Lethaby's
estimate
of the Renais-
The Greeks appear to have originated the parts.
The Greeks appear to have originated the parts.
Athenaeum - London - 1912a
Sapkey.
(Howard Lectures.
)
chance of that of lead varying from the
size.
Surveyors' Institution, 8. -'Somno Principles in the Valuation
Mr. J. D. Siddall of Chester read & paper on
of Land and Buildinga,' Mr. G. T. Loban,
figure given above.
TUES. Horticultural, 8. -'Potatoes, Dr. R. N. Salaman.
• The Life- History of some Marine Diatoms from Royal Institution. 3. - Insect Distribution, with Special
Bournemouth. ' Living and mounted examples,
Reference to the British Islands, Lecture L. , Mr. F. B.
An ingenious process, discovered by Prof,
drawings, photographs, and lantern-slides were Institution of Civil Engineers, 8. -Annual Meeting.
Paul Askenasy, will, if it proves successful,
exhibited in illustration of his observations, the
WED. Archeological Institute. 1,30. - The Monumental Efigies by become of great use to scientific and
Nicholas Stone,' Mr. A. O. Pryer.
chief interest of which centred in a Coscinodiscus,
.
Royal Institution, 5. -Annual Meeting.
other lecturers. Instead of photographing
about ado in. in diameter, furnished with very
Entomological, 8. -The Colour Group of the Bawallan
Waspe, Mr. R. O. L. Perkins.
the objects intended for projection on glass
Browne.
## p. 476 (#362) ############################################
476
No. 4409, APRIL 27, 1912
THE ATHENÆ UM
in the usual way, he prints them on a film
was not an architect, and did not under-
of clear gelatine, which is then sandwiched
stand his own time. Prof. Lethaby is pre-
between two plates of thin glass and used
as a lantern-slide. A publisher in Halle,
FINE ARTS
occupied with art as a living force. He
writes with an eye to the needs of his own
announces that he will supply on applica-
tion what he calls “
art and of his fellow - architects; to the
filmodiatypes
" made
by this process from the illustrations of any
latter the concluding chapter on 'The
books published by his firm.
Modern Position will be not the least
Architecture : an Introduction to the History interesting.
M. HENRI POINCARÉ's lecture at the and Theory of the Art of Building. By
Sorbonne on the 12th of this month was as W. R. Lethaby. (Williams & Norgate. ) he does not hesitate to readjust the share
It is characteristic of the writer that
brilliant as it was instructive. He dealt
mainly with the constitution of matter, The Works of Man. By Lisle March of importance generally attributed to
and drew the attention of his hearers, the Phillips. (Duckworth & Co. )
different schools or periods. The first
French Physical Society, to the objective
chapter, entitled * Archæology, Archi-
reality of the chemical atom, which he con- * THE HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY” is the tecture, and Ornament,' creates an atmo-
siders to be now beyond dispute. He made richer by the addition of ' Architecture,' sphere both stimulating and bracing.
a bold comparison of the free electrons
by Prof. Lethaby; When architects It is full of good things which it is difficult
within the atom to comets, while consider.
ing the tied electrons as equivalent to the often confuse archæology with archi-
to separate from their context, and is
fixed stars, and accepted the magneton of tecture, it is not surprising that the wider probably the best introduction to the
M. Weiss as the third component of matter. public—the public that has a genuine subject ever penned. “No recipes can
Hence, he said, we must consider the atom, love for the architectural art of older be given for producing fine architecture
if we accept the most probable hypotheses days-should misread the lessons of the
we read, and, later, “ All formulas, codes,
current, not as a system whose movements past. Each of the various attempts to and grammars are diseases which only show,
are ordered and ruled by definite laws, but revive the forms of the great periods of themselves in a time of impaired vitality:.
'
as a world where reigns a disordered agita- architectural energy-periods when archi- Architecture thus viewed is of the soil
,
tion of elements delivered over to chance.
Yet this world is rigorously closed to us at
tectural art was a mighty flood over- of the people, the common need touched
present, and every atom constitutes, accord whelming the building trades wherever with the highest that life offers : the
individual. ” M. Poincaré's practised — has failed. Individual archi-“magical and mystical element,
lecture will do much to clarify the views of tects and bands of enthusiasts have pro- | Professor calls it.
,” the
inquirers into the subject, and it is to be duced beautiful buildings isolated
hoped that during his forthcoming visit to
instances of the forms they would see
“ The art of building seems first to have
this country he may repeat some of the
conclusions announced in it.
revived; their work has a place in the gathered power and to have arrived at
what we may call self-consciousness in the
history of architectural development; for
O Tuesday next, at 3 o'clock, Mr. F. without it the future would be less hopeful valleys of the Nile and of the Tigris. ”
lectures at the Royal Institution on ‘Insect the failure of the Revivalists are not far
Balfour Browne gives the first of two than is the case to-day. The causes behind In the author's view architecture is to a
the failure of the Revivalists are not far large degree an Egyptian art, with the
Distribution, with Special Reference to
the British Islands ';
to seek.
and on Thursday
No revival can meet modern reservation that when, if ever, the origins
Prof. J. Norman Collie gives the first needs. Architecture and the handicrafts of art in Babylonia are fully known, the
of two on ' Recent Explorations in the have their bases in utility, and neither story may have to begin in Asia instead
Canadian Rocky Mountains. '
the form nor the spirit of any of the great of in Egypt. His summary of the dis-
schools of the past meets the needs of other coveries of the most eminent Egyptolo-
MR. STEPHEN PAGET, the Secretary of the times. Each great school of architecture gists as they bear on architectural origins
Research Defence Association, has written
is_illuminating:
The fourth chapter,
a book summarizing in ton chapters the was the outcome of the spirit
and the
evidence given before the Commission, as
necessity of its own day. We have 'Egyptian Building-Methods and Ideas,'
well as the Inspector's Report for 1910. advanced intellectually and spiritually ; sets out this contribution. The origin
The volume also contains in a final chapter our needs and the means of meeting them of the vault and dome, the use of brick
a brief account of the Commission's Report, have grown enormously. Research and and jointed masonry, the skilful adaptation
Lord Cromer, which contains a justification and taken from us the simplicity natural other conditions, technical ability, and
as well as an important Introduction by scholarship have added to our heritage, of corrugated walling to meet climatic and
of his acceptance of the Presidency of the
Society, a critical survey of the Report, and to the art of primitive and barbaric times.
to the art of primitive and barbaric times. refinements in design, are dwelt on. Per-
an earnest appeal for calm study of the Each school of architecture has made manence, the use of fine material, accurate
facts disclosed. The book is intended to some contribution to the art, and it is workmanship, orientation, schemes of pro-
serve as an aid to this object. It will be well to know what that contribution is. portion as part of the idea of perfect
published by Mr. H. K. Lewis.
