Studio: international art (61.1914)

Studio- Talk

portrait bust. by prof. wilhelm wandschneider

LEIPZIG.—The International Exhibition of the
Book Industry and Graphic Art (Inter-
nationale Ausstellung ftir Buchgewerbe
-J und Graphik), which during the next few
months will attract hither a large concourse of
visitors from all parts of the world—more espe-
cially of course those who are in any way concerned
with book production—has been planned on a very
comprehensive scale, and in that respect it furnishes
a striking example of the organising capacity of its
promoters. The majority of the exhibits, which
are classified according to sixteen principal cate-
gories with a further division into classes, concern
the economic and technical sides of book pro-
duction and have little or no direct relation to art;
but art under various aspects always has played an
important part in the productions of the press, and
the promoters of the exhibition have therefore made
it a prominent feature in their programme. Hence
the presence of the word " Graphik " in the title of
the exhibition. This term is to be understood as
comprehending drawings of various kinds (but not
water-colours), lithographs, etchings, and engravings,
whether from metal plates or from wood blocks.
The assemblage of works of this nature is perhaps
unique, and in itself affords abundance of interest
to all who would follow the present-day develop-
ment of graphic art in various parts of the world.

The numerous methods and processes ol repro-
duction are also largely in evidence.

Another and to the student of the history of art
equally important section is the Kulturgeschicht-
liche Abteiliing, the chief function of which is to
exhibit the various stages in the evolution of the
book and of the graphic arts from its earliest
beginnings in the remote past down to the present
day as a part of the general history of civilisation.
This section has a spacious building to itself—the
Halle der Kultur—arranged in two stories, and
besides the graphic arts as commonly understood
it also takes cognisance of the pictorial, decorative,
and plastic arts as practised among various peoples
in different stages of civilisation. The manuscript
literature of the Far East, Central Asia, and India,
of the Near East and European countries prior to
the invention of mechanical methods, forms the
subject of special groups and sub-groups each under
the charge of an expert of recognised authority in
his special department of research.

"a girl of to-day"

by prof. wilhelm wandschneider

325