DOI Heft:
No. 361 (April 1923)
DOI Artikel:Obituary
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21397#0260
OBITUARY
pieces of sculpture. Certain artists, includ-
ing a couple of Russian sculptors, did
their best to call attention to themselves
by freakish displays, but they passed un-
noticed. Far more in evidence were those
who have done their best to do their best,
like the great Alexander Iacovleff, whose
nude figure of a woman, and picture of a
weird old man holding puppets, were feats
of superlative accomplishment; or like the
Japanese Foujita, whose mysterious and
extremely perfect technique excited the
general curiosity; or, again, Theophile
Robert, the Swiss artist, so charmingly
conscientious and desirous of producing
beauty in the spirit as in the letter. The
religious section offered opportunities to
MM. Desvallieres and Denis. What Mile.
Dufau’s thin washes did here was a prob-
lem. Such electicism must lead to the name
of this salon standing merely for the season
in which it takes place rather than for a
creed shared in common. The sculpture
section was extremely good, headed by
Bourdelle, with his beautiful plaster cast of
the Vierge a VEnfant, shown at the Nation-
ale a couple of years back. Maillol, Joseph
Bernard and Halou were all well repre-
sented ; but most striking of all were the
exhibits of Francois Pompon, Hernandez
and Francisco Durrio. The first-named,
recently revealed to France by the critic,
Robert Rey, showed a polar bear, life-size in
clay, which has brought him fame. He had
two cases of smaller animals in various
mediums, and is now, at the age of sixty-
six, a celebrity. A former assistant of Rodin’s
and one or two other big men, his talent,
has evolved in comparative obscurity. MM.
Hernandez and Durrio are Spaniards. Her-
nandez cuts portrait busts and animals out
of granite direct from Nature, which en-
sures a vividness not otherwise attainable.
Durrio is a species of William Blake in
sculpture expressed through pottery, and
its free, imaginative design classes it rather
among the fine than the applied arts. a
The arts and crafts section was very im-
portant but less satisfactory in its ensembles,
which were wanting in sense of proportion,
good taste and stability of purpose, than in
its isolated specimens, such, tor example,
as a mantelpiece for a steamer, the Martine
carpets, and a dressing-table set in shark
skin by Puyforcat. M. C.
240
OBITUARY—MR. CHARLES HOLME
IT is with deep regret that we have to
record, just as this issue goes to press,
the death of Mr. Charles Holme, the
founder of the magazine, who passed away
on March 14th at Upton Grey House, his
country home near Basingstoke in Hamp-
shire, in his seventy-fifth year. For a short
time after the magazine was launched,
exactly thirty years ago, it was edited by
the late Mr. Gleeson White, but on the
resignation of this gentleman, Mr. Holme
assumed the editorship and remained in
chief control until the early part of 1919,
when failing health aggravated by the strain
of conditions occasioned by the war, com-
pelled him to relinquish active participa-
tion in the conduct of the magazine. a
Mr. Holme was born on October 7th,
1848, at Derby, and was the second son
of George Holme, a silk manufacturer
having extensive relations with eastern
countries. This branch of the business was
in the charge of his son Charles, who,
through his travels in the Far East, in
Central Asia and elsewhere had a unique
opportunity of becoming acquainted with
the peoples of the Orient and their artistic
products. Of Japan (then emerging from
her long seclusion) and her artistic culture
he was especially enamoured, and this
interest continued without abatement all
through his subsequent career. He took
a prominent part in establishing the Japan
Society, of which he was for some years
chairman, and later vice-president. The
Order of the Rising Sun was conferred
upon him by the late Emperor. Another
body in which he took a lively interest was
the Sette of Odd Volumes, whose publica-
tions include a paper contributed by him
describing a “ New Year’s Day in Japan.”
In launching The Studio, one of the ob-
jects he had in view—perhaps the most im-
portant—was to claim recognitionforwhat is
commonly designated “ applied art ” on an
equal footing with the so-called ** fine arts.”