Matthew Arnold has said : “Though in building, are some of the contributions of
THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS seems to be many respects the ancients are far above Egypt.
increasing in popularity on its medical side, us, there is something which we demand
It is interesting to compare Prof.
the number of foreign students who matricu. that they can never give. ” The realiza-
that they can never give. ” The realiza- Lethaby's book with that of Mr. March
lated during the past year in the Faculty tion of this is necessary to architectural Phillips, somewhat loosely entitled “The
of Medicine being 805, as against 736 in the progress. Advance must be along the old Works of Man,' for both cover the
year preceding. Of these, no fewer than 540 | lines, but, so far as the study of the past same ground. Mr. Phillips writes of archi-
came from Russia, 64 from Turkey, 59 from
Latin America, and 50 from Roumania,
concerns us, it must be a study of the
tecture and sculpture as an interpretation
while our own country was represented by spirit in which the work was done rather of life and character. Taking the great
a solitary student. Russia was also easily than the form which it took.
creative periods, he endeavours to
first in the number of women students, Prof. Lethaby's scholarship and extra- deduce
deduce from them 'the qualities,
sending 317, as against 4 from Turkey and ordinary knowledge of the most recent limitations, and point of view of the
4 from Roumania. The total number of discoveries of archæological research pro-
which produced them. ” His
women students matriculated in all the
universities and high schools in France on
vide the reader with a new outlook and concern is not so much architectural
January 15th in this year was 3,915, of
with new facts. His little book is an quality as human quality. His analysis
whom 1,796 were foreigners. In Paris, historical summary. His concern is not would show the intellectual contribution
which accounts for the greatest number of with single buildings, but with the larger
with single buildings, but with the larger rather than the material contribution of
them, 36 Frenchwomen were seeking a view of architectural history, especially the different periods. Prof. Lethaby's
degree in law, 211 in medicine, 30 in phar; with regard to origins and to the contri-
work stands on firm foundations by
macy, 596 in letters, and 143, in the natural butions which from time to time have avoiding theory and adhering to fact; the
sciences.
been made by different schools. While he statement is concise, the deductions sound,
is comparable to Fergusson in sincerity, while the reader can form his own opinion
scholarship, and sustained interest, he upon the merits or demerits of the people
has advanced his standpoint. Fergusson whose work is described. Mr. Phillips
races
## p. 477 (#363) ############################################
No. 4409, APRIL 27, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
477
maintains that Egyptian achievement is all that is in the least vague and indeter
--the Gothic contribution. Writing of
non-intellectual, a sinister monotony of a minate it detests"; and, later, speaking this period, the Professor says :-
primitive sort - "the effect not of clear of the Greek conception of divinity -
"Nothing great or true in building seems:
thought, but of absence of thought. " Its
“In discarding the mysterious and obscure, to have been invented in the sense of wil.
unchanging quality, extending with little and concentrating itself on the compre fully designed. Beauty seems to be to art
variation over nearly 5,000 years, appals hensible
and the definable, it was evolving as happiness to conduct-it should come
Mr. Phillips. The chapter on The
a mental image which could
pass
without by the way; it will not yield itself to direct
Tyranny of the Nile' is of interest, showing change into terms of sculpture.
attacks. "
as it does the influence of environment
His chapters on French and English
on the life of a nation and on their arts. The best part of the Greek chapters shows
In the author's view the river regulated the limited possibilities of a purely intel- | Gothic are full of light, and may well
alter the outlook of those who read the
the life and enslaved the intelligence of lectual advance :-
various standard textbooks.
the Egyptians. They could not advance : Intellect is the faculty which is most
life for them was turned into the repetition purely human, for it is as distinctly superior its structure, not its adornments, though
“The essence of a Gothic cathedral is.
of a perpetual formula. It is, however, and of a higher order to animal intelligence
impossible to accept the deduction that as it is inferior and of a lower order to all
never so beautiful. A ship like a cathedral,
was decorated, but the ornament is not
intellectual stagnation and incapacity for that we can conceive of spiritual intelli-
necessary to either, it is a gift over and
abstract thought mark the Egyptian con- gence. '
above. "
tribution. Apart from architectural forms, The comparison of Greek with Gothic aims No other recent writer has so clear an
enough has been found of fine sculpture is well done for the general reader, as insight into medieval art.
and decoration to show the incomplete also is the story of Greek refinements in Mr. Phillips's pages
ness of such a conclusion.
building, which Penrose did much to
are suggestive,
but inadequate, and appear to be
Prof. Lethaby's chapter on ‘Babylonia elucidate sixty years ago. There is some planned to carry their author's line
and Crete summarizes all that is at present truth in the aphorism“ that Greek art is of thought over a great tract of com.
known of these ancient civilizations as
they affect architectural history. In the addition," with the reservation of Emer- paratively unexplored country. The idea:
author's view it is probable that temples son that “the line of beauty is the line of the loftiest ideals into terms of action
of the gods first appeared in Western Asia, of perfect economy.
is an adequate interpretation of the time.
and from there spread to Egypt and other
With the decline of Greek art began Mr. Phillips points out that the age was
countries.
the age of practical utility—“the union as poor in thought as it was rich in action.
“ To Mesopotamia we probably owe the between architecture and engineering. ” He writes of the “noble spaciousness” of
development of cities, great irrigation " It was on the wide foundations laid at the classic interiors as in keeping with
schemes, ordered gardens, water supply, the this time that the mighty engineering of
“the enlargement of mind” that marked
use of lead and asphalt, drainage, and Rome was reared. ” Prof. Lethaby's chap- the Renaissance :
fortress building. "
ter on the union of Hellenistic and Roman
“The love of thinking which was revived:
It is thought that Mesopotamia is the arts, and the subsequent development of by the old race [the Italian) was by-and-by
original home of burnt brick: “The Roman planning, the adaptation of the developed by the new. When this hap-
of forms and traditions of antiquity to later pened, the new race, having attained more
buildings with enamelled bricks forming needs is as good as anything in the book.
or less to the same intellectual standpoint,
figures was a striking feature. ”
Of Roman work he
began to reach out towards Italian archi.
says:
tecture, exactly as Italy. . . . had reached out
in the second millennium B. c. was Crete, expressed mind. Rome was lacking in the
The place of France in the new develop-
between which and Egypt communication things of the spirit. . . . it is the great Philis-
is shown.
ment is adequately acknowledged. The
The lavish use of bronze
tine style. ”
spirit of the age was making for expansion ::
was taken over from the Ægean by As he is a great authority on Byzantine the old narrowness of the Gothic plan went
the Greeks. Ægean architecture made art, what Prof. Lethaby says of the early down before a wider outlook. This width
use of casings of alabaster and stone for Christian schools, and the respective of outlook brought its own dangers. The
walls built of inferior materials. The parts taken by the East and Rome in the remaining chapters are an analysis of
Professor's conclusions are that
transformation which led up to the Middle subsequent development. A Sum-
Ages, is of singular interest.
" the first wave of civilized art in Europe described Santa Sophia fully elsewhere. Phillips's work : these should be very
He has
mary' and ‘Bibliography' conclude Mr.
as yet whether the Ægean art was merely Here he says :-
useful to the student. Most of the
an underlying stratum which influenced
Greek art, or whether it is to be considered great things of all time. It is very large, Edinburgh Review and The Contemporary.
“This Church of Santa Sophia is one of the material has previously appeared in The
as a first phase of Greek art itself. ”
yet it is a unit, not an aggregation of many Prof.
Lethaby's estimate of the Renais-
The Greeks appear to have originated the parts. "
sance is widely different from that of Mr. .
span-roof”; to have developed the The contribution of the early Christian Phillips-indeed, from that of most writers.
Ægean type of plan, in the first instance builders is clearly set out. A separate The pages in which the former discusses
derived from Egypt or Babylonia; to chapter is devoted to
devoted to "The Eastern this worldwide movement, brilliant and
have perfected the column and capital ; Cycle, the influence of which has in the concise as they are, will not satisfy most
and, finally, to have achieved the highest main been in vitalizing decorative design. architectural students. He regards the
architecture, in which are found
Mr. Phillips regards Santa Sophia new spirit as inevitable in Italy, the land
sculpture and painting integrally bound a summing-up of the classical era. His of antiquity, the happy hunting-ground
up with it. ” The Professor shows how estimate of Arab architecture, interesting of the eager antiquary. Outside Italy the
this “incredible beauty
was arrived at as it is, suffers from the sweeping con-
revolution is less easily understood. ”
“ by continuous development from the clusions which colour his chapters on The change divorced art from the people,
most humble beginnings.
