Studio: international art (90.1925)

EINAR NERMAN

"BILLY LEONARD IN 'CATHER-
INE.'" BY EINAR NERMAN

young man, of whom much may be
expected. 00000

He studied at Paris, where he spent three
years working in different schools and
academies, his first tutor being Matisse. He
then returned to Sweden, and soon made a
name as a portrait-painter and decorative
designer, but it was not long ere his erst-
while hobby—caricaturing—became the
dominating factor, and it is in this capacity
that we know him here in England. 0

He chiefly works in black and white, and
in quite an unusual way. He has adopted
the claire-obscure method (letting the white
paper show in between otherwise unbroken
spaces of black), which method he has
brought to perfection. Nerman has always
been a keen admirer of Japanese paintings,
and the influence of this delicate art can
easily be traced in his drawings. The
caricatures reproduced here explain his
form of black-and-white work better than
words can do. 0000

However, this influence chiefly tends to
produce a highly decorative effect, and that
is, after all, not the essential point in a
caricature, but Nerman is as a caricaturist
most fortunately favoured by nature.
Spiced with a harmless satire, there is
always an unmistakable and gratifying
humour in the conception of his carica-
tures, and nobody can in a Nerman draw-
ing fail to recognise the work of a true
artist, and, whatever our opinions about
our fellow beings may be, we never
approach the unerring precision with
which he has hit off the essential peculi-

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arities of our celebrities. With an amazing
economy of line, he often even suggests a
contour without actually drawing it: he
has made us chuckle at his marvellously
accurate conception of the characteristics
of our leading actors and actresses. Yes,
actresses ! Nerman is daring enough to
caricature women, and beautiful women at
that, but he has never had any unpleasant
experiences from this apparent Use majeste.
This is probably due to the fact that he is
never unkind and cruel in his caricatures,
and the sitters are always consoled by their
ability to trace their own perfections
through the shower of the artist's gentle
raillery. 00000

However, Nerman wanted to show that
his art is not confined to caricatures only,
and visitors to the exhibition he held last
April in the Alpine Club Gallery, were
amazed at the versatility of this young
artist. That he here revealed himself as
an exceedingly capable portrait-painter
should not surprise anybody familiar with
his caricatures, of which, by the way,
some six hundred were exhibited. a

The grace of line in his works gives him

" DARREL FANCOURT IN ' THE
MIKADO.' " BY EINAR NERMAN