Studio: international art (79.1920)

THE GRAPHIC ART OF JAN POORTENAAR

"SHEDS, HOLLAND.’’ LITHO-
GRAPH BY JAN POORTENAAR

the facility of the medium is expressed ;
in the etching, the responsibility of the
acid, which demands a more closely
selective and slightly more formal style of
drawing ; and in the woodcuts, the tough-
ness of the material and consequent need
for extreme economy of statement. a
This technical sympathy, though it
enables an artist to express himself with
point and propriety, is not the whole of art,
and Mr. Poortenaar has other claims to our
notice. In his general outlook he might
be described as an imaginative naturalist
with an instinct for decorative design.
If you will look at his work you will see
that both the imagination and the decora-
tion are more evident in proportion as
the qualities of the medium are more
pronounced. He is more naturalistic in
his lithographs. Even here both his
vision and his drawing are controlled by
design—as witness the slight emphasis
upon the pattern made by the tree branches
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and the arrangement of the paths in The
Churchyard—and the conception of the
subject may be called imaginative ; but the
facility of the medium for the close repre-
sentation of nature is given full play.
In the etching the treatment is still com-
paratively naturalistic, but the trees are
reduced to their typical character, and the
brickwork is dwelt upon for its decorative
value. In the woodcuts, the vision is
purely imaginative and the treatment is
strictly formal. It might be going too far
to say that he is most personal in his
woodcuts; for one thing it is obvious
that he is less practised in that medium
than in etching ; but there are indications
in his work that the more completely the
facts of nature are digested the better he
will display his ability as a designer.
Those who have seen his paintings will
recognize that it is the decorative aspect of
colour that appeals to him. a &

Charles Marriott