Egypt. His
eagerness
to interpret and became the affair of experts and con-
Mr. Phillips's account of Greek begin- humanity by their works does not con- noisseurs, of whom he says hard things.
nings is too theoretic, but his chapters tribute to the writing of history.
A statement of the "modern position"
are valuable to the student for the line Passing over Prof. Lethaby's chapters brings Prof. Lethaby's work to an end,
of thought they suggest. Writing on the Romanesque, the Saxon, and the and is the logical outcome of his reading
of intellectual versatility and its natural Norman schools, hardly touched upon by of the past, particularly with regard to
limitations, he says: “All that is clear- Mr. Phillips, we come to what both writers the Renaissance. The volume includes a
cut and articulate the Greek mind adores ; describe as
the architecture of energy useful Bibliography and an Index.
The centre of a third early civilization “ It gives a voice to matter, as Greece had to tardis Slagelse architecture. "
- fit
as
>
## p. 478 (#364) ############################################
478
No. 4409, APRIL 27, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
scene
LOGUE
>
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. M. PABLO PICASSO AND MR. JOSEPH
(Notice in these columns does not preclude longer SIMPSON AT THE STAFFORD
Fine Art Gossip.
review. )
GALLERY.
MR. A. TALMAGE's paintings at the Chenil
Cambridge Antiquarian Society, PROCEED-
INGS, Oct. 16-Nov. 27, 1911, 3/6 net.
This exhibition will not lack visitors, Gallery will be generally pleasing as frank
Cambridge, Deighton & Bell because M. Picasso is perhaps the foreign records of the pleasure of the artist in breezy
artist most talked of among us and least open-air
Contains the seventy-first annual report known. He has not always been fortunate factory when they remain as frank sketches
They are most satis-
of accounts, an appeal for an excavation in his advocates, who have frequently of small size, such as No. 16. When he
fund, and a catalogue of the purchasos made
utilized their professed admiration of his attempts to develope these colour notes
by the Curator of the Museum of Archæology
work as a lofty position from which to into pictures, there is a slight tendency
and Ethnology. It also embodies papers all of which, we are assured, is by com- they show themselves in profile, and ignore
pour derision on contemporary art in general to record minor transitions of plane when
upon the origin of St. Mary's Gild and upon
the church spires of Cambridgeshire.
parison
“ vieux jeu. ”
As in England the subtle variety of colour, which should be
there exists a large press gang
who may
but another revelation of the same fuller
Cameron (D. Y. ), Ax ILLUSTRATED CATA- be bullied into embarking on any adventure rendering of form. A simple schome of
OF HIS ETCHED WORK, with by the threat of being considered old colour, over broken up as regards form,
Introductory Essay and Descriptive fashioned, London hears much of Picasso, is inclined to look black. Of the larger
Notes on each Plato by Frank Rinder, and, seeing virtually nothing, is by so much compositions, No. 2, purchased for the
84/ not.
Glasgow, MacLehose the more impressed. While for these reasons National Gallery of Sydney, is decidedly
The question what the art critics of the we consider his already enormous reputation the best.
future will find to do Arises when we in England to be worthy of no respect what- In the upper room aro some early still-
contemplate so full and authoritative a ever, it would be a mistake to assume that life studies by Mr. Mark Gertler, painted
catalogue as this of the work of a contem- his work is necessarily unimportant. In- from a standpoint of unselecting litoralism,
porary etcher. Almost the whole of present- deed, by an unfortunate accident few of the but with extraordinary conviction. A later
day criticism would be silenced if the art better artists of the last quarter of a century work by the same artist compares un-
of the past had been pigeon-holed as com- have been able to "arrive" without being favourably in this respect, and is very in-
petently. The form of the Catalogue is advertised like patent. medicine vendors, ferior to A Girl of the Five Towns,' by
admirable for its purpose of preventing any so that from both points of view it is Mr. Currie, a sober and well-sustained piece
possible error: 431 out of the 439 etchings incumbent on the home-keeping Englishman of painting by a promising student.
known to have been to .
are
THE decorations at the Borough Poly-
pages opposite their descriptions; the states offer much opportunity for judging M.
technic and some other works by young
are clearly differentiated; and when funda- Picasso as the fundamental revolutionary English painters appear to have aroused
mental alterations, as from cutting down he is usually painted. “ The real Picasso
interest in France, and M. Barbazanges, the
the plate, have been made, duplicate repro- is conspicuously missing, and, except in well-known dealer, has invited Mr. Roger
ductions are usually given.
the not very impressive Nature morte à la Fry to organize a small exhibition of con-
The introductory essay is appreciative, Béte [? Téte] de Mort (25), we have no chance temporary British art. Under the title
but by no means of the fulsome character to determine whether his odd geometrical
Quelques peintres anglais indépendants
to which we are sadly accustomed in similar experiments are based on profound science about fifty chosen pictures will be on view
circumstances. Mr. Rinder retains his criti. or, as might seem to be the case in this at the Barbazanges Galleries (109, Faubourg
eal independence, and is perfectly frank instance, half - accidental whim. On the St. Honoré) from May 1st to May 15th.
with regard to much of the early work of other hand, there is evidence in Les deux
Besides half-a-dozen paintings by Mr. Fry,
an artist who has been slow in maturing. Gymnastes (2) of easy and expressive there will be work by two of his colleagues
Sheaths,” comments Mr. Rinder on this draughtsmanship of the old academic stamp, at the Borough Polytechnic, Mr. Duncan
fact, "apparently adverse to growth, are and this little drawing is certainly far Grant and Mr. Etchells. Mr. Spencer Gore,
often protections within which the living superior to the large nude study by which Mr. Ginner, and Mr. Walter Sickert, whose
life is organized and enriched-such he was introduced to us at the Grafton art is already well known in Paris, represent
course of development can be traced in the Gallery: Têle égyptienne (3) is another the Camden Town group. Mrs. Clive Bell
kingdom of Nature. ' This is well put, and slight, but carefully drawn study, endowed sends six pictures, Mr. Wyndham Lewis
although the estimate of Mr. Cameron's with a
aspect by a cheap trick three, and single works are contributed by
landscapes, as marking the culminating of exaggeration analogous to that by which one or two other young artists.
point in his achievement, is one we can only M. Fernand Khnopff used to draw a head
'ROYAL ACADEMY PICTURES AND SCUI. P-
accept with many reservations, Mr. Rinder with scrupulous care and literalness, and
argues the matter soundly. “In the land- then add an inch to the depth of the lower Cassell in serial form on May 6th. The
TURE, 1912, will be issued by Messrs.
scapes there may, with greater surety, be jaw, to the unspeakable delight of devout Rembrandt photogravure in Part I. will
traced the way in which linear organiza- mystics; while in Cheval avec jeune Homme present one of the principal pictures of the
tion, design, emphasis of mass, have ceased en Bleu (5) the horse is quite comic, from
to be exploited as ends in themselves, but the way in which, by an exaggeration of
year.
instead have increasingly been used as means Van Dyck's formula, its forequarters and M. SALOMON REINACH's last communica-
towards the shaping of fundamentally the pose of the head suggest exactly the tion to the Académie des Inscriptions
expressive images. '
action of shrinking self-conscious modesty of connects in an extraordinary way the name
the Venus de' Medici. ' The drawing of of Monaco with that of England. Two
Masterpieces in Colour : BOUCHER, by Hal-
dane Macfall; and VAN EYCK, by J.
the figure, on the other hand, is firm and derivations of the name of the smallest
Cyril M. Weale, 1/6 net each. Jack
elastic, with a considerable grip on reality; principality have hitherto held the field,
Two more additions to the Masterpieces in which a reasonable basis of scholarship Monoikos, the god who admits no com-
and the same may be said of Nos. 14 and 16, one of which connects it with Heracles
in Colour Series, which is performing a
serviceable work in disseminating culture.
is concealed beneath the unquestioning eye panion or assessor to his teinple, and the
The monographs are lucidly and cogently for facts which we usually find to-day only other with a Phænician god Menuakh,
in a novice.
written, and there are eight plates in each
who gives repose or shelter to mariners. M.
volume.
Reinach will have nothing to do with either
A slight lack of this naiveté mars our etymology, but declares that there were two
pleasure in the able drawings of Mr. Simpson, tribes of Ligures called respectively the
SALE.
whose clever poster designs are generally Albiæci and the Monæci, from the second of
MESSRS. CHRISTIE sold on Friday, the 19th
and rightly esteemed. There is a suspicion whom the island takes its name. He finds
inst. , the following pictures : J. D. de Heem, Still
of it perhaps in No. 25, An Englishwoman; both names repeated in Albion and
Life on a Table, 1991. 108. J. van Goyen, A and the challenging expressiveness of No. 11, “Mona," which, he says, marked the nor-
Frozen River Scene, with old buildings and The New Hat, shows an absorption in the thern - most limit of the ancient Ligurian
windmill, numerous figures with sledges and
horses, 2151. S. van Ruysdael, A River Scene,
human interest of the subject which domi.
territory.
with buildings, boats, and cattle, 3251. ; A River nates its cleverness. In others, such as
Scene, with a waggon, ferry, boats, figures, and Nos. 8 and 30, the designer's triumph of SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY is to lecture to the
animals, 6351. M. van Musscher, An Astronomer, Auency of line is a little that of the virtuoso. Hellenic Society at the Society of Anti-
in red dress, seated in his study with two attend
No. 7 has a suggestion of painter's qualityquaries on the 7th of next month on 'The
ants, 2521. School of Van Eyck, A Triptych,
with the Madonna and Child, and two angels in
of a similar order, while No. 9, The Hotel Shrine of the God Men at Pisidian Antioch,'
the centre ; St. Christopher and a bishop on Window, is admirably to the point as a the discovery of which he reported in our
either wing, 3041.
study for the setting of a figure subject. columns last summer.
“ weird
>>
## p. 479 (#365) ############################################
No. 4409, APRIL 27, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
479
Tauns. Twolve o'clock Chamber Concert, Bollan Hall
Edouard Garcenu's Matindo, 3. 15, Bechstein Hall.
Mapia Seguel's Pianoforte Rooital, 3. 15, Æolian Hall
Georges Pistob's 'Cello Recital, 8. 15, Bechstein Hall.
TRI. Paul Reimer's Vocal Recital, 3. 15, Bechstein Hall.
Frank Merrick's Concert, 8, Bechstein
Hall.
SAT. Pablo Casals's Orchestral Concert, 3, Queen's Hall.
Ernst von Longyel's Planoforte Recital, s, Bechstein Hall
Isobel Pardon and Celia Klein's Violin and Vocal Recital, 8
Rolian Ball
6
66
was
was
singing, but also her movements and gestures.
MUSIC
We therefore reserve our opinion concerning
her merits. The Don José of Signor Giuseppe
Cellini was promising; he has, at any rate,
an excellent voice. Signor Sammarco is an
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. able artist, but his Toreador’ song was
(Notice in these columns does not preclude longer not at all exciting. Signor Campanini con-
review. )
ducted.
Buck (Percy C. ), ORGAN PLAYING, 4/ net.
'La Tosca' was given on the following
Macmillan
DRAMA
Monday. Madame Edvina, whose Méli-
Increasing interest is being taken in organ sande has been justly praised, showed unex.
playing, so that this volume will be welcome. pected powers in her impersonation of Floria
It is by an experienced and able organist, Tosca. Her voice, it is true, is not of the
and is a thoroughly practical book. It quality which one would single out as specially
· THÉRÈSE RAQUIN. '
begins with elementary manual and pedal appropriate to that dramatic rộle, but
exercises, gradually passing on to higher she sang with strong feeling and, 'when | ZOLA's 'Thérèse Raquin,' performed in
stages. Then there are manual exercises
required, tenderness. Her acting in the English at the Court Theatre on Tuesday
on practical points: extended fingering, second act was notable for its power and afternoon, is an exercise in the ma-
changing manuals, cross-rhythms, &c. That restraint, during the whole of it there was cabre,” typical of the genre which could
Dr. Buck draws upon Bach for many of nothing theatrical or sensational. Signor be at one time his supreme achievement,
his exercises is, of course, natural, for no
Giovanni Martinelli, a new Cavaradossi, has
at another his mannerism. In the
organist of any standing could venture to an exceptionally fine tenor voice and digni; deliberate accumulation of transpontine
pass him by. We also find a few specimens
fied presence ; moreover, he is
from Prof. Max Reger, whom some call the
modern Bach. The chapters on Extem- appears to have a great future before him. effects and the accentuation of contrasts
His singing of 'E lucevan le Stelle the play might have been fathered by
porizing,' and the one suggesting, pieces most impressive. The orchestral playing, Massinger, except for the fabrication of
for practice, will be found most helpful. under the direction of Signor Campanini, subordinate details to be woven into the
The volume forms part of the Musician's
was excellent.
central theme and the rigid, unwavering
Library.
On Monday evening, the first night of exposition of the plot. Its motive is
Séré (Octave), MUSICIENS FRANÇAIS D’au- the summer season at the London Opera- the tragic débâcle consequent upon the
JOURD'HUI, 3fr. 50.
House, Gounod's 'Roméo et Juliette murder of the neurotic, puny, querulous,
Paris, Mercure de France given. The principal parts were taken by and niggardly husband by the wife and
The author of this volume explains in Miss Felice Lyne and Mr. Walter Harrold, her lover. To diffuse and thicken this
brief and well-chosen words his aim in who both sang well, though Miss Lyne's
writing it. Since 1870 a great musical voice, owing apparently to a cold, was not atmosphere Zola has even drawn upon the
movement has been going on. About that at its brightest. It was a good all-round stock-in-trade of the supernatural, the
time the disciples of Berlioz were trying to performance, and Signor Ernaldy proved bridal night of Thérèse and Laurent being
acclimatize the symphony in France, but himself a thoroughly sound and skilful con- similar in treatment to that of Anatole
most of the younger generation fell under the ductor.
France's 'Histoire Comique. ' The sub-
all-powerful influence of Wagner, while later
AMBROISE THOMAS's 'Mignon was the sequent scenes oscillate between naked
came that of Slavonic music, with its
enchanting melodies and vivid rhythms. opera selected for the following evening; it realism and grotesque extravaganza. The
But for some time past French composers,
is of conventional character, and, though it mother of Camille Raquin, the murdered
profiting, however, in some respects from contains much light and attractive music, husband, becomes aware of the deed
these influences, have been opening new
paths, establishing, in fact, a genuine native Kerlord, the Mignon, created a favourable through the tortured hysteria of the two
impression : she has a sympathetic voice, guilty partners. She is paralyzed and
school. Performances of new works are
and sang with marked feeling. M.
chance of that of lead varying from the
size.
