DOI Heft:
No. 374 (May 1924)
DOI Artikel:Reviews
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21399#0317
REVIEWS.
Drawings by Guercino. By Archibald
G. B. Russell. 24 Plates. (Edward
Arnold & Co.). 25s. net. Indispensable
to the collector of old drawings, a mono-
graph of this calibre is also of real impor-
ance to students. The selection of a
couple of dozen of the most significant of
Guercino's innumerable drawings is a task
that few could have accomplished as well
as Mr. Russell, and his comments upon
them and a short account of their producer
is as full and as illuminating as could be
desired. The plates are all of them
delightful; the curiosities of punctuation
(apparently not unintentional) enhance the
descriptions of one or two of them:
4‘ Landscape with Shepherds peering into a
chasm in the writer’s collection ” and
41 Woman about to Bathe in the Print Room
of the British Museum.” 000
Das Aquarell, Seine Gesichte und Seine
Meister. By Lothar Brieger. 200 illus-
trations. (Berlin : Verlag fur Kunstwiss-
enschaft.) A good deal more than what we
are accustomed to think of as 44 water-
colours ” is dealt with in this comprehen-
sive survey of “ Aquarell ”, the illustra-
tions including examples taken from the
Pyramids and the Catacombs, from
Cezanne and Van Gogh, and Mantegna’s
and Raphael's cartoons. Those of the
French School are perhaps the most inter-
esting to us in this country, where even the
names of Hoin, Huet, Robert, St. Aubin,
Lavreince, etc., are hardly known. With
England the author is not quite at his best.
The mention on the same page of the
miniaturist Oliver and of Cromwell who was
painted by Cooper, occasions the surpris-
ing appearance of Oliver Cromwell in the
index of artists. The source of the illus-
trations is not given, which, as they are
really important features of the book, is
regrettable. 00000
Woodcuts and Some Words. By E.
Gordon Craig, with 60 examples and
other illustrations. (J. M. Dent and
Sons, Ltd.) 105.6d. net.—Mr. Craig's pen is
as sharp, as accurate, and as unlike any
other as is his gouge, and it tells us one
or two things about himself and his ad-
ventures in learning wood-cutting, which
add another charm to the cuts he gives
298
as typical examples of his art. The
springs of his fantastic invention are too
near the clouds for those who dwell in
the plains to trouble about; the mill
they turn is well up on the hill-side, too,
and away from any road. But there is
a fine view up there, and it is worth the
climb. 000000
Duncan Grant, with an introduction by
Roger Fry. (Living Painters.) (Richmond :
Hogarth Press.). 85. 6d. net.—In this,
presumably the first volume of a new
series, we are given twenty-four repro-
ductions in half-tone of works by Mr.
Duncan Grant. Things like Background
for Venetian Ballet (No. 14) and The Pond,
Sussex (No. 17) are probably very effective
in colour, and because of this one is the
more moved to wonder why such things
as Head of Eve (No. 8) were ever painted,
much less reproduced. The public have
been so much spoon-fed by various types
of critics, and the fatal doctrine that art
is an esoteric thing has been so often im-
pressed upon them, that it is no wonder
that they are bewildered. And when they
see a thing like The Tub praised, apparently
quite seriously, it is no wonder they come
to the conclusion that artists and art-
lovers are not to be taken at anything like
their own valuations. Mr Fry voices the
wish that Mr. Grant may have more
opportunity to exercise his talents as a
designer, and we have seen a review which
suggested that he might be put to decorate
public buildings. We tremble to think of
the consequences which might ensue if
such decorations followed out the line of
development indicated in this book : the
recent County Hall discussion would be
but a storm in a teacup in comparison! 0
But to be as serious as Mr. Fry is in
his advocacy, we believe that pictorial art
loses by the lack of that balanced but non-
dogmatic censorship, based on established
canons, which literature enjoys, perhaps
by virtue of its age-long association with
the Universities and the greater precision
with which its values can be determined.
