The New York herald., 1922-11-26


most typical Northern sculpture is not
difficult; but to represent such master
pieces as those of Zorn. the Norwegian;
Kroyer, the Dane; Hartmann, who was
also Danish Prince Eugene, the Swede;
Bruno Liljefors, the Swedish interpreter
of animal life; of Fritz Thaulow and of
score of others whose appeal depends
largely on their use of color, seems almost
impossible and yet by delicate manipula-
ton the symbols of color are here given.
The curious treatment of light by the
Dane, Jens Willumsen. and the mauve
tints of Hartmann are missing. In fact
they could scarcely be reproduced even in
color The exquisite and homely interiors
in which the Dane delights are more easily
presented than the pictures of out OF
doors; but one must see the originals to
/ appreciate the silver tones of Wilhelm
Hammershoi and of Carl Holsoe and the
splendor of the flesh tints of Zorn.
And yet for one who has enjoyed the
charms of the art of the three nations. and
even the defects of its qualities, there can
be no regret that an attempt to give i'm
pressons of the pictures was not made
/ in colors.
1t is hardly possible that any other
volume on Scandinavian art may compete
with this. Additions may be made to it
as younger artists arrive; but at present
it is the one book that gives in the English
language an almost complete expression of
what the Scandinavian artists have done
and are doing in their special vocations.
The book, too, has been taken seriously
by its editor and its writers. Nothing is
slurred, and there is no evidence of
academic prejudice. No critic could write
with a better balanced mind or from a
greater knowledge of technique and the
value of national atmosphere than Emil
Hanover. This. looked on by some con-
servative Norwegians as too advanced"
too sympathetic with the school of Edward
Munich and Christian Krohg, writes with
out unacademic prejudice:
1.-The Norwegians," says Christian
Brinton, "espoused the gospel of natural
ism in all sincerity. each pursuing his
pathway with independence of spirit.
That same tendency, which in Sweden
initiated a school of synthetic landscape
interpreters and in Denmark fostered a
genuine decorative renaissance. aroused
in Norway a different set of reactions.
In particular it gave birth to a group
afflicted with social and pathological
sympathies. In literature this coterie
included Hans Jaeger, Arne Garborg.
| Gunnar Heiberg and Knut Hamsun, and
in art found its leading exponents I'M
! Christian Krohg and Edward Munich.
Robust and defiantly objective looms the
massive forms of Krohg, while in the
shadowland of an acute subjectivity
fingers the solitary. enigmatic apparition
] of MUNICH"
| The choosing of examples of typical
Scandinavian pictures must have been as
hard as the problem of adequate reproduc-
ton. There can be no fault found with
this, although naturally every student or
saunterer in the galleries and private col
lections of Denmark, Sweden and Norway
must have his favorites, either purely
technical or because they appeal to him.
Owing to the generosity of Mr.. C. Henry
Smith. San Francisco-may his tribe in
creasei-it has been possible to produce
such delightful pictures as the Interior
with Figure" with Wilhelm Hammershoi.
| Svend Hammershoi's Landscape" Erik
werenskiolds "A Country Funeral and
Carl Larssonss Portrait of Himself
Carl Laurin had perhaps less delicate
task than his two coadjutors in presenting
his survey of Swedish art, as the result of
publis criticism in Sweden seems to be
more erystallized than in the other two