Surveyors' Institution, 8. -'Somno Principles in the Valuation
Mr. J. D. Siddall of Chester read & paper on
of Land and Buildinga,' Mr. G. T. Loban,
figure given above.
TUES. Horticultural, 8. -'Potatoes, Dr. R. N. Salaman.
• The Life- History of some Marine Diatoms from Royal Institution. 3. - Insect Distribution, with Special
Bournemouth. ' Living and mounted examples,
Reference to the British Islands, Lecture L. , Mr. F. B.
An ingenious process, discovered by Prof,
drawings, photographs, and lantern-slides were Institution of Civil Engineers, 8. -Annual Meeting.
Paul Askenasy, will, if it proves successful,
exhibited in illustration of his observations, the
WED. Archeological Institute. 1,30. - The Monumental Efigies by become of great use to scientific and
Nicholas Stone,' Mr. A. O. Pryer.
chief interest of which centred in a Coscinodiscus,
.
Royal Institution, 5. -Annual Meeting.
other lecturers. Instead of photographing
about ado in. in diameter, furnished with very
Entomological, 8. -The Colour Group of the Bawallan
Waspe, Mr. R. O. L. Perkins.
the objects intended for projection on glass
Browne.
## p. 476 (#362) ############################################
476
No. 4409, APRIL 27, 1912
THE ATHENÆ UM
in the usual way, he prints them on a film
was not an architect, and did not under-
of clear gelatine, which is then sandwiched
stand his own time. Prof. Lethaby is pre-
between two plates of thin glass and used
as a lantern-slide. A publisher in Halle,
FINE ARTS
occupied with art as a living force. He
writes with an eye to the needs of his own
announces that he will supply on applica-
tion what he calls “
art and of his fellow - architects; to the
filmodiatypes
" made
by this process from the illustrations of any
latter the concluding chapter on 'The
books published by his firm.
Modern Position will be not the least
Architecture : an Introduction to the History interesting.
M. HENRI POINCARÉ's lecture at the and Theory of the Art of Building. By
Sorbonne on the 12th of this month was as W. R. Lethaby. (Williams & Norgate. ) he does not hesitate to readjust the share
It is characteristic of the writer that
brilliant as it was instructive. He dealt
mainly with the constitution of matter, The Works of Man. By Lisle March of importance generally attributed to
and drew the attention of his hearers, the Phillips. (Duckworth & Co. )
different schools or periods. The first
French Physical Society, to the objective
chapter, entitled * Archæology, Archi-
reality of the chemical atom, which he con- * THE HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY” is the tecture, and Ornament,' creates an atmo-
siders to be now beyond dispute. He made richer by the addition of ' Architecture,' sphere both stimulating and bracing.
a bold comparison of the free electrons
by Prof. Lethaby; When architects It is full of good things which it is difficult
within the atom to comets, while consider.
ing the tied electrons as equivalent to the often confuse archæology with archi-
to separate from their context, and is
fixed stars, and accepted the magneton of tecture, it is not surprising that the wider probably the best introduction to the
M. Weiss as the third component of matter. public—the public that has a genuine subject ever penned. “No recipes can
Hence, he said, we must consider the atom, love for the architectural art of older be given for producing fine architecture
if we accept the most probable hypotheses days-should misread the lessons of the
we read, and, later, “ All formulas, codes,
current, not as a system whose movements past. Each of the various attempts to and grammars are diseases which only show,
are ordered and ruled by definite laws, but revive the forms of the great periods of themselves in a time of impaired vitality:.
'
as a world where reigns a disordered agita- architectural energy-periods when archi- Architecture thus viewed is of the soil
,
tion of elements delivered over to chance.
Yet this world is rigorously closed to us at
tectural art was a mighty flood over- of the people, the common need touched
present, and every atom constitutes, accord whelming the building trades wherever with the highest that life offers : the
individual. ” M. Poincaré's practised — has failed. Individual archi-“magical and mystical element,
lecture will do much to clarify the views of tects and bands of enthusiasts have pro- | Professor calls it.
,” the
inquirers into the subject, and it is to be duced beautiful buildings isolated
hoped that during his forthcoming visit to
instances of the forms they would see
“ The art of building seems first to have
this country he may repeat some of the
conclusions announced in it.
revived; their work has a place in the gathered power and to have arrived at
what we may call self-consciousness in the
history of architectural development; for
O Tuesday next, at 3 o'clock, Mr. F. without it the future would be less hopeful valleys of the Nile and of the Tigris. ”
lectures at the Royal Institution on ‘Insect the failure of the Revivalists are not far
Balfour Browne gives the first of two than is the case to-day. The causes behind In the author's view architecture is to a
the failure of the Revivalists are not far large degree an Egyptian art, with the
Distribution, with Special Reference to
the British Islands ';
to seek.
and on Thursday
No revival can meet modern reservation that when, if ever, the origins
Prof. J. Norman Collie gives the first needs. Architecture and the handicrafts of art in Babylonia are fully known, the
of two on ' Recent Explorations in the have their bases in utility, and neither story may have to begin in Asia instead
Canadian Rocky Mountains. '
the form nor the spirit of any of the great of in Egypt. His summary of the dis-
schools of the past meets the needs of other coveries of the most eminent Egyptolo-
MR. STEPHEN PAGET, the Secretary of the times. Each great school of architecture gists as they bear on architectural origins
Research Defence Association, has written
is_illuminating:
The fourth chapter,
a book summarizing in ton chapters the was the outcome of the spirit
and the
evidence given before the Commission, as
necessity of its own day. We have 'Egyptian Building-Methods and Ideas,'
well as the Inspector's Report for 1910. advanced intellectually and spiritually ; sets out this contribution. The origin
The volume also contains in a final chapter our needs and the means of meeting them of the vault and dome, the use of brick
a brief account of the Commission's Report, have grown enormously. Research and and jointed masonry, the skilful adaptation
Lord Cromer, which contains a justification and taken from us the simplicity natural other conditions, technical ability, and
as well as an important Introduction by scholarship have added to our heritage, of corrugated walling to meet climatic and
of his acceptance of the Presidency of the
Society, a critical survey of the Report, and to the art of primitive and barbaric times.
to the art of primitive and barbaric times. refinements in design, are dwelt on. Per-
an earnest appeal for calm study of the Each school of architecture has made manence, the use of fine material, accurate
facts disclosed. The book is intended to some contribution to the art, and it is workmanship, orientation, schemes of pro-
serve as an aid to this object. It will be well to know what that contribution is. portion as part of the idea of perfect
published by Mr. H. K. Lewis.
