DOI issue:
No. 251 (March 1914)
DOI article:Reviews and notices
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21209#0175
Reviews and Notices
bestowed on its production is fully worthy of a place
on the shelves of connoisseurs as well as collectors.
Some very choice specimens of porcelain are
figured in the coloured plates, and in addition a
large number of examples are illustrated in mono-
chrome, public and private collections having been
drawn upon for material. In the letterpress the
history of the various factories where the porcelain
was produced is briefly touched upon and the
characteristics of each kind are succinctly described.
Greek Art and Natiotial Life. By S. C. Kaines
Smith, M. A. (London : Nisbet and Co.) ys. 6d.
net.—We will give the author's argument in this
book practically in his own words. The history
of the Greek world, he tells us, has of late been
carried back some thousands of years, and names
that were great in pre-Homeric legend have begun
to take their place in a reconstructed history of
European civilisation. When the science of
archaeology, with its systematic methods of excava-
tion and investigation, came into being in the
nineteenth century the rapidity and certainty of
Hellenic progress between the eighth and fifth
centuries b.c. became more puzzling as it became
more apparent. The effect of the point of view of
the older historians upon the student was unfor-
tunate. It removed the Hellenic race from the
category of flesh and blood, and made it super-
human or rather extra-human. It is the new point
of view that is put forward in this book, with
a scholar's conscientiousness and with imagination.
The volume is beautifully illustrated.
Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kiinstler von
der Antike bis zur Gegemvart. Herausgegeben
von Ulrich Thieme. Neunter Band. (Leipzig :
E. A. Seemann.) Stitched, 32 Marks; bound, 35
Marks.—The ninth volume of this universal dic-
tionary of artists of all periods which Herr Thieme
is producing with the assistance of some four
hundred experts bears throughout its six hundred
and more pages ample evidence of the painstaking
care with which, like the preceding volumes, it has
been compiled. The bibliographical references
appended to most of the notices, showing the
sources from which the information has been
drawn, imply in themselves a wide range of research
and at the same time indicate how very close up
to date the information is, some of them being to
publications which have appeared within the last
few months. The present volume begins with
Delaulne and ends with Dubois and within these
limits are recorded many names of living artists of
various nationalities as well as those of bygone
days. The notices are admirably clear and concise,
170
the salient facts concerning each artist's life and
achievements being set forth without unnecessary
verbiage; and on the whole the space allotted to
each has been fairly apportioned, the old masters
not being unduly favoured. The utility of the
dictionary is enormously enhanced owing to the
extended meaning given to the term "bildende
Kiinstler," for besides including painters, sculptors,
engravers, &c, it is here made to embrace various
categories of workers in the applied arts whose
creations are worthy of being classed as "formative"
art. In this connection it is interesting to find
under " Deme" a list of the famous Japanese
family of mask-carvers.
The Beautiful. An introduction to psycho-
logical aesthetics. By Vernon Lee. (Cambridge
University Press.) is. net.—Though the author
of this little work once wrote an essay on " The
Handling of Words " she fails to avoid obscurity of
style on this occasion. Her argument is most
difficult to follow. Her aesthetics base themselves
upon a primary distinction to be observed between
things and shapes, or in other words between subject
and form. But aesthetics cannot be understood—
in the sense of sharing the experience of an artist
—while this distinction is contended for. Science
may discriminate between things and shapes, but
creative art" is instinctive in its intention to blur
the distinction for the moment to our senses. We
should be sorry, too, to imagine that artistic sensi-
bility is a thing so easily affected by physical
mood and indigestions as the author seems to
imagine. Moreover aesthetic experience of the
highest order is often obtainable from sources
artistically discredited. This is frequently the case,
for instance, in the perceptions of original genius
either in creative art or in connoisseurship.
Les Tableaicx du Louvre. By Louis Hourticq.
(Paris : Hachette et Cie.) 2 francs.—This little
book combines the functions of guide and historian.
A brief sketch is given of the history of painting,
and the notes accompanying the illustrations,
numbering over one hundred and fifty, have for
aim that of placing the important pictures described
in their proper historical relation. The volume is
handy in size and should be very useful to visitors
to the Louvre.
Les Peintres de Portraits. Par Paul Lambotte.
(Brussels: G. Van Oest and Cie.)—In a preliminary
chapter M. Lambotte deals with the special attrac-
tion and undoubted interest of portraiture generally
and then proceeds to a discussion of the works of
some of the portrait painters in Belgium during the
nineteenth century. The numerous half-tone illus-
bestowed on its production is fully worthy of a place
on the shelves of connoisseurs as well as collectors.
