifully spaced and
printed, with illustrations by Mr. J. H. Amschewitz,
and the illustrations reflect every credit upon
artist and publisher, both in ability and feeling of
design and perfection of reproduction.

Wood Carvings in English Churches. By
Francis Bond. (Oxford University Press.) 6s.
net.—Mr. Francis Bond has already enriched
English lesthetic literature with many valuable
monographs on the ecclesiastical decorative art of
his native land. This new publication, the second
part of a practically exhaustive work on wood-
carvings in English Churches, shows no falling off
in enthusiasm or knowledge and with its wealth of
fine illustrations will be a revelation to many of
the vast number of fine examples of mediteval
craftsmanship which have survived all the vicissi-
tudes of fortune of the buildings they adorn.
Interwoven with the examination of actual carvings,
amongst which those of the stalls at Lancaster,
Chester, Ripon, and Manchester are the most
characteristic and remarkable, are many curious
and deeply interesting data concerning those for
whose use the stalls were provided and the
changes in the position of the seats that vividly re-
flected the revolution which took place as time
went on in the attitude of the congregation towards
the doctrines of the Church.

Paul Morse von Szinyei, ein Vorlaufer der
Pleinairmalerei. By Dr. Bela Lazar. (Leipzig :
Klinkhardt and Biermann.) 24 mks.; ed. de luxe,
60 mks.—A precise history of modern Hungarian
art has yet to be written. The leaders in the new
school were undoubtedly Ladislaus von Paal and
Paul Merse von Szinyei, the forerunners of the