Studio: international art (72.1918)

Studio- Talk

"MOUNTAIN HAMLET IN AUTUMN”

the subtle beauty of the mist, for the expression
of which the artist seems to possess a special
talent. Notable paintings by such eminent
artists as Ogata-Gekko, Kosaka-Shiden, Wata-
nabe-Seitei, Kano-Tanmei, Tsubata-Michihiko,
and Takatori-Masanari also figured in the
exhibition. Harada-Jiro.

REVIEWS.

The Study and Criticism of Italian Art. By
Bernhard Berenson. ios. 6d. net. Venetian
Painting in America—The Fifteenth Century. By
Bernhard Berenson. 12s. 6d. net. (London:
G. Bell and Sons.)—These two books, papers of
criticism which Mr. Berenson has bound in
volume form, work the same field. Perhaps the
“ Study and Criticism ” has less sheer “ ex-
pertise,” and therefore more interest for the
general reader than the other. It is certainly
to be studied in England with less vexation
of spirit, since so many of the works discussed
in “ Venetian Painting ” were once the glory of
English collections. In advancing such and
such a work to favour, and disallowing some
other, the critic does not withhold his reasons.
He is the supreme exponent of Morrellianism,
a system, it would seem, by which the soul of a
work of art is to be plumbed by measurements
of the limbs of figures represented. Even by
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BY DAN-RANSHYU

the light of the illustrations to the two volumes
we should decline to follow Mr. Berenson every
step of the way in the decisions he arrives at.
In the “ Study and Criticism ” the author
admits such want of sympathy with a certain
phase of Leonardo da Vinci’s work as is generally
considered to place a critic’s estimate out of
court. Yet Mr. Berenson tries the great master
by the very phase of his work that antagonizes
him temperamentally, and seems to desire to
reverse a judgment that has been given in
favour of Leonardo for hundreds of years.
Mona Lisa is singled out. But is that a
characteristic work ? Can the word “ mighty ”
be withdrawn from the draughtsman of the
cartoon The Virgin with St. Anne, to which
Mr. Berenson pays his tribute.

The Great War in 1916 : A Neutral's Indict-
ment. Sixty Cartoons by Louis Raemaekers.
With an Appreciation by H. Perry Robinson,
and descriptive Notes by E. Garnett and M.
B. Huish. (London : The Fine Art Society,
Ltd.) £6 6s. net.—Mr. Raemaekers occupies
a place apart among the numerous humorists
and satirists whose pencils or pens have been
stimulated into activity by the great conflict
which even yet shows no clear sign of terminat-
ing. The fact that he is a citizen of a neutral
country and by blood a near kinsman of the