Some very choice specimens of porcelain are
figured in the coloured plates, and in addition a
large number of examples are illustrated in mono-
chrome, public and private collections having been
drawn upon for material. In the letterpress the
history of the various factories where the porcelain
was produced is briefly touched upon and the
characteristics of each kind are succinctly described.
Greek Art and Natiotial Life. By S. C. Kaines
Smith, M. A. (London : Nisbet and Co.) ys. 6d.
net.—We will give the author's argument in this
book practically in his own words. The history
of the Greek world, he tells us, has of late been
carried back some thousands of years, and names
that were great in pre-Homeric legend have begun
to take their place in a reconstructed history of
European civilisation. When the science of
archaeology, with its systematic methods of excava-
tion and investigation, came into being in the
nineteenth century the rapidity and certainty of
Hellenic progress between the eighth and fifth
centuries b.c. became more puzzling as it became
more apparent. The effect of the point of view of
the older historians upon the student was unfor-
tunate. It removed the Hellenic race from the
category of flesh and blood, and made it super-
human or rather extra-human. It is the new point
of view that is put forward in this book, with
a scholar's conscientiousness and with imagination.
The volume is beautifully illustrated.
Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kiinstler von
der Antike bis zur Gegemvart. Herausgegeben
von Ulrich Thieme. Neunter Band. (Leipzig :
E. A. Seemann.) Stitched, 32 Marks; bound, 35
Marks.—The ninth volume of this universal dic-
tionary of artists of all periods which Herr Thieme
is producing with the assistance of some four
hundred experts bears throughout its six hundred
and more pages ample evidence of the painstaking
care with which, like the preceding volumes, it has
been compiled. The bibliographical references
appended to most of the notices, showing the
sources from which the information has been
drawn, imply in themselves a wide range of research
and at the same time indicate how very close up
to date the information is, some of them being to
publications which have appeared within the last
few months. The present volume begins with
Delaulne and ends with Dubois and within these
limits are recorded many names of living artists of
various nationalities as well as those of bygone
days. The notices are admirably clear and concise,
170
the salient facts concerning each artist's life and
achievements being set forth without unnecessary
verbiage; and on the whole the space allotted to
each has been fairly apportioned, the old masters
not being unduly favoured. The utility of the
dictionary is enormously enhanced owing to the
extended meaning given to the term "bildende
Kiinstler," for besides including painters, sculptors,
engravers, &c, it is here made to embrace various
categories of workers in the applied arts whose
creations are worthy of being classed as "formative"
art. In this connection it is interesting to find
under " Deme" a list of the famous Japanese
family of mask-carvers.
The Beautiful. An introduction to psycho-
logical aesthetics. By Vernon Lee. (Cambridge
University Press.) is. net.—Though the author
of this little work once wrote an essay on " The
Handling of Words " she fails to avoid obscurity of
style on this occasion. Her argument is most
difficult to follow. Her aesthetics base themselves
upon a primary distinction to be observed between
things and shapes, or in other words between subject
and form. But aesthetics cannot be understood—
in the sense of sharing the experience of an artist
—while this distinction is contended for. Science
may discriminate between things and shapes, but
creative art" is instinctive in its intention to blur
the distinction for the moment to our senses. We
should be sorry, too, to imagine that artistic sensi-
bility is a thing so easily affected by physical
mood and indigestions as the author seems to
imagine. Moreover aesthetic experience of the
highest order is often obtainable from sources
artistically discredited. This is frequently the case,
for instance, in the perceptions of original genius
either in creative art or in connoisseurship.
Les Tableaicx du Louvre. By Louis Hourticq.
(Paris : Hachette et Cie.) 2 francs.—This little
book combines the functions of guide and historian.
A brief sketch is given of the history of painting,
and the notes accompanying the illustrations,
numbering over one hundred and fifty, have for
aim that of placing the important pictures described
in their proper historical relation. The volume is
handy in size and should be very useful to visitors
to the Louvre.
Les Peintres de Portraits. Par Paul Lambotte.
(Brussels: G. Van Oest and Cie.)—In a preliminary
chapter M. Lambotte deals with the special attrac-
tion and undoubted interest of portraiture generally
and then proceeds to a discussion of the works of
some of the portrait painters in Belgium during the
nineteenth century. The numerous half-tone illus-