New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-06-13
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
NOTES on BOOKS ON ART AND ARClil-
rECII'RE.

soue sucb handbook as Professor John. I. van
Dvke,s Art for Arts sake" Charles >crbners SohA
has been needed. 1t Is composed OF seven ""',V'9s
lectures on the "technica beauties OF paihuns az"
since these beauties. TO be appreciated at "'i' ~
he appreciated strictly their sake" the a",ho'
laws down his discourse from the professional '.iN,
nont Of view That point Of view Is ho' "iu'S
popular among laymen. Furthermore, IL Is ho. u"
common for the layman who assumes IL 10 w "
10 sustain II. These two facts have sprung P""s
from the unprepared condition OF the SOL III VIM"
the artists and their Spokesman have auemp'ru "
plant their seed and partly from the MISTAKEN "S
they 50 often hold as the best method OF hsurins
n harvest Your art-forartssake advocate is us
posed as q rule TO eliminate all sources Vi eo",i p
one from the field. Professor van DSk y i'P
sionate intelligent and possessed oil soou "S',
has n tborouehgoIng disbelief I'm literary art Nei"s-
Quo, tho rainters painter Is his ALSO pre-eminen'ly'
rop,er Inns one sense, he says. the sense oil sight
Pint Immediately he adds that the training oil 'h's
sense enables the artist to see more pe""ics an"
aeener meanings nature than the great majority OIL
,,ank,ndu-whch really leaves the leader free 10 re-
tain belief in the imaginative characteristics WIN
,r,,ch the greatest art Is always endowed In lac''
professor Van Dyke has too sensitive Il feeling lor
artistic beauty TO let Its higher more spr'un u"',
sensuous elements escape him. Inc Ia'.' "a
nature" he says "to possess serious interest lor Us
mon canvas require TO be heated with poe'ic hre'
trsnsfused and newly wrought in the crucible Of the
na,nters mind" That is good sense. But IL was
not 70 elaborate his views the imaginative sac oi
art that Professor Van Dyke gave his lectures. lnS
deal with the purely technical slgnifcahce VI 'o''
tone, light and shade, perspective, compoSuoi' va
lures bruswork and that least understood SUBJECT Vi
all value They lift topics into clear hsh''
and analyze them clever!y that the vereS' oufluI
can gain from between these covers serVlcc""le
knowledge Of what he Is doubtless IAN u rcs'i"
sometimes as nothing more than so mucH J"'s'"'
The criticism In the lectures Is just Inc pooN -
written I'm an easy, entertaining style ana contains
n man,ity of halftone illustrations which assist inc
text In pointing out ILLUSTRATIVE ~ "
modern paintings.
pro,essor George t. RAYMOND. in "The Genesis OF
Art Form, &c. p. Putnam's sons). pursues a method
and an idea which differ from Professor van ny Nc
IN appealIpg almost exclusively to the Imagination
Shirt and matter he posulates as the two sources oil
art but he has far less to say OF the second OF uc
tbon NJ the first The laws underlying work OF art
,,e+hor II be musical pictorial. poetic plastic OF
architectural-are the laws OF unity, principanN con-
trast and so on. which are born OF the iheAp'"'V
,rorkincs OF the human mind catching inspiration now
and then from the mysteries OF nature in'ic
nothing new in the affirmation OF these laws as 'io
governing forces in any one OF the ar's iIo''o'
Ravmond has chosen discuss. Here he but repeats
the conclusions OF every thoughtful observer N'fe
his book departs from the accustomed uacN !"
