Studio: international art (82.1921)

REVIEWS.

Drawing from Memory and Mind
Picturing. By R. Catterson-Smith, M.A.,
formerly Director of Art Education for
the City of Birmingham. (London : Sir
Isaac Pitman & Sons.)—Some nine or ten
years ago Mr. Catterson-Smith contri-
buted to our pages a brief statement of the
methods of teaching pursued by him as
principal of the chief art school in Birming-
ham, and some of the results accruing
therefrom were shown in the illustrations
which accompanied his observations, sup-
plemented two or three years later by a
further series. In this volume the subject
is dealt with at greater length, both
textually and illustratively, and convinced
as we are that the methods here ex-
pounded are vitally significant, not only
in regard to art teaching but to education
in general, we can commend it whole-
heartedly to all concerned in the training
of the young. An eloquent tribute to the
efficiency of the system here expounded
was given by Mr. Henry Wilson, President
of the Arts and Crafts Society, in a report
on the Birmingham Central School. " Not
only does it enable the student to produce
results which seem to those familiar with
even the best products of the present
systems generally in use quite miraculous
and astounding, Mr. Catterson-Smith's
methods evoke and develop the personality
of each student in a most remarkable way."

L 'Exposition Van Eyck — Bouts a
Bruxelles en 1920—Les Retables de VAgneau
Mystique et du Saint-Sacrement. Par
Fierens-Gevaert. (Brussels: G. Van
Oest & Cie.)—How much of the famous
altar-piece of St. Bavon, Ghent, was
painted by Hubert van Eyck and how
much by his younger brother Jan has
been discussed time after time, and the
question is again raised by M. Fierens-
Gevaert in his study of this work and the
Last Supper of Dieric Bouts, both of
which were exhibited in their pristine
integrity at Brussels a year ago. Most
authorities describe it as the work of
Hubert, completed by Jan ; M. Fierens-
Gevaert is distinctly averse to giving
Hubert the chief credit. Whatever may
be said about its authorship—and no
doubt much more will be said on this head

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now that the entire work is available for
inspection at St. Bavon, Ghent, after a
century and a quarter of dismemberment—
there must be few indeed who do not share
the admiration the author expresses for
this masterpiece of Flemish art. Ex-
cellent reproductions are given of this
and the painting by Bouts. 000

Norfolk and Suffolk. Painted by A.
Heaton Cooper. Described by W. G.
Clarke, F.G.S. (London: A. & C.
Black.)—An eighteenth century writer
spoke of the " dreadful heights " and
" stupendous and amazing precipices " of
the Norfolk Coast, but the Ordnance
Survey of our day does not show any eleva-
tion exceeding 352 ft. in either county. Yet
if this region, which Mr. Clarke describes
under its manifold aspects, is not what is
popularly called " picturesque," it pos-
sesses many beauties of the kind which
the casual passer-by takes no heed of.
Mr. Arnesby Brown's pictures are evidence
of that, so far as Norfolk is concerned,
and further evidence is here forthcoming
in Mr. Heaton Cooper's coloured illustra-
tions. And where else are to be found
such beautiful churches as those of which
Norfolk especially is justly proud { 0

Survey of London. Vol. VII. The
Parish of Chelsea (Part III.). By Walter
H. Godfrey, F.S.A. London : London
County Council.)—This new volume of
the Survey of London is wholly devoted
to the Old Church at Chelsea, that vener-
able relic of brick and stone by the river-
side which has been a source of inspiration
to artists innumerable. The general
history of the church with its human
associations has been ably told by Mr.
Randall Davies, son of a former incumbent,
and to his narrative this comprehensive
architectural account of the edifice, em-
bracing as it does an exhaustive record
of its monuments, forms a fitting sequel.
These monuments provide the subject
matter for most of the 88 plates, and
besides their historic interest they have
many of them something to say to the
sculptor of to-day. The Survey of
Chelsea remains to be completed by a
further volume, in which will be included
the inscriptions from other burial grounds
of the parish, and more particularly those
of the Royal Hospital and the Moravians.