Studio: international art (55.1912)

Edmond G. Renter

BY EDMOND G. REUTER

able picturesque subjects in the cantons of Vaud
and Valais, in Savoy, Northern Italy, and Umbria.

But beneath the conscientious interpreter of
nature there is in this artist a dreamer of dreams,
a seer of visions, and he is often at his best when
evoking those ideal landscapes of which he has
caught a glimpse in moments of visionary glow.
He is of those who think that there is room in art
for compositions entirely evolved out of the sub-
conscious dreams or remembrances of the artist,
like Turner’s visions. The reproductions accom-
panying this article belong to a series of one
hundred small compositions all more or less weird
and fantastic. Here are Oriental structures and
mediaeval castles washed by the labouring sea, or
rising unperturbed from the midst or on the edge
of solitary wastes; here are lonely landscapes
taking on the hue of lowering skies, a glimpse into
a strange world apart, suggestive of the dead past,
of something which has been long deserted, and
which, notwithstanding its resistance, has fallen
away from the living present. The prevailing dark
indigo colour of these compositions is eminently

suited to the quaint visions of architecture and
landscape evoked in them. Made from time to
time without any definite purpose, simply from the
imperious need of self-expression, they reveal to us
one of the most intimate qualities of the artist’s
nature in untrammelled activity.

I have but given readers of The Studio a
glimpse into the phases of a work which is as con-
siderable as it is fine in quality. M. Reuter is an
artist to whom art is a kind of religion, “ the
religion of the beautiful,” and in Switzerland he
stands for the same spirit as that for which William
Morris stood in England. R. M.

[Various examples of M. Reuter’s work have
been illustrated in earlier numbers of The Studio.
Illuminations and illuminated pages will be found
in vol. xiv. pp. 64, 65, vol. xviii. p. 189, vol.
xxviii. pp. 127, 128, and vol. xxxviii. p. 229. Some
of his painted tapestries were. reproduced in vol.
xiv. p. 63, vol. xxii. p. 202, and vol. xxiv. p. 254,
and three Melancholy Landscapes in vol. xxx. pp.
357, 358-—Editor.]

SPECIAL SPRING NUMBER OF
“THE STUDIO”

This volume, which will be published shortly,
will have for its subject “ The Village Homes ot
England.” In dealing with this topic special con-
sideration will be given to traditional modes of build-
ing met with in various parts of the country, where
peculiarities of construction in correlation with
local materials became established in the course ot
generations. Thus attention will be given to such
subjects as: (1) Southern plasterwork, flintwork,
brickwork, and masonry; (2) brickwork, flintwork,
timberwork, and plasterwork in Berkshire and
Buckinghamshire; (3) stonework in the Eastern
Cotswolds; (4) pargetting, timberwork, brickwork,
and thatching in the Eastern Counties; and
(5) Northern masonry and brickwork. Sections
dealing with metalwork, woodwork, and garden-
craft will add to the interest and value of the book.

For the purpose of illustrating this volume Mr.
Sydney R. Jones (who executed the drawings for
the Special Number on “ Old English Country
Cottages”) has especially prepared about two
hundred pen-and-ink drawings ; and in addition
there will be several plates in colours after water-
colours by the same artist and Mr. Wilfrid Ball,
R.E. Mr. Sydney Jones has made a special study
of old cottage architecture, and he is contributing
several articles, ‘which, in conjunction with his
drawings, will be found of considerable interest.

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