He had a very firm conviction that the
relegation of the applied arts to a different
and inferior category was not only un-
warranted, but was prejudicial to the pro-
gress of art in general; and the pages of this
magazine since its commencement have
contained abundant evidence of the persist-
ence of this conviction. a a a
pieces of sculpture. Certain artists, includ-
ing a couple of Russian sculptors, did
their best to call attention to themselves
by freakish displays, but they passed un-
noticed. Far more in evidence were those
who have done their best to do their best,
like the great Alexander Iacovleff, whose
nude figure of a woman, and picture of a
weird old man holding puppets, were feats
of superlative accomplishment; or like the
Japanese Foujita, whose mysterious and
extremely perfect technique excited the
general curiosity; or, again, Theophile
Robert, the Swiss artist, so charmingly
conscientious and desirous of producing
beauty in the spirit as in the letter. The
religious section offered opportunities to
MM. Desvallieres and Denis. What Mile.
Dufau’s thin washes did here was a prob-
lem. Such electicism must lead to the name
of this salon standing merely for the season
in which it takes place rather than for a
creed shared in common. The sculpture
section was extremely good, headed by
Bourdelle, with his beautiful plaster cast of
the Vierge a VEnfant, shown at the Nation-
ale a couple of years back. Maillol, Joseph
Bernard and Halou were all well repre-
sented ; but most striking of all were the
exhibits of Francois Pompon, Hernandez
and Francisco Durrio. The first-named,
recently revealed to France by the critic,
Robert Rey, showed a polar bear, life-size in
clay, which has brought him fame. He had
two cases of smaller animals in various
mediums, and is now, at the age of sixty-
six, a celebrity. A former assistant of Rodin’s
and one or two other big men, his talent,
has evolved in comparative obscurity. MM.
Hernandez and Durrio are Spaniards. Her-
nandez cuts portrait busts and animals out
of granite direct from Nature, which en-
sures a vividness not otherwise attainable.
Durrio is a species of William Blake in
sculpture expressed through pottery, and
its free, imaginative design classes it rather
among the fine than the applied arts. a
The arts and crafts section was very im-
portant but less satisfactory in its ensembles,
which were wanting in sense of proportion,
good taste and stability of purpose, than in
its isolated specimens, such, tor example,
as a mantelpiece for a steamer, the Martine
carpets, and a dressing-table set in shark
skin by Puyforcat. M. C.
240
OBITUARY—MR. CHARLES HOLME
IT is with deep regret that we have to
record, just as this issue goes to press,
the death of Mr. Charles Holme, the
founder of the magazine, who passed away
on March 14th at Upton Grey House, his
country home near Basingstoke in Hamp-
shire, in his seventy-fifth year. For a short
time after the magazine was launched,
exactly thirty years ago, it was edited by
the late Mr. Gleeson White, but on the
resignation of this gentleman, Mr. Holme
assumed the editorship and remained in
chief control until the early part of 1919,
when failing health aggravated by the strain
of conditions occasioned by the war, com-
pelled him to relinquish active participa-
tion in the conduct of the magazine. a
Mr. Holme was born on October 7th,
1848, at Derby, and was the second son
of George Holme, a silk manufacturer
having extensive relations with eastern
countries. This branch of the business was
in the charge of his son Charles, who,
through his travels in the Far East, in
Central Asia and elsewhere had a unique
opportunity of becoming acquainted with
the peoples of the Orient and their artistic
products. Of Japan (then emerging from
her long seclusion) and her artistic culture
he was especially enamoured, and this
interest continued without abatement all
through his subsequent career. He took
a prominent part in establishing the Japan
Society, of which he was for some years
chairman, and later vice-president. The
Order of the Rising Sun was conferred
upon him by the late Emperor. Another
body in which he took a lively interest was
the Sette of Odd Volumes, whose publica-
tions include a paper contributed by him
describing a “ New Year’s Day in Japan.”
In launching The Studio, one of the ob-
jects he had in view—perhaps the most im-
portant—was to claim recognitionforwhat is
commonly designated “ applied art ” on an
equal footing with the so-called ** fine arts.”
He had a very firm conviction that the
relegation of the applied arts to a different
and inferior category was not only un-
warranted, but was prejudicial to the pro-
gress of art in general; and the pages of this
magazine since its commencement have
contained abundant evidence of the persist-
ence of this conviction. a a a