Studio: international art (87.1924)

VENICE

VENICE.—At the Venice Biennial Ex-
hibition, which has now covered a
period of nearly thirty years, the central
building is, as usual, mainly devoted to
Italian painting and sculpture, though
this year America makes its first ap-
pearance in two rooms of that building.
We welcome this addition to the countries
already represented, and still more the
assurance, which I have on good authority,
that we may hope before long to see a
United States Pavilion beside those of
France, England, Spain, Germany, Bel-
gium and Holland within the gardens ;
but the present display, though containing
paintings of interest, among which I should
note those by Richard Miller, Cecilia
Beaux, Frederick Frieseke (no stranger, as
I remember, to these Venice displays),
Ernest Blumenschein, Chauncey Ryder,
Herbert Dunton and others, has failed
to satisfy entirely the interest and curiosity
with which it was awaited by Italian art-
lovers. The same might be said, however,
of our own Pavilion, which I have heard
described lately by Italian friends in
terms of polite approval rather than of
anything even approaching enthusiasm;
■although the contributions of William
Nicholson and the really excellent selection
of aquatints and coloured etchings are
recognised and admired. The French
Pavilion and that of Belgium claim an
important place; while that of Germany
is more restrained than two years ago, and
Hungary has a decorative value as well as
a quality of intimacy which form part of
its charm. A feature in the Spanish
Pavilion is the sculpture shown by Victorio
Macho, more especially his recumbent
figure in granite and marble of the monk
Brother Marcello; and here, too, that
great Spanish sculptor Mariano Benliure
.appears to advantage in his portrait of the
painter Joaquin Sorolla, who has only one
painting here, an admirable head of a
woman. a a a 0 a

Among the Italians themselves there
are three retrospective exhibitions of
special interest this year, the most im-
portant being perhaps that of the famous
Milanese painter of the last century,
Domenico Induno. Two Venetian painters
of high standing and individual charm
have lately passed away, and it was

" A TERRACE BY THE SEA "

BY PIETRO DODERO

(Venice Biennial Exhibn., 1924)

right that both Bartolommeo Bezzi and
Pietro Fragiacomo should be fully and
worthily represented in the present exhibi-
tion. 0 0 0 0 0 0

A special room is devoted to the art of
Armando Spadini, a Roman artist who is
coming every day more to the front in this
country. His painting possesses qualities of
extraordinary pictorial interest, a vivacity
and sparkle which, no less than the
exquisite tonality introduced (e.g., some
of his portraits of his own family) recall
to us something of the art of Francesco
Goya. On the other hand, the figure
studies here by Romagnoli might recall
to us the brilliant creations of that con-
temporary of Tiepolo, Piazzetta, whose
direct descendant we might almost seem
to find here in the brilliant figure study
Getting out of Bed, by Jules Van Bisbroeck.
Besides these we have a group of the
younger figure artists, at whose head
might be placed Felice Casorati and
Ubaldo Oppi; who seem to represent a
new creative departure in modern Italian
art, based on qualities of drawing and
composition which almost recall the
Florentine or Umbrian primitives, such
as Baldovinetti or Piero dei Franceschi.
This whole movement seems to be of such
critical importance that I propose to treat
it in detail, along with the sculpture and
decorative art, in a later notice. S. B.

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