The San Francisco call., 1905-08-13
II YORK OF .ART
rs THIS BOOK

One hundred beautiful illustrations
decorate and explain Russell Sturgis'
ews-book, The Interdependence of the
! Arts of Design" They are taken from
photographs of the finest works of
decorative art and are printed on such
good paper as to preserve those fine
eneets which are so often lost In re-
productions in books because the
economys OF cheap paper will not carry
themr NO reasonable expense has been
spared to make these pictures adequate
TO elucidate what this prominent art
authority had to say to his students in
the series of six lectures delivered at
the Art Institute of Chicago last year.
Ihese were what are called the Scam
mon lectures. The Scammon lecture
ship is richly endowed by the beouest
OF Mrs. Maria Sheldon Scammon The
lectures are prescribed to be upon
graphic and plastic arts by persons of
distinction or authority on the subjects
of which they treat. They are first for
the benefit of the students of the Art
institute and secondarily for members
and other persons.
We are mostly the other persons
the exceedingly grateful other persons.
who can either buy the book. or he
members of a good library and look
over It's pages of beauty and learn from
master mind how to grow gradually
In the power to appreciate art The
subjects treated are: Modern Judged
by ancient art, representation and SEN
tlment; modern judged by ancient art,
decorative effects; the industrial arts
In which form predominates; the indus
trial arts in which color predominates.
sculpture as used in architecture;
painting as used in architecture. AS the
author is such high authority on archi-
lecture the parts of his book relating
to decoration in connection with build
ing will be of particular interest His
recent work, The Appreciation of
Sculpture" has well paved the way and
excited high expectations for this
In chapter III. on decorative effects. he
gives US some explanation of what is
meant by decorative as distinguished
from other art 1t is art which is not
primarily representative of nature or de-
scriptive of human sentiment "If we
try to discover why we love Greek re-
lief sculpture so supremely 1t is found
that what we love in it is the quiet
charm of the thing 1.-THE question as
to whether it represents accurately any
thing in nature is not serious aues-
ton. The artist only knows how in
his loftiest flights of thought he has
steadied himself by constant reference to
nature; that is to say. to the great ex-
emplar to which all our artistic ideas are
referred, as they have been drawn
thence. 1t Is not for the student to ask
whether there is anything of nature in
the composition or not; what he finds Is
the lovely, the stately, the simple, the
touching result" 1t applies alike to the
Venus of Milo, or to small and simple
painted vase t'The only distinction we
can make is this: That the work of art
which takes the least from nature in a
direct way is the more purely decora-
tive"
In this same chapter on decorative eff
fects he points out very clearly one of
the distinguishing traits of Japanese
decoration The sentences in which he
does it will serve well as sample of
the way he explains things. He is
speaking of a painting on silk: "It is the
earmark of Japanese art-this content
ment with one thought at a time, a
single Impression, a single suggestion,
the most exquisite taste IN the principal
subject and surroundings, and the quiet
reIegation of all other accessories to an
other time and a different piece of paper
or piece of silk"
Though Sturgis is here talking only of
the graphic and plastic arts, the sugges-
tion thus given us by example of the
.Jananese artists may be useful for appli-
cation in many other ways-of making
vour. idea. or your act. clear cut un-
confused by mixture. standing out dis
tinetlv. memerably--for itself alone, and
narfect as yeu can make 1t, be the thing
of great or little matter.
"a. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago)