DOI issue:
No. 240 (March 1913)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21160#0190
Studio- Talk
to this sunny record was depicted, though this too
was an exposition of sunlight, but sunlight viewed
from the angle of shadow. Everywhere sunlight
in fact, though in no instance more obvious than
in the narrow, picturesque old Street of Granada,
toiling between white walls up a steep hill. The
Tower of the Seven Peaks, Alhambra, Granada,
presented another phase of the city, still in sun-
light. Here huge battlements in close range at
the left throw into telling perspective the graded
distance of the town, while vanishing in successive
greys the panorama of Granada is lost, finally, in
miles of atmosphere. Two views of the Sierra
Nevada, one in autumn and the other in winter,
formed imposing as well as most delightful moun-
tain interpretations.
Indeed it was a superb treat which was furnished
by the Hispanic Society of America in this second
visit of Sorolla to the United States. By some,
exception was taken to the fact that so many
"studies" had been included in the collection.
"THE TWO SISTERS, VALENCIA"
BY JOAQUIN SOROLLA Y 1SASTIDA
(By courtesy of the Hispanic Society of America)
The opinion generally was that the exhibition
would have been perceptibly more dignified by
the omission of these unfinished canvases, clever
and snappy though they were. Still, when such
examples as demonstrated fully Sefior Sorolla's
skill were to be seen they could not but be
strengthened through the presence of so enormous
an assemblage of swiftly performed production.
To the student it was especially valuable, and to
the sincere lover of art, as well as to the serious
painter, they were both instructive and inspiring.
M. I. G. O.
TOKYO.—An exhibition of original paint-
ings by Ukiyoye artists which was held
some little while ago at the Imperial
Museum of Tokyo as an " Exhibition
of Manners and Customs of the Tokugawa Age "
was, artistically, a revelation to many, as the
general impression that the best Ukiyoye art is
seen only in wood-block prints has, in some special
cases, to be corrected. One wondered why such an
exhibition was not held before ; but perhaps it was
only because the things which are beautiful and
rare are not always the first to be appreciated.
When I say that the exhibition seemed to convey
some other message beyond the obvious, I mean
that I was impressed with the idea that it
laughed at and condemned in fantastic succession
the present age, in which prosaic regularity has
taken the place of the romantic fascination of two
or three hundred years ago, which Japan perfected
by virtue of her own temperament.
It is not too much to say that Shunsho
Katsukawa, who died in 1792 at the age of 97,
gained more than any other artist from the
exhibition through his masterly series of twelve
pieces, The Woman's Year, owned by Count
Matsuura, a most subtle arrangement of figures
whose postures reach their final quality of grace
from their delicate expression of artistic reserve,
their decorative richness, and the harmony and
perfection of their pictorial quality. The older
Japanese artists were wont to portray delicacy only
in the women's hands and arms ; but it was the
distinguished art of Shunsho, with some other
contemporary Ukiyoye artists, to make the neck,
and especially the nape of the neck, the feature of
almost tantalising grace. What a charm of abandon
in those shoulders! And what a fascinating
illusiveness in the slightly inclined faces of the
women !
167
to this sunny record was depicted, though this too
was an exposition of sunlight, but sunlight viewed
from the angle of shadow. Everywhere sunlight
in fact, though in no instance more obvious than
in the narrow, picturesque old Street of Granada,
toiling between white walls up a steep hill. The
Tower of the Seven Peaks, Alhambra, Granada,
presented another phase of the city, still in sun-
light. Here huge battlements in close range at
the left throw into telling perspective the graded
distance of the town, while vanishing in successive
greys the panorama of Granada is lost, finally, in
miles of atmosphere. Two views of the Sierra
Nevada, one in autumn and the other in winter,
formed imposing as well as most delightful moun-
tain interpretations.
Indeed it was a superb treat which was furnished
by the Hispanic Society of America in this second
visit of Sorolla to the United States. By some,
exception was taken to the fact that so many
"studies" had been included in the collection.
"THE TWO SISTERS, VALENCIA"
BY JOAQUIN SOROLLA Y 1SASTIDA
(By courtesy of the Hispanic Society of America)
The opinion generally was that the exhibition
would have been perceptibly more dignified by
the omission of these unfinished canvases, clever
and snappy though they were. Still, when such
examples as demonstrated fully Sefior Sorolla's
skill were to be seen they could not but be
strengthened through the presence of so enormous
an assemblage of swiftly performed production.
To the student it was especially valuable, and to
the sincere lover of art, as well as to the serious
painter, they were both instructive and inspiring.
M. I. G. O.
TOKYO.—An exhibition of original paint-
ings by Ukiyoye artists which was held
some little while ago at the Imperial
Museum of Tokyo as an " Exhibition
of Manners and Customs of the Tokugawa Age "
was, artistically, a revelation to many, as the
general impression that the best Ukiyoye art is
seen only in wood-block prints has, in some special
cases, to be corrected. One wondered why such an
exhibition was not held before ; but perhaps it was
only because the things which are beautiful and
rare are not always the first to be appreciated.
When I say that the exhibition seemed to convey
some other message beyond the obvious, I mean
that I was impressed with the idea that it
laughed at and condemned in fantastic succession
the present age, in which prosaic regularity has
taken the place of the romantic fascination of two
or three hundred years ago, which Japan perfected
by virtue of her own temperament.
It is not too much to say that Shunsho
Katsukawa, who died in 1792 at the age of 97,
gained more than any other artist from the
exhibition through his masterly series of twelve
pieces, The Woman's Year, owned by Count
Matsuura, a most subtle arrangement of figures
whose postures reach their final quality of grace
from their delicate expression of artistic reserve,
their decorative richness, and the harmony and
perfection of their pictorial quality. The older
Japanese artists were wont to portray delicacy only
in the women's hands and arms ; but it was the
distinguished art of Shunsho, with some other
contemporary Ukiyoye artists, to make the neck,
and especially the nape of the neck, the feature of
almost tantalising grace. What a charm of abandon
in those shoulders! And what a fascinating
illusiveness in the slightly inclined faces of the
women !
167