DOI issue:
No. 248 (November 1913)
DOI article:Reviews and notices
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21208#0191
Reviews and Notices
Social Role of Art,” and “The Criticism of Art”—
cover the ground adequately and allow of the sub-
ject being dealt with from different aspects. Each
one is well considered and each one is argued with
ability ; no one who reads the book, whether he
agrees with the writer’s conclusions or not, would
deny his sincerity.
Die Radierungen und Steindrucke von Kathe
Kollwitz, Ein beschreibendes Verzeichniss von
Johannes Sievers. (Dresden: Herrmann Holst.)—
Kathe Kollwitz, whose oeuvre as an etcher and litho-
grapher from the year 1890 (when she was twenty-
three) down to 1912 is set forth in this descriptive
catalogue, enjoys a high repute in Germany both
among connoisseurs and collectors of prints and
among critics. The number of works described and
illustrated is 122, and of these nearly a score are
self-portraits executed at various stages of the artist’s
career, so that the volume forms a record of her-
self as well as of her work. As for the rest, they
reveal a curious penchant for portraying the “ seamy
side ” of life—and death too, is the theme of not a
few—but at the same time they certainly bear
witness to an executive ability of no mean order,
which is especially evident in the two series or cycles
of etchings representing episodes in the War of the
Peasants and the Rising of the Weavers. The
savage fury of these mobs of desperate men and
women is in strong contrast to the sullen passivity
of other proletarian types portrayed by the artist.
There is, of course, a pronounced social note in the
artist’s work, as there is in that of many other German
artists at the present day, some of whom, like Frau
Kollwitz, have no qualms about portraying the most
unsavoury aspects of human life. There is, indeed,
one etching in this catalogue which by its very name
cannot but excite repugnance, and there are others
which, whatever their merits from a technical point
of view, leave on us anything but an agreeable
impression.
An Artist in Italy. Written and painted by
Walter Tyndale, R.I. (London: Hodder and
Stoughton.) 205'. net.—If hardly so satisfying as
the companion volume “An Artist in Egypt,” Mr.
Walter Tyndale’s latest book, “An Artist in Italy,”
has much to commend it. The twenty-six plates
in colour, though mostly dealing with a theme
which, from an artist’s point of view, is somewhat
hackneyed, are sympathetically treated, while the
letterpress is bright and interesting. The author
modestly says in his preface that the volume is little
more than a painter’s record of the places he
visited while in search of material for his pro-
fessional work. We would not wish it otherwise.
Glorified guide-books to Italy can be had by the
score; the impressions of an artist like Mr.
Tyndale, with his keen powers of observation and
picturesque yet convincing style of writing, are not
so easily accessible, and their appearance calls for
no apology from the author. The present volume
deals mostly with Venice and the hill-towns of
Tuscany, the chapters on Siena forming perhaps
the most enjoyable part of the book. The descrip-
tion of the “ Palio ” of Siena, one of the most
remarkable and best known of the festa of ancient
religious origin, is particularly interesting.
Famous Paintings selected from the World’s
Great Galleries. (London : Cassell and Co., Ltd.)
2 vols., 12.?. net each.—Mr. G. K. Chesterton intro-
duces these volumes of coloured reproductions with
a plea for the republication of “old and good
pictures as a real part of that grossly neglected
thing—public education.” With the omission of
the first two words here quoted, we entirely concur
in this recommendation. We hope Mr. Chesterton
is not one of those who cannot see any merit in a
picture unless it is old. However, if the pictures
here reproduced, numbering fifty in each volume,
are good, they are not all old, for not a few living
or recently deceased artists of note are represented
along with various of the great old masters. Each
reproduction is accompanied by a descriptive note,
and as the selection includes many works of great
interest from various standpoints, the two volumes
are pretty sure to prove popular.
A Soldier s Diary, South Africa, 1899-1901.
Written and illustrated by Murray Cosby Jackson.
(London : Max Goschen, Ltd.) 10s. 6d. net.—
The auther, who served with distinction as a non-
commissioned officer in South Africa, wrote this
account of his own personal experiences during the
war for the benefit of his family circle. It pretends
in no way to be a history of the events of the
campaign, and is here presented just as it was com-
piled by Sergt. Jackson. His pages form most
interesting reading and are full of humorous—and
often very grim—anecdotes of his own and his
comrades’ experiences in the field. Altogether this
is a very entertaining human document and one
which throws a most interesting sidelight on the
South African War. The author’s illustrations are
admirably graphic, though as he does not pretend
to be an artist it would not be fair to criticise them
as drawings.