Matthew Arnold has said : “Though in building, are some of the contributions of
THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS seems to be many respects the ancients are far above Egypt.
increasing in popularity on its medical side, us, there is something which we demand
It is interesting to compare Prof.
the number of foreign students who matricu. that they can never give. ” The realiza-
that they can never give. ” The realiza- Lethaby's book with that of Mr. March
lated during the past year in the Faculty tion of this is necessary to architectural Phillips, somewhat loosely entitled “The
of Medicine being 805, as against 736 in the progress. Advance must be along the old Works of Man,' for both cover the
year preceding. Of these, no fewer than 540 | lines, but, so far as the study of the past same ground. Mr. Phillips writes of archi-
came from Russia, 64 from Turkey, 59 from
Latin America, and 50 from Roumania,
concerns us, it must be a study of the
tecture and sculpture as an interpretation
while our own country was represented by spirit in which the work was done rather of life and character. Taking the great
a solitary student. Russia was also easily than the form which it took.
creative periods, he endeavours to
first in the number of women students, Prof. Lethaby's scholarship and extra- deduce
deduce from them 'the qualities,
sending 317, as against 4 from Turkey and ordinary knowledge of the most recent limitations, and point of view of the
4 from Roumania. The total number of discoveries of archæological research pro-
which produced them. ” His
women students matriculated in all the
universities and high schools in France on
vide the reader with a new outlook and concern is not so much architectural
January 15th in this year was 3,915, of
with new facts. His little book is an quality as human quality. His analysis
whom 1,796 were foreigners. In Paris, historical summary. His concern is not would show the intellectual contribution
which accounts for the greatest number of with single buildings, but with the larger
with single buildings, but with the larger rather than the material contribution of
them, 36 Frenchwomen were seeking a view of architectural history, especially the different periods. Prof. Lethaby's
degree in law, 211 in medicine, 30 in phar; with regard to origins and to the contri-
work stands on firm foundations by
macy, 596 in letters, and 143, in the natural butions which from time to time have avoiding theory and adhering to fact; the
sciences.
been made by different schools. While he statement is concise, the deductions sound,
is comparable to Fergusson in sincerity, while the reader can form his own opinion
scholarship, and sustained interest, he upon the merits or demerits of the people
has advanced his standpoint. Fergusson whose work is described. Mr. Phillips
races
## p. 477 (#363) ############################################
No. 4409, APRIL 27, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
477
maintains that Egyptian achievement is all that is in the least vague and indeter
--the Gothic contribution. Writing of
non-intellectual, a sinister monotony of a minate it detests"; and, later, speaking this period, the Professor says :-
primitive sort - "the effect not of clear of the Greek conception of divinity -
"Nothing great or true in building seems:
thought, but of absence of thought. " Its
“In discarding the mysterious and obscure, to have been invented in the sense of wil.
unchanging quality, extending with little and concentrating itself on the compre fully designed. Beauty seems to be to art
variation over nearly 5,000 years, appals hensible
and the definable, it was evolving as happiness to conduct-it should come
Mr. Phillips. The chapter on The
a mental image which could
pass
without by the way; it will not yield itself to direct
Tyranny of the Nile' is of interest, showing change into terms of sculpture.
attacks. "
as it does the influence of environment
His chapters on French and English
on the life of a nation and on their arts. The best part of the Greek chapters shows
In the author's view the river regulated the limited possibilities of a purely intel- | Gothic are full of light, and may well
alter the outlook of those who read the
the life and enslaved the intelligence of lectual advance :-
various standard textbooks.
the Egyptians. They could not advance : Intellect is the faculty which is most
life for them was turned into the repetition purely human, for it is as distinctly superior its structure, not its adornments, though
“The essence of a Gothic cathedral is.
of a perpetual formula. It is, however, and of a higher order to animal intelligence
impossible to accept the deduction that as it is inferior and of a lower order to all
never so beautiful. A ship like a cathedral,
was decorated, but the ornament is not
intellectual stagnation and incapacity for that we can conceive of spiritual intelli-
necessary to either, it is a gift over and
abstract thought mark the Egyptian con- gence. '
above. "
tribution. Apart from architectural forms, The comparison of Greek with Gothic aims No other recent writer has so clear an
enough has been found of fine sculpture is well done for the general reader, as insight into medieval art.
and decoration to show the incomplete also is the story of Greek refinements in Mr. Phillips's pages
ness of such a conclusion.
building, which Penrose did much to
are suggestive,
but inadequate, and appear to be
Prof. Lethaby's chapter on ‘Babylonia elucidate sixty years ago. There is some planned to carry their author's line
and Crete summarizes all that is at present truth in the aphorism“ that Greek art is of thought over a great tract of com.
known of these ancient civilizations as
they affect architectural history. In the addition," with the reservation of Emer- paratively unexplored country. The idea:
author's view it is probable that temples son that “the line of beauty is the line of the loftiest ideals into terms of action
of the gods first appeared in Western Asia, of perfect economy.
is an adequate interpretation of the time.
and from there spread to Egypt and other
With the decline of Greek art began Mr. Phillips points out that the age was
countries.
the age of practical utility—“the union as poor in thought as it was rich in action.
“ To Mesopotamia we probably owe the between architecture and engineering. ” He writes of the “noble spaciousness” of
development of cities, great irrigation " It was on the wide foundations laid at the classic interiors as in keeping with
schemes, ordered gardens, water supply, the this time that the mighty engineering of
“the enlargement of mind” that marked
use of lead and asphalt, drainage, and Rome was reared. ” Prof. Lethaby's chap- the Renaissance :
fortress building. "
ter on the union of Hellenistic and Roman
“The love of thinking which was revived:
It is thought that Mesopotamia is the arts, and the subsequent development of by the old race [the Italian) was by-and-by
original home of burnt brick: “The Roman planning, the adaptation of the developed by the new. When this hap-
of forms and traditions of antiquity to later pened, the new race, having attained more
buildings with enamelled bricks forming needs is as good as anything in the book.
or less to the same intellectual standpoint,
figures was a striking feature. ”
Of Roman work he
began to reach out towards Italian archi.
says:
tecture, exactly as Italy. . . . had reached out
in the second millennium B. c. was Crete, expressed mind. Rome was lacking in the
The place of France in the new develop-
between which and Egypt communication things of the spirit. . . . it is the great Philis-
is shown.
ment is adequately acknowledged. The
The lavish use of bronze
tine style. ”
spirit of the age was making for expansion ::
was taken over from the Ægean by As he is a great authority on Byzantine the old narrowness of the Gothic plan went
the Greeks. Ægean architecture made art, what Prof. Lethaby says of the early down before a wider outlook. This width
use of casings of alabaster and stone for Christian schools, and the respective of outlook brought its own dangers. The
walls built of inferior materials. The parts taken by the East and Rome in the remaining chapters are an analysis of
Professor's conclusions are that
transformation which led up to the Middle subsequent development. A Sum-
Ages, is of singular interest.
" the first wave of civilized art in Europe described Santa Sophia fully elsewhere. Phillips's work : these should be very
He has
mary' and ‘Bibliography' conclude Mr.
as yet whether the Ægean art was merely Here he says :-
useful to the student. Most of the
an underlying stratum which influenced
Greek art, or whether it is to be considered great things of all time. It is very large, Edinburgh Review and The Contemporary.
“This Church of Santa Sophia is one of the material has previously appeared in The
as a first phase of Greek art itself. ”
yet it is a unit, not an aggregation of many Prof.
Lethaby's estimate of the Renais-
The Greeks appear to have originated the parts. "
sance is widely different from that of Mr. .
span-roof”; to have developed the The contribution of the early Christian Phillips-indeed, from that of most writers.
Ægean type of plan, in the first instance builders is clearly set out. A separate The pages in which the former discusses
derived from Egypt or Babylonia; to chapter is devoted to
devoted to "The Eastern this worldwide movement, brilliant and
have perfected the column and capital ; Cycle, the influence of which has in the concise as they are, will not satisfy most
and, finally, to have achieved the highest main been in vitalizing decorative design. architectural students. He regards the
architecture, in which are found
Mr. Phillips regards Santa Sophia new spirit as inevitable in Italy, the land
sculpture and painting integrally bound a summing-up of the classical era. His of antiquity, the happy hunting-ground
up with it. ” The Professor shows how estimate of Arab architecture, interesting of the eager antiquary. Outside Italy the
this “incredible beauty
was arrived at as it is, suffers from the sweeping con-
revolution is less easily understood. ”
“ by continuous development from the clusions which colour his chapters on The change divorced art from the people,
most humble beginnings.
