Studio: international art (90.1925)

REVIEWS

COURTYARD OF THE GOLDEN CROSS
HOTEL." BY A. B. KNAPP-FISHER

(From" Oxford Renowned," by L.
Rice-Oxley)

much of the best that has been done in
the modern movement of displayed and
illustrated advertisement. The place of
the artist in the field of publicity, and the
duties he is able legitimately to perform,
are set forth with commendable clearness
and force, and Mr. Bradshaw rightly
appeals for co-operation between the
worlds of business and art, and for the
cultivation of the true spirit of crafts-
manship on the part of art workers. His
line of argument, which holds the balance
fairly between the interests of the artist
and the business man, is ably supported
by words from Sir Herbert Morgan, Mr.
Fred Taylor, Mr. Edmund J. Sullivan and
Mr. Frank Brangwyn. A great deal of
light is thrown on the practical application
of art to printed publicity, and many of
the intricacies which surround the practice
of modern advertising are made clear in
chapters dealing with printing, posters,
agents, commercial studios, and various
forms of public appeal. Although the value
of the book would have been enhanced by
the inclusion of more contributions from
American artists, the designs as a whole
are representative and prove that the
barriers which formerly separated art and Kells and the Tara chalice are names with
commerce are rapidly breaking down, which many are familiar, but Anglo-Saxon
Many fine drawings illustrated make manuscripts and metal work, that are
evident the fact that advertising has pro- scarcely inferior, remain still obscure. It
vided the inspiration for some of the most seems a pity that Dr. Brondsted, after so
notable art of the present day. clearly defining Irish, Frankish and

Early English Ornament : the sources, Oriental influences upon Anglo-Saxon
development and relation to foreign styles ornament, should not have pushed his
of pre-Norman ornamental art in England, inquiries further. His view that the
By J. Brondsted, Ph. D. ; trans, by F. Gospels of Lindisfarne is really an Irish
Major. (Hachette.) 16s. net. There work is well maintained in spite of much
has been, perhaps, one age when English that has been written to prove English
productions had a real influence upon origin. But how did this elaborate style
continental art, and that nearly the most which seems strangely like a development
barbarous of our history. 1 Yet the English of the generally Teutonic tendencies of
treasures of the eighth century which Dr. several previous centuries reach Ireland i
Brondsted has collected together shine Is it not possible that Anglo-Saxons
with astonishing clearness among the brought the germs of it to Ireland in the
wreckage of ancient traditions to which seventh century, and that the Irish sent
Western art had fallen in the century back the finished product to England in
before Charlemagne. They include, be- the eighth i Dr. Brondsted plunges occa-
sides metal work, ivories and illuminated sionally into deep waters, but his book is
manuscripts, a stone sculpture which in the first complete resume of Anglo-Saxon
Northumbria reached such fluency that ornament, and for this as well as for its
there have been attempts to date it four truly enlightening illustrations may well be
centuries later. With all this our archse- recommended to the general reader,
ologists are too modest, for the Book of Gerald Reitlinger.

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