Sketches from Nature. By John MacWhirter,
R.A. (London : Cassell and Co.) 6s. net.—This
is an extremely attractive book of sketches in water-
colour and pencil made in travelling by the late
Social Role of Art,” and “The Criticism of Art”—
cover the ground adequately and allow of the sub-
ject being dealt with from different aspects. Each
one is well considered and each one is argued with
ability ; no one who reads the book, whether he
agrees with the writer’s conclusions or not, would
deny his sincerity.
Die Radierungen und Steindrucke von Kathe
Kollwitz, Ein beschreibendes Verzeichniss von
Johannes Sievers. (Dresden: Herrmann Holst.)—
Kathe Kollwitz, whose oeuvre as an etcher and litho-
grapher from the year 1890 (when she was twenty-
three) down to 1912 is set forth in this descriptive
catalogue, enjoys a high repute in Germany both
among connoisseurs and collectors of prints and
among critics. The number of works described and
illustrated is 122, and of these nearly a score are
self-portraits executed at various stages of the artist’s
career, so that the volume forms a record of her-
self as well as of her work. As for the rest, they
reveal a curious penchant for portraying the “ seamy
side ” of life—and death too, is the theme of not a
few—but at the same time they certainly bear
witness to an executive ability of no mean order,
which is especially evident in the two series or cycles
of etchings representing episodes in the War of the
Peasants and the Rising of the Weavers. The
savage fury of these mobs of desperate men and
women is in strong contrast to the sullen passivity
of other proletarian types portrayed by the artist.
There is, of course, a pronounced social note in the
artist’s work, as there is in that of many other German
artists at the present day, some of whom, like Frau
Kollwitz, have no qualms about portraying the most
unsavoury aspects of human life. There is, indeed,
one etching in this catalogue which by its very name
cannot but excite repugnance, and there are others
which, whatever their merits from a technical point
of view, leave on us anything but an agreeable
impression.
An Artist in Italy. Written and painted by
Walter Tyndale, R.I. (London: Hodder and
Stoughton.) 205'. net.—If hardly so satisfying as
the companion volume “An Artist in Egypt,” Mr.
Walter Tyndale’s latest book, “An Artist in Italy,”
has much to commend it. The twenty-six plates
in colour, though mostly dealing with a theme
which, from an artist’s point of view, is somewhat
hackneyed, are sympathetically treated, while the
letterpress is bright and interesting. The author
modestly says in his preface that the volume is little
more than a painter’s record of the places he
visited while in search of material for his pro-
fessional work. We would not wish it otherwise.
Glorified guide-books to Italy can be had by the
score; the impressions of an artist like Mr.
Tyndale, with his keen powers of observation and
picturesque yet convincing style of writing, are not
so easily accessible, and their appearance calls for
no apology from the author. The present volume
deals mostly with Venice and the hill-towns of
Tuscany, the chapters on Siena forming perhaps
the most enjoyable part of the book. The descrip-
tion of the “ Palio ” of Siena, one of the most
remarkable and best known of the festa of ancient
religious origin, is particularly interesting.
Famous Paintings selected from the World’s
Great Galleries. (London : Cassell and Co., Ltd.)
2 vols., 12.?. net each.—Mr. G. K. Chesterton intro-
duces these volumes of coloured reproductions with
a plea for the republication of “old and good
pictures as a real part of that grossly neglected
thing—public education.” With the omission of
the first two words here quoted, we entirely concur
in this recommendation. We hope Mr. Chesterton
is not one of those who cannot see any merit in a
picture unless it is old. However, if the pictures
here reproduced, numbering fifty in each volume,
are good, they are not all old, for not a few living
or recently deceased artists of note are represented
along with various of the great old masters. Each
reproduction is accompanied by a descriptive note,
and as the selection includes many works of great
interest from various standpoints, the two volumes
are pretty sure to prove popular.
A Soldier s Diary, South Africa, 1899-1901.
Written and illustrated by Murray Cosby Jackson.
(London : Max Goschen, Ltd.) 10s. 6d. net.—
The auther, who served with distinction as a non-
commissioned officer in South Africa, wrote this
account of his own personal experiences during the
war for the benefit of his family circle. It pretends
in no way to be a history of the events of the
campaign, and is here presented just as it was com-
piled by Sergt. Jackson. His pages form most
interesting reading and are full of humorous—and
often very grim—anecdotes of his own and his
comrades’ experiences in the field. Altogether this
is a very entertaining human document and one
which throws a most interesting sidelight on the
South African War. The author’s illustrations are
admirably graphic, though as he does not pretend
to be an artist it would not be fair to criticise them
as drawings.
Sketches from Nature. By John MacWhirter,
R.A. (London : Cassell and Co.) 6s. net.—This
is an extremely attractive book of sketches in water-
colour and pencil made in travelling by the late