Egypt. His
eagerness
to interpret and became the affair of experts and con-
Mr. Phillips's account of Greek begin- humanity by their works does not con- noisseurs, of whom he says hard things.
nings is too theoretic, but his chapters tribute to the writing of history.
A statement of the "modern position"
are valuable to the student for the line Passing over Prof. Lethaby's chapters brings Prof. Lethaby's work to an end,
of thought they suggest. Writing on the Romanesque, the Saxon, and the and is the logical outcome of his reading
of intellectual versatility and its natural Norman schools, hardly touched upon by of the past, particularly with regard to
limitations, he says: “All that is clear- Mr. Phillips, we come to what both writers the Renaissance. The volume includes a
cut and articulate the Greek mind adores ; describe as
the architecture of energy useful Bibliography and an Index.
The centre of a third early civilization “ It gives a voice to matter, as Greece had to tardis Slagelse architecture. "
- fit
as
>
## p. 478 (#364) ############################################
478
No. 4409, APRIL 27, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
scene
LOGUE
>
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. M. PABLO PICASSO AND MR. JOSEPH
(Notice in these columns does not preclude longer SIMPSON AT THE STAFFORD
Fine Art Gossip.
review. )
GALLERY.
MR. A. TALMAGE's paintings at the Chenil
Cambridge Antiquarian Society, PROCEED-
INGS, Oct. 16-Nov. 27, 1911, 3/6 net.
This exhibition will not lack visitors, Gallery will be generally pleasing as frank
Cambridge, Deighton & Bell because M. Picasso is perhaps the foreign records of the pleasure of the artist in breezy
artist most talked of among us and least open-air
Contains the seventy-first annual report known. He has not always been fortunate factory when they remain as frank sketches
They are most satis-
of accounts, an appeal for an excavation in his advocates, who have frequently of small size, such as No. 16. When he
fund, and a catalogue of the purchasos made
utilized their professed admiration of his attempts to develope these colour notes
by the Curator of the Museum of Archæology
work as a lofty position from which to into pictures, there is a slight tendency
and Ethnology. It also embodies papers all of which, we are assured, is by com- they show themselves in profile, and ignore
pour derision on contemporary art in general to record minor transitions of plane when
upon the origin of St. Mary's Gild and upon
the church spires of Cambridgeshire.
parison
“ vieux jeu. ”
As in England the subtle variety of colour, which should be
there exists a large press gang
who may
but another revelation of the same fuller
Cameron (D. Y. ), Ax ILLUSTRATED CATA- be bullied into embarking on any adventure rendering of form. A simple schome of
OF HIS ETCHED WORK, with by the threat of being considered old colour, over broken up as regards form,
Introductory Essay and Descriptive fashioned, London hears much of Picasso, is inclined to look black. Of the larger
Notes on each Plato by Frank Rinder, and, seeing virtually nothing, is by so much compositions, No. 2, purchased for the
84/ not.
Glasgow, MacLehose the more impressed. While for these reasons National Gallery of Sydney, is decidedly
The question what the art critics of the we consider his already enormous reputation the best.
future will find to do Arises when we in England to be worthy of no respect what- In the upper room aro some early still-
contemplate so full and authoritative a ever, it would be a mistake to assume that life studies by Mr. Mark Gertler, painted
catalogue as this of the work of a contem- his work is necessarily unimportant. In- from a standpoint of unselecting litoralism,
porary etcher. Almost the whole of present- deed, by an unfortunate accident few of the but with extraordinary conviction. A later
day criticism would be silenced if the art better artists of the last quarter of a century work by the same artist compares un-
of the past had been pigeon-holed as com- have been able to "arrive" without being favourably in this respect, and is very in-
petently. The form of the Catalogue is advertised like patent. medicine vendors, ferior to A Girl of the Five Towns,' by
admirable for its purpose of preventing any so that from both points of view it is Mr. Currie, a sober and well-sustained piece
possible error: 431 out of the 439 etchings incumbent on the home-keeping Englishman of painting by a promising student.
known to have been to .
are
THE decorations at the Borough Poly-
pages opposite their descriptions; the states offer much opportunity for judging M.
technic and some other works by young
are clearly differentiated; and when funda- Picasso as the fundamental revolutionary English painters appear to have aroused
mental alterations, as from cutting down he is usually painted. “ The real Picasso
interest in France, and M. Barbazanges, the
the plate, have been made, duplicate repro- is conspicuously missing, and, except in well-known dealer, has invited Mr. Roger
ductions are usually given.
the not very impressive Nature morte à la Fry to organize a small exhibition of con-
The introductory essay is appreciative, Béte [? Téte] de Mort (25), we have no chance temporary British art. Under the title
but by no means of the fulsome character to determine whether his odd geometrical
Quelques peintres anglais indépendants
to which we are sadly accustomed in similar experiments are based on profound science about fifty chosen pictures will be on view
circumstances. Mr. Rinder retains his criti. or, as might seem to be the case in this at the Barbazanges Galleries (109, Faubourg
eal independence, and is perfectly frank instance, half - accidental whim. On the St. Honoré) from May 1st to May 15th.
with regard to much of the early work of other hand, there is evidence in Les deux
Besides half-a-dozen paintings by Mr. Fry,
an artist who has been slow in maturing. Gymnastes (2) of easy and expressive there will be work by two of his colleagues
Sheaths,” comments Mr. Rinder on this draughtsmanship of the old academic stamp, at the Borough Polytechnic, Mr. Duncan
fact, "apparently adverse to growth, are and this little drawing is certainly far Grant and Mr. Etchells. Mr. Spencer Gore,
often protections within which the living superior to the large nude study by which Mr. Ginner, and Mr. Walter Sickert, whose
life is organized and enriched-such he was introduced to us at the Grafton art is already well known in Paris, represent
course of development can be traced in the Gallery: Têle égyptienne (3) is another the Camden Town group. Mrs. Clive Bell
kingdom of Nature. ' This is well put, and slight, but carefully drawn study, endowed sends six pictures, Mr. Wyndham Lewis
although the estimate of Mr. Cameron's with a
aspect by a cheap trick three, and single works are contributed by
landscapes, as marking the culminating of exaggeration analogous to that by which one or two other young artists.
point in his achievement, is one we can only M. Fernand Khnopff used to draw a head
'ROYAL ACADEMY PICTURES AND SCUI. P-
accept with many reservations, Mr. Rinder with scrupulous care and literalness, and
argues the matter soundly. “In the land- then add an inch to the depth of the lower Cassell in serial form on May 6th. The
TURE, 1912, will be issued by Messrs.
scapes there may, with greater surety, be jaw, to the unspeakable delight of devout Rembrandt photogravure in Part I. will
traced the way in which linear organiza- mystics; while in Cheval avec jeune Homme present one of the principal pictures of the
tion, design, emphasis of mass, have ceased en Bleu (5) the horse is quite comic, from
to be exploited as ends in themselves, but the way in which, by an exaggeration of
year.
instead have increasingly been used as means Van Dyck's formula, its forequarters and M. SALOMON REINACH's last communica-
towards the shaping of fundamentally the pose of the head suggest exactly the tion to the Académie des Inscriptions
expressive images. '
action of shrinking self-conscious modesty of connects in an extraordinary way the name
the Venus de' Medici. ' The drawing of of Monaco with that of England. Two
Masterpieces in Colour : BOUCHER, by Hal-
dane Macfall; and VAN EYCK, by J.
the figure, on the other hand, is firm and derivations of the name of the smallest
Cyril M. Weale, 1/6 net each. Jack
elastic, with a considerable grip on reality; principality have hitherto held the field,
Two more additions to the Masterpieces in which a reasonable basis of scholarship Monoikos, the god who admits no com-
and the same may be said of Nos. 14 and 16, one of which connects it with Heracles
in Colour Series, which is performing a
serviceable work in disseminating culture.
is concealed beneath the unquestioning eye panion or assessor to his teinple, and the
The monographs are lucidly and cogently for facts which we usually find to-day only other with a Phænician god Menuakh,
in a novice.
written, and there are eight plates in each
who gives repose or shelter to mariners. M.
volume.
Reinach will have nothing to do with either
A slight lack of this naiveté mars our etymology, but declares that there were two
pleasure in the able drawings of Mr. Simpson, tribes of Ligures called respectively the
SALE.
whose clever poster designs are generally Albiæci and the Monæci, from the second of
MESSRS. CHRISTIE sold on Friday, the 19th
and rightly esteemed. There is a suspicion whom the island takes its name. He finds
inst. , the following pictures : J. D. de Heem, Still
of it perhaps in No. 25, An Englishwoman; both names repeated in Albion and
Life on a Table, 1991. 108. J. van Goyen, A and the challenging expressiveness of No. 11, “Mona," which, he says, marked the nor-
Frozen River Scene, with old buildings and The New Hat, shows an absorption in the thern - most limit of the ancient Ligurian
windmill, numerous figures with sledges and
horses, 2151. S. van Ruysdael, A River Scene,
human interest of the subject which domi.
territory.
with buildings, boats, and cattle, 3251. ; A River nates its cleverness. In others, such as
Scene, with a waggon, ferry, boats, figures, and Nos. 8 and 30, the designer's triumph of SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY is to lecture to the
animals, 6351. M. van Musscher, An Astronomer, Auency of line is a little that of the virtuoso. Hellenic Society at the Society of Anti-
in red dress, seated in his study with two attend
No. 7 has a suggestion of painter's qualityquaries on the 7th of next month on 'The
ants, 2521. School of Van Eyck, A Triptych,
with the Madonna and Child, and two angels in
of a similar order, while No. 9, The Hotel Shrine of the God Men at Pisidian Antioch,'
the centre ; St. Christopher and a bishop on Window, is admirably to the point as a the discovery of which he reported in our
either wing, 3041.
study for the setting of a figure subject. columns last summer.
“ weird
>>
## p. 479 (#365) ############################################
No. 4409, APRIL 27, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
479
Tauns. Twolve o'clock Chamber Concert, Bollan Hall
Edouard Garcenu's Matindo, 3. 15, Bechstein Hall.
Mapia Seguel's Pianoforte Rooital, 3. 15, Æolian Hall
Georges Pistob's 'Cello Recital, 8. 15, Bechstein Hall.
TRI. Paul Reimer's Vocal Recital, 3. 15, Bechstein Hall.
Frank Merrick's Concert, 8, Bechstein
Hall.
SAT. Pablo Casals's Orchestral Concert, 3, Queen's Hall.
Ernst von Longyel's Planoforte Recital, s, Bechstein Hall
Isobel Pardon and Celia Klein's Violin and Vocal Recital, 8
Rolian Ball
6
66
was
was
singing, but also her movements and gestures.
MUSIC
We therefore reserve our opinion concerning
her merits. The Don José of Signor Giuseppe
Cellini was promising; he has, at any rate,
an excellent voice. Signor Sammarco is an
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. able artist, but his Toreador’ song was
(Notice in these columns does not preclude longer not at all exciting. Signor Campanini con-
review. )
ducted.
Buck (Percy C. ), ORGAN PLAYING, 4/ net.
'La Tosca' was given on the following
Macmillan
DRAMA
Monday. Madame Edvina, whose Méli-
Increasing interest is being taken in organ sande has been justly praised, showed unex.
playing, so that this volume will be welcome. pected powers in her impersonation of Floria
It is by an experienced and able organist, Tosca. Her voice, it is true, is not of the
and is a thoroughly practical book. It quality which one would single out as specially
· THÉRÈSE RAQUIN. '
begins with elementary manual and pedal appropriate to that dramatic rộle, but
exercises, gradually passing on to higher she sang with strong feeling and, 'when | ZOLA's 'Thérèse Raquin,' performed in
stages. Then there are manual exercises
required, tenderness. Her acting in the English at the Court Theatre on Tuesday
on practical points: extended fingering, second act was notable for its power and afternoon, is an exercise in the ma-
changing manuals, cross-rhythms, &c. That restraint, during the whole of it there was cabre,” typical of the genre which could
Dr. Buck draws upon Bach for many of nothing theatrical or sensational. Signor be at one time his supreme achievement,
his exercises is, of course, natural, for no
Giovanni Martinelli, a new Cavaradossi, has
at another his mannerism. In the
organist of any standing could venture to an exceptionally fine tenor voice and digni; deliberate accumulation of transpontine
pass him by. We also find a few specimens
fied presence ; moreover, he is
from Prof. Max Reger, whom some call the
modern Bach. The chapters on Extem- appears to have a great future before him. effects and the accentuation of contrasts
His singing of 'E lucevan le Stelle the play might have been fathered by
porizing,' and the one suggesting, pieces most impressive. The orchestral playing, Massinger, except for the fabrication of
for practice, will be found most helpful. under the direction of Signor Campanini, subordinate details to be woven into the
The volume forms part of the Musician's
was excellent.
central theme and the rigid, unwavering
Library.
On Monday evening, the first night of exposition of the plot. Its motive is
Séré (Octave), MUSICIENS FRANÇAIS D’au- the summer season at the London Opera- the tragic débâcle consequent upon the
JOURD'HUI, 3fr. 50.
House, Gounod's 'Roméo et Juliette murder of the neurotic, puny, querulous,
Paris, Mercure de France given. The principal parts were taken by and niggardly husband by the wife and
The author of this volume explains in Miss Felice Lyne and Mr. Walter Harrold, her lover. To diffuse and thicken this
brief and well-chosen words his aim in who both sang well, though Miss Lyne's
writing it. Since 1870 a great musical voice, owing apparently to a cold, was not atmosphere Zola has even drawn upon the
movement has been going on. About that at its brightest. It was a good all-round stock-in-trade of the supernatural, the
time the disciples of Berlioz were trying to performance, and Signor Ernaldy proved bridal night of Thérèse and Laurent being
acclimatize the symphony in France, but himself a thoroughly sound and skilful con- similar in treatment to that of Anatole
most of the younger generation fell under the ductor.
France's 'Histoire Comique. ' The sub-
all-powerful influence of Wagner, while later
AMBROISE THOMAS's 'Mignon was the sequent scenes oscillate between naked
came that of Slavonic music, with its
enchanting melodies and vivid rhythms. opera selected for the following evening; it realism and grotesque extravaganza. The
But for some time past French composers,
is of conventional character, and, though it mother of Camille Raquin, the murdered
profiting, however, in some respects from contains much light and attractive music, husband, becomes aware of the deed
these influences, have been opening new
paths, establishing, in fact, a genuine native Kerlord, the Mignon, created a favourable through the tortured hysteria of the two
impression : she has a sympathetic voice, guilty partners. She is paralyzed and
school. Performances of new works are
and sang with marked feeling. M.
