Studio: international art (72.1918)

Reviews

the rigours of a campaign without precedent in
the slaughter and desolation which have ensued
from it. Written from France without any
idea of publication, these intimate epistles prove
that the imperturbable sang-froid which is so
characteristic of the British “ Tommy ” is also
shared by the officers over him ; there is no
trace of “ grousing ” here but a resolute, soldier-
like determination to “ carry on.” Not that
Art is forgotten—it will out even on the battle-
field, and as a result we have, besides an interest-
ing budget of illustrations in colour from
drawings made in the war zone, a vision of the
future which in its buoyant hopefulness will
elicit the sympathy of all:

The future’s where my heart is. . . . We shall see
the Christmas roses of the Cotswolds together one day,
and I think the war will have given them a mysterious
loveliness that we never understood before. Every
year they’ll come up out of the ground again and
surprise us. I shall be getting older and older—and
so will you, too. And all our little plans will have a
quiet, peaceful joy for us that wouldn’t have been
possible but for the war. Art will be like angels
coming and going. Effort will be intensified. The
lives of the poor will be happier, because every one
will be more ready to give and take. It won’t come
all at once. But there’ll be a difference. The war
will have made a difference. Thank God for the war !

The Romance of King Arthur and his Knights
of the Round Table. Abridged from Malory’s
“ Morte D’Arthur ” by Alfred W. Pollard.
Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. (London :
Macmillan and Co.) ios. 6d. net.—The fact
that this abridged edition of Malory runs to
just over five hundred pages shows that the
curtailment has not been drastic, and with the
exception of a few readings adopted from
Strachey’s well-known Globe edition the old
text is almost precisely that of the original. As
the omitted matter is largely of a redundant
character, the present edition will answer fully
the requirements of readers in general, and with
the pictorial features contributed by Mr.
Rackham, consisting of. sixteen illustrations in
colour, a number of line drawings as well as
headpieces and other decorative adjuncts, will
assuredly prove very popular.

Water-colour Painting. By Alfred W. Rich.
(London : Seeley, Service and Co.) ys. 6d. net.—
Modem Water-colour. By Romilly Fedden.
(London : John Murray.) 6s. net.—No artist
living at the present time is better qualified to
undertake a textbook for students on water-
colour painting than Mr. Rich. Not only is he

one of the most distinguished exponents of the
art in this country, but he has had considerable
experience and success as a teacher. His
methods are sound ; and while his work bears
the stamp of individuality, he has invariably
upheld the great traditions of British water-
colour painting. In this admirable volume he
explains to the beginner and to the more
advanced student, lucidly and fully, the methods
he himself has adopted; he warns them of the
difficulties they are likely to meet with, and
he shows how these may be overcome. The
chapters devoted to the various localities in
which he has sketched are particularly interest-
ing ; while the instructive criticism which
accompanies the sixtv-seven reproductions of
drawings by himself and other artists is illuminat-
ing and should prove of real value to the student.
Mr. Romilly Fedden approaches the subject
from a somewhat different standpoint. Some-
of his assertions are decidedly apt, if not in-
variably convincing. There is much in the
book which students and others interested in
painting will find helpful, while many of the
author’s aphorisms give the reader cause to
think. Amongst the illustrations are reproduc-
tions of drawings by Girtin, Arthur Melville,
J. S. Sargent, D. Y. Cameron, George Clausen,
and four by the author.

Among this season’s publications—fewer in
number, of course, than in normal times—the
budget of amusing rhymes by Hampden Gorden
entitled Our Girls in War Time (John Lane,
3s. 6d. net), with their accompaniment of equally
amusing and clever drawings by Joyce Dennys,
ought to be in great demand, and our brave lads
at the front will be sure to give it a hearty
welcome, as they will to another publication
from the Bodley Head—The New Eve (3s. net),
with its vivacious drawings by “ Fish ” and
letterpress by “ Fowl.”

The Christmas cards and calendars issued
this season by the Medici Society are of a varied
and interesting character, comprising an “ Old
Master ” series of cards with colour reproduc-
tions from famous masterpieces at 6ci. each, a
“Carol” series with colour reproductions of
paintings by Mr. Anning Bell at is. each, a
“ Water-colour ” series with pictures by Regi-
nald Barratt and Col. Goff (6d. each), and a
“ New Water-colour ” series at is. with pictures
by the same artists and Mr. C. J. Holmes.

127