Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-05-13

N "JESTING PLATE" Mr.. Huxley gave
his impressions of India and the Malay
countries After digging his way through
the junges of Guatemala. sailing up the
Pacific coast of Mexico in a small steamer
and travelling overland by donkey trans
portation into Central Mexico he now tells
what he thinks about Mexico and Central
America. In the first place, he does not en-
tirely agree with Stuart Chase in preferrlng
the old Mexican civilization to modern indus
trial civilization, though he admits that primi-
tive peoples are probably happier than those
of an industrialized society. Handicrafts, with
their leisureliness and opportunity for indi-
vdual expression, probably better for the
human spirit than machines. Mr. Huxley finds
Magyar art free from obsession with sex, from
-treacly and ectoplasmic sensuality," and in
this sense far superior to Hindu art. He was
impressed by the avidity with which many OF
the Indians in Mexico pursued reading just for
readings sake, Succumbing to the magic OF the
printed word, hurrying to the public library
to find some book mentioned in culture
advertisement" To his surprise. he observed
the Indians practicing magic and the forms Of
the Catholic religion together. with no apparent
dsharmonY. In Guatemala elements of Chris
tian and pre-Chrstian worship have been
selected and combined in endless variety of
ways" Magical formulas, ceremonial gestures
fetishistic rites are mingled with Christian
ritual, but Everybody seems to get along very
we'll"
Mr. Huxley would not be himself and his
book would be little different from the ordinary
book of travel. in Mexico and Central America
if he did not do some moraliZing and some
denouncing of things which seem to him wrong
in society as a whole. The wars of Central
America are wars of passion" but SO are the
wars of the rest of the world. All for hate is
the title of every great international tragedy
of modern times, or the world well lost. The
subject of war mania arising from excessive
t1ati oil hac cd 10 OIL
in Mr.. Huxleys caustic style. OF merely obvious
description there is little in Beyond the
Mexique Bay; of the impressions of an I'M
usually observing and critical mind, expressed
with appreciation, with indignation, with irony
there many.
MODERN ART. BY Thomas Craven New
York Simon & Schuster.
THE same qualities which made Men Of
! Art" an unconventional and popular hand
book and those others which made some art
critics refuse it unqualified approval present
in this new book by Mr.. Craven. Breaking into
the field Of art criticism an individualist, Mr.
Craven almost Immediately endeared himself
to the public because of his method of inter-
preting art in the light of the personalities of
the artists and outgrowth of the vigorous
and common life Of its time He makes use
freely of biographical material and, in this book
his own personal experiences with artists.
Art" but calls attention to the fact that art
today is not the result of a process of slow
evolution from the past, but of violence and
revolution. Modern art is not unified thing
but a composite of many cults, originating in
France. They have come with rapidity and
many have already passed. To-day the various
sects composing what is known modernism
are officially entombed in the School of Paris,
with PicaSSo as sexton" From this it is easy
to see why many moderniSts among the critics
do not accept Mr.. Craven among the elect.
The conservatives are perhaps no more cordial,
for Mr.. Craven is free lance.
The Bohemia of Paris, where the author him.
self had some adventures, is the starting point
of his book 1t is an nti-bouregos" world,
but it feminizes art and transforms the artist
into a Stereotype" Artists whose work is
especially studied are Cezanne (also covered in
Men of Art'D Van Gogh, Gauguin Matisse,
Picasso Modigliani, Grosz Lesser artists also
receive comment. The various movements in
twentieth century art characterized as
cubiSm, futurism, expressoniSm, as well as
orphiSm, Synchronism, puriSm, integraliSm,
vorticism, dadaism, sur-realism. Biographical
details about most of the artists have night
mare MISUNDERSTANDING promiscuity, 60
ing over to native in tropical countries, disease,
lunacy, suicide. Mr.. Craven believes that be-
cause artists like MatiSse and Picasso have re
fused to accept the challenge of reality" their
influence must inevitably wane Because he
thinks That art, ike cnarlty, Snoulo pegln at
home, he devotes third of his book to Amer
lean art, discoursing the snob spirit, esthetes
and neurotics the culture of Southern Cali
fornia, the Middle West and Boston kow