Studio: international art (86.1923)

REVIEWS

Landscape Painting from Giotto to Turner.
By C. Lewis Hind (Chapman & Hall,
Ltd.) 255. net.—Mr. Lewis Hind has
accomplished the impossible. In 290
pages, with the aid of 108 wisely chosen
illustrations, he has envisaged landscape
art in Europe from Giotto to Turner. His
matter, which in other hands might have
become a catalogue, forms a pleasant
narrative, and its style is something new
in art history, for the style in this case is
definitely the man : for such a com-
pendium a personal point of view was
imperative. The book is a most welcome
addition to Mr. Frederick Marriott’s in-
valuable " Universal Art Series,” and is
to be followed by a second volume survey-
ing landscape art in Europe and America
down to the present day. 000

The Future of Painting. By W. H.
Wright. (John Lane, The Bodley Head,
Ltd.). 5s. net. He is a bold man who ven-
tures to interpose his body between the
contending swords of “ modernism ” and
"traditionalism,” crying "Hold, enough! ”
Yet Mr. Wright has done this brave deed,
and his method of seeking to restore the
peace is the very original one of attempting
to prove that the “ new art ” is not, strictly
speaking, painting at all, but the embryo
of a fresh method of expression in a
medium as different from painting as that
of music or literature. He thinks that
though this " art of colour ” has as yet
found no other mitier than that of painting,
it will ultimately use light in such a way as
to produce emotional effects similar to
those evoked by music. These very inter-
esting conclusions might, if established,
put a period to the strife. Doubts as to
their validity arise, however, when some of
Mr. Wright’s premises are examined.
What he terms the " demands for intensity
in aesthetic stimuli ” may be only a sign of
decadence, and, in any event, could any-
thing be more " intense ” than " Othello ”
or “ Macbeth ” < And when he assumes
that the novels of Dickens and the music of
Beethoven are eclipsed by modern works,
he is indeed on highly debatable ground.
Innovation, as Burke said, is not necessarily
reform. Mr. Wright deserves tribute for a
very well-written and thoughtful book,

“LELIO.” ILLUSTRATION
TO F. BICKLEY’S “ HARLE-
QUIN ” BY JOHN AUSTEN
(Selwyn & Blount, Ltd.)

which is a genuine effort to find a rational
way out of a pressing difficulty. 0 0

The Adventures of Harlequin. By Francis
Bickley ; with decorations by John Austen.
(Selwyn & Blount, Ltd.) 7s. 6d. net. For
some eight centuries now, Harlequin has
flourished, taking part in different adven-
tures according to the age and country
wherein he has appeared, but always gay,
debonair and impudent. Mr. Bickley
weaves an entertaining story round him,
relegating Pierrot to a very subordinate
position, but retaining the half-humorous
pathos usually associated with his name.
Real pathos would be out of place in this
domain of graceful fantasy and happy
endings, whose charm and justification is
that it is a refuge from reality, which does
not always bring happy endings. Mr. John
Austen’s decorations, with their graceful
line, are in keeping with the spirit of the
tale. His Columbine is fragility itself, his
Harlequin a lithe, multi-coloured figure,
and, in the illustration we give, may be
seen Lelio, the young exquisite, and
Harlequin's discomfited rival. 0 0

Byblis: Miroir des Arts du Livre et
de VEstampe, 2 Annee, No. 7. (Paris:

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