Studio: international art (84.1922)

best whether his commission be for an
ordinary or extraordinary edition. It
is notable, too, in many of the works he
has illustrated, how carefully he combines
his thought and talent with the text and
period of the work. How different, for
instance, are his designs for " Le Lutrin "
of Boileau, published by the Societe
Litteraire de France. In these he has
concentrated a feeling of intimacy with
the time as well as with the personality
of the famous author. The same idealistic
visualisation is very remarkably expressed
in his drawings for " Le Triomphe de
l'amour de Lulli," " Les Dominos " of
Couperin, and many illustrations for the
works of Moliere; also in a unique set
of Venetian subjects in the collection of
M. Le Garrec (successor of M. Edmond
Sagot) in Paris to whom we are indebted
for some of the accompanying illustra-
tions, a a a a a a

It is not, however, only as an illustrator
that Dethomas is known in France. To
him is due much of the credit for the
enthusiasm which is at present being
demonstrated in the reconstructional art
of the theatre, and it is, perhaps, now as
designer and director of the " Services
Plastiques " of the opera house that he
is most widely known. But to follow his
career in that sphere of art one must go
back to about the year 1910 and recall his
early productions for the Theatre des
Arts, then the most artistically progressive
theatre in Paris. His designs for it include
" Le Carnaval des Enfants," the
"Trampagos " of Cervantes, and, perhaps,
most remarkable of all, the tragedy of
" Les Freres Karamazov," his staging of
which has never since been equalled in
France. In his colour schemes there is
perceptible a sort of psychological analogy
with the play-writer's intention, the pro-
gression of each scene following perfectly
the progression of the drama. 0 0

At the present moment all his time is
taken up by the opera for which he is now
busy designing the costumes and settings
of the " Cydalise," by Pierna. Yet, busy
man as he is, one hopes he may still find
some spare hours in which to continue
picturing the books of famous French
writers, and so enhance their prestige by
his strong and sympathetic art. 0 0

88

MR. WILLIAM WALCOT'S COLOUR
NOTES. BY MALCOLM C
SAL AM AN. 00000

MR. WILLIAM WALCOT has
recently been elected a Fellow of
the Royal Institute of British Architects,
and he has been invited by three thousand
American architects to visit the United
States in the autumn, when he is to \ be
honoured at a series of banquets and fetes,
to lecture at the Universities, and be
treated everywhere as an artist of great

"WILLIAM WALCOT, R.E., F.R.I.B.A."
WOODCUT BY ROBERT GIBBINGS