The young litterateur is either cured of
this midsummer madness in the under-
graduate stage or, if he does manage to
get it into print, he is soon laughed out
of court and forgotten. If only there were
a sane leavening of academic opinion in
Drawings by Guercino. By Archibald
G. B. Russell. 24 Plates. (Edward
Arnold & Co.). 25s. net. Indispensable
to the collector of old drawings, a mono-
graph of this calibre is also of real impor-
ance to students. The selection of a
couple of dozen of the most significant of
Guercino's innumerable drawings is a task
that few could have accomplished as well
as Mr. Russell, and his comments upon
them and a short account of their producer
is as full and as illuminating as could be
desired. The plates are all of them
delightful; the curiosities of punctuation
(apparently not unintentional) enhance the
descriptions of one or two of them:
4‘ Landscape with Shepherds peering into a
chasm in the writer’s collection ” and
41 Woman about to Bathe in the Print Room
of the British Museum.” 000
Das Aquarell, Seine Gesichte und Seine
Meister. By Lothar Brieger. 200 illus-
trations. (Berlin : Verlag fur Kunstwiss-
enschaft.) A good deal more than what we
are accustomed to think of as 44 water-
colours ” is dealt with in this comprehen-
sive survey of “ Aquarell ”, the illustra-
tions including examples taken from the
Pyramids and the Catacombs, from
Cezanne and Van Gogh, and Mantegna’s
and Raphael's cartoons. Those of the
French School are perhaps the most inter-
esting to us in this country, where even the
names of Hoin, Huet, Robert, St. Aubin,
Lavreince, etc., are hardly known. With
England the author is not quite at his best.
The mention on the same page of the
miniaturist Oliver and of Cromwell who was
painted by Cooper, occasions the surpris-
ing appearance of Oliver Cromwell in the
index of artists. The source of the illus-
trations is not given, which, as they are
really important features of the book, is
regrettable. 00000
Woodcuts and Some Words. By E.
Gordon Craig, with 60 examples and
other illustrations. (J. M. Dent and
Sons, Ltd.) 105.6d. net.—Mr. Craig's pen is
as sharp, as accurate, and as unlike any
other as is his gouge, and it tells us one
or two things about himself and his ad-
ventures in learning wood-cutting, which
add another charm to the cuts he gives
298
as typical examples of his art. The
springs of his fantastic invention are too
near the clouds for those who dwell in
the plains to trouble about; the mill
they turn is well up on the hill-side, too,
and away from any road. But there is
a fine view up there, and it is worth the
climb. 000000
Duncan Grant, with an introduction by
Roger Fry. (Living Painters.) (Richmond :
Hogarth Press.). 85. 6d. net.—In this,
presumably the first volume of a new
series, we are given twenty-four repro-
ductions in half-tone of works by Mr.
Duncan Grant. Things like Background
for Venetian Ballet (No. 14) and The Pond,
Sussex (No. 17) are probably very effective
in colour, and because of this one is the
more moved to wonder why such things
as Head of Eve (No. 8) were ever painted,
much less reproduced. The public have
been so much spoon-fed by various types
of critics, and the fatal doctrine that art
is an esoteric thing has been so often im-
pressed upon them, that it is no wonder
that they are bewildered. And when they
see a thing like The Tub praised, apparently
quite seriously, it is no wonder they come
to the conclusion that artists and art-
lovers are not to be taken at anything like
their own valuations. Mr Fry voices the
wish that Mr. Grant may have more
opportunity to exercise his talents as a
designer, and we have seen a review which
suggested that he might be put to decorate
public buildings. We tremble to think of
the consequences which might ensue if
such decorations followed out the line of
development indicated in this book : the
recent County Hall discussion would be
but a storm in a teacup in comparison! 0
But to be as serious as Mr. Fry is in
his advocacy, we believe that pictorial art
loses by the lack of that balanced but non-
dogmatic censorship, based on established
canons, which literature enjoys, perhaps
by virtue of its age-long association with
the Universities and the greater precision
with which its values can be determined.
The young litterateur is either cured of
this midsummer madness in the under-
graduate stage or, if he does manage to
get it into print, he is soon laughed out
of court and forgotten. If only there were
a sane leavening of academic opinion in