Studio: international art (87.1924)

MOSCOW—REVIEWS

BOOK-PLATE FOR THE ARCHIVES
OF THE CENTRAL RUSSIAN BOOK
HOUSE. BY A. J. USATCHOFF

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BOOK-PLATE FOR THE LIBRARY
OF THE RUSSIAN STATE PUBLISH-
ING HOUSE. BY N. J. PISKAROFF

plate for the library of the Publishing
House has been designed and engraved by
N. J. Piskaroff, the author of the other one,
for the Knishnaya Palata (a central office
which provides the Russian State libraries
with all books printed in this country) is
A. J. Usatchoff. The two gifted artists
belong to the present Moscow School of
Wood Engravers, and their book-plates
are very typical of the style of small
graphic work now in vogue here. P. E.

REVIEWS

The Proverbs of Goya. Being an account
of Los Proverbios, examined and now for
the first time explained by Blamire
Young, R.I., R.B.A. (London : Jonathan
Cape.) 7s. 6d. net.—In this work the
58

author sets out to give us his reading of
the stupendous series of plates by Francisco
Goya, known as Los Proverbios, or, more
correctly, Los Disparates. In so doing he
calls into question on several occasions the
opinion of a distinguished Spanish critic
who has recently died. Seaor A. de
Beruete, the late Director of the Prado
Museum, in his work—the last of his three
volumes on this master—on “ Goya as
Engraver,” gave a careful descriptive list
of Goya's engraved work, including “ Los
Caprichos,” the “ Desastres de la Guerra,”
and, lastly, these “ Disparates ” : it is a
work which ought to be available to the
student in English form, and its value is
shown by the very fact that in the work
under review here it is constantly quoted
from the first chapter to the last, even when
the author goes beyond its conclusions. 0
Beruete, in fact, gave his description of
each plate of this series—which Iriarte
had called “ le dernier coup de tonnerre
du genie de Goya ”—and his explanation,
so far as he could see, or if he could not,
said so. Mr. Blamire Young asserts him-
self as “ just the person expected by the
great Spaniard. He goes to Spain, sees
the work that he is to do, does it, and this
book is the long delayed explanation.”
Whether we agree in every case or not with
the result, such a personal impression is
always of value and real interest; in his
description of the delightful Demos ele-
phant and the Colossus he is at his best.
It seems a pity that he should have brought
upagainsuch legends as that one, mentioned
by Muther, of the artist’s entry by night
into a convent of nuns at Rome, or the yet
more ridiculous one of this artist threaten-
ing the Duke of Wellington with a sword
(the fable has previously been pistols) and
chasing ” his presumptuous sitter from
his presence.” Goya's genius can dis-
pense with such embellishments as these.

Mural Paintings in English Churches
during the Middle Ages. By Frank
Kendon. (London : John Lane, the

Bodley Head, Ltd.) 10s. 6d. net.—The
author calls his book an essay : it is in fact
a treatise on the mural art of English
mediaeval religion, and the expression in
that art of the spirit, not only of the
ecclesiastical but of the lay community.
The vital importance of art as a symbolic