drawing ngeniously system OF parallels between NV
various arts. His aim IS TO show the Identity Oh 'i'e
latter. II is interesting and suggestive 'ho"sn "
course a yain endeavor. Each art must acknowledge
ALLEGIANCE with every other to laws OF unity anu pro-
portion and to others equally obvious when heeu io'
.ouohoa unon now But each art employs Il
method and produces an effect absolutely determined
bv the nature OF the substance or element III "hch 1t
works. and it is impossible TO confuse those ne'houS
ond effects with each other. 1t Is permissible 10
state that the principally given 10 hamie' III '"e
play can he traced TO the same n'elecuai source as
the principaity given to the figure Of ChrlS' III 'ne
.Descent from the Cross" by Rubens. but 10 assert
that the forms OF the play and painting are arrived at
through similar methods, or that the effects 'hes Po'
dnce are identical, IS assume strained ana I'M
tenable position. The value OF Professor Raymond
volume does not lie, therefore, In the demonstration
Of his theory In the hints which II gives he SUI
dent as to the qualities which TO make symmetrical
works OF art.
A book which sheds much light on Tie question
with which Professor Raymonds work is concerned Is
"The Evolution OF Decorative Art (Macmlllah " 'o)
by Henry Balfour. This is BRIEF essay only l-'
pages long, but 1t Is crowded with Instructive ihIor
nation Mr. Balfours method Is rigidy historical
and the scheme OF evolution which he bases on cIos'
ethnographical research, may be SUMMARIZED aS Ioi
lows: The initial and unaccOuntalle taste for accl
dents OF form and color In nature ana IN op!eo''
manufactured for alone Is followed Ill al
.adaptive" stage by the first STRINGS OF the creative
instinct-whch instinct emphasizes those accidents
that to which they belong and in some cases to In
crease Its value The savage picking up a stcl
III the forest finds one end OF II distinguished N
some peculiar natural formation. He adds toucl
of color knob. and II not only peases his eye
but separates the object from all others his prop
erty Thus In the Pitt Rivers collection at OXlor'
there Is an Australian boomerang, figured by Mr.
Balfour on which the natural knots 80 heightened
In significance by the application OF color as to pro
duce an ornamental effect. The distinctly creative
stace Is reached when the effect OF such feature a
these stained knots for example, Is produced WHERE
II would naturally occur. II reveals the creative
instinct not vet emery from its tentative period
copying imitation. Out OF this stage, through OK
periences varying, first unconsciously and then con
sciousy the original designs, rises the independeh
designing faculty OF man. Under his hands, 10y
gradual process, a totally idea is developed on
Of old data 1t involves severe stretching OF III
Imagination connect, by the help of this hypothesis
the charm OF savage with the Apollo OF
modern sculptor, or, II we conhnc the discussion 4
decorative art. the wampum belt OF the North Amer
can Indian with the brocadcd fabrics OF present civil
cation Especially easy IS the connecting OF the link
when the hypothesis is supported as ably as 1t Is b.
Mr. Balfour. Caution and patience mark his argu
ment and his ordering OF the documents with whic
collections of primitive relics have furnished him
There is ina ginaon in his remarks CERTAIN phase
Of the development OF Peruvian pottery and Japanes
cres,s. There is also logic. and on the whole hi
essay Is a safe guide along the decorative road to III
beginning OF art
In Mr.. Hume Nisbcts view the beginning OF ar
lies not far away from vcgetarlanism nor, for tina
matter does its ending. This groteoGue idea is pre-
septcd In all illustrated octave entitled "Whcre Al
Begins" Chatio & Windus) The acceptable artist
according TO the author, is he who takes the virtue
as Ills guides" II he does this he paints and unde
stands only beauty, and thus raises himself and h
audience toward faith, love and charity Now
the course OF his observations of nature Mr. Nsh'
has discovered that the graminivorOus animals al
@nearest TO that state OF peace and purity which "
believe Heaven TO be-" while the carnivorae folio
the opposite movement OF the pendulum. Therefor
let man initiate the graminivorae. Unless he fol
swcars carnivorous impulses "he cannot possibly I
n vegetarian, or, in It's highest true artist
This sort Of argument Is ridiculous enough TO excl
q shade OF amusement. The chapters following Il