Studio: international art (90.1925)

PARIS—BERLIN

is not at once understood, and why, once
understood, it gives an abiding impres-
sion of truth. 0000

Truth—that is the word which most
justly sums up Despiau's art. It is his
passion for truth which inspires his horror
of theories, formulas, false styles and
facility, and which gives him his will to
discover the beauty in any model which
may appear by chance, rather than to seek
out one which conforms to predetermined
canons. 0 0 0.0 0

Despiau works more particularly in
bronze, cast, as the case may be, in sand
or in are perdue. He works very slowly,
sometimes taking six months or a year
over one bust, so giving himself plenty of
time to make the necessary researches in
mass, volume and the play of light. Once
the work is cast, he makes his own patina
with acid or a blow-pipe. Sometimes he
carves in stone ; and always (except of
course with busts) he makes a model of
small dimensions, the better to realise the
ensemble, 00000

M. Despiau studied first at the Ecole
des Arts Decoratifs, then in the studio of
Barrias at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux
Arts ; but here he did not stay long, and
his real master was Rodin. 0 0

M. Valotaire.

"still life with cacti "
by fritz burmann

(Rhineland Jubilee Exhn.)

BERLIN.—The production of excellent
jewellery and metal-work has always
been one of the glories of the Swabian
country. In this year's exhibition —
Schwabisch Land—the great attraction
were the show-cases full of such works
from Schwabisch Gmiind, the native
town of the painter, Hans Baldung Grien,
in the old Hohenstaufen district. They
presented the sparkling treasures from old
churches at the side of modern creations
from gold- and silversmiths, showed old
traditions perpetuated and present-day
tendencies obeyed. A fostermg-place for
sound activity is the Staatliche hohere
Faschschule fur Edelmetall Industrie, in
Schwabisch Gmiind, where a staff of
superior teachers, among them artists of
renown, superintends the classes. Pro-
ductions from these workshops combine
sound handicraft with artistic taste, they
convince at once as goods of quality.
Some pieces, like our boxes and the bride-
goblet which is, according to an old
custom, to be filled, emptied at one
draught, and then put upside down, are
quite on the level of their historical
models. 00000
The Diisseldorf Jubliee Exhibition of
this year offered a highly interesting
survey of Rhinelandish nineteenth and
twentieth century art. Among the pictures
of a decidedly modern character our
Cacti, Still Life, by Fritz Burmann, com-
pelled attention by soundness of con-
struction and execution. It was modern
in its colour and formal expressionism and
in its cubic style of arrangement which
yet could not suppress a certain bent for
decorativeness. What a difference between
the reticence of Chardin and the poster
taste of the present-day artist! The same
spirit of unflinching reliability in both,
the same reverence for nature, but there
in the graces of colour, in the modesty of
rendition the demands of the sie.de
charmant and here in simplification and
strength, in the sternness of aspect, the
concentrated will-power of the technical
age. In Burmann we hardly feel the love
for his objects. Yet he is full of it, for
he carried these cacti with him all
through Italy, home to his studio in
Rhineland. 00000

Jarno Jessen.

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