Studio: international art (79.1920)

THE GRAPHIC ART OF JAN POORTENAAR

“ THE FARMYARD.” ETCH-
ING BY JAN POORTENAAR

leaves something to be desired is in the
translation of the subject into terms of the
particular medium he is using at the
moment, and in the adaptation of his
craftsmanship to its peculiar capacities
and limitations. 0000
That is where Mr. Poortenaar excels.
Practising a wide range of crafts, he seems
to approach every subject and problem
from the point of view of the craft he
happens to be using at the moment. In
his hands they might be compared to
different musical instruments in the hands
of a composer. He might apply the same
subject or theme to several of them;
but in each case he would adapt it to the
instrument concerned. 000
Mr. Poortenaar is represented here in
100

lithography, etching, and woodcut. All
these arts, of course, are based on drawing,
with modifications according to the re-
sistance of the tools and materials em-
ployed in each case. The resistance is
least in lithography, which is practically
autographic, and greatest in woodcut.
Now if you compare Mr. Poortenaar's
practice of the three arts you cannot fail
to be struck and pleased by his unusually
nice recognition of the degree of resistance
peculiar to each. Instead of trying to
overcome it in the supposed interests of
the subject or idea, he allows the resistance
itself to become a part of the expression.
Between his lithographs and his woodcuts
there is an increasing scale of simplification
and concentration. In the lithographs