Studio: international art (86.1923)

SOME MODERN ETCHINGS. *

THE Czecho-Slovak painter-engraver,
Ferdinand Staeger, is one of the
few artists who strike an individual
note, disdaining to follow modern princi-
ples. He has the courage to be old-
fashioned, to show us an aspect of art
which we have forgotten how to appreciate.
His delight in drawing, his passion for
detail is equal to his subtlety of conception.
He is the romantic artist par excellence,
with the sweetness of sentiment, the passion
for nature and the noble simplicity of that
period. All this without the sting of irony
which was an element of romanticism. His
roses seem to have no thorns and the magic
spell of his enchantment is not interrupted.

He, who has often inspired poets, is
himself a poet, and consequently a born
illustrator, telling his fairy-tales with pencil
and pen. The illumination of Thousand-
and-one Day, among others, charmingly
reflects the contemplativeness of the Orien-
tal story-teller. 0 0 0 0

All his engravings show masterly tech-
nique and lofty spirituality. Most of them
have become valuable, being sought for
and admired by collectors. 0 0

Staeger, descended from a highly artistic
family, must even in his native town—
an old Roman settlement in Moravia—
have received deep and lasting impressions.
His artistic education was obtained at
Prague, where the very air itself is saturated
with history and romance. H. Sch.

Many etchers do work which is a weak
imitation of some artist's work turned into
a factory product. The low horizon—big
cloud—one tree etching is an example.
The theme thus prostituted becomes
anathema to the artist, who turns to some-
thing else, perhaps to subjects where the
treatment is less capable of being reduced
to a convention. Such a departure is Miss
L. M. Larking’s coloured aquatint, The
Mysterious House, shown at the recent
Camera Club Exhibition, of which a
notice appeared in our last issue. 0 0

Winifred Austin has a natural impulsion
-—that of women artists towards the animal
creation ; one has only to look through a
series of her works (she has been etching
since 1906, but since 1920 has chiefly done
150

dry-point) to see not only her natural
draughtsmanship, but the love she bears to
birds and beasts, as well as her absorbing,
intimate vision of their mental and phy-
sical make-up. The margin between imita-
tion and realisation is narrow, and many
take the first, which is skill, for the second,
which is art. To realise down, and dewy
eye, and animal babyhood in the etching
medium is beyond skill. It is a matter
of inspiration : Winifred Austin does it.

The busy headmaster of one of the most
important art schools in the provinces is,
as regards his personal work, unfortunate
and fortunate. He cannot hope to have
much time, but commercial difficulties
need not trouble him in the little time he
has. Of that time Mr. George Marples,
headmaster of Liverpool School of Art,
makes the most in every sense. He is a
master of his medium and of composition,
and through his works there run two
themes—the joy of animals and a some-
thing Gothic—Mediaeval—a fascinating
combination. J. W. S.

u THE MYSTERIOUS HOUSE ”
BY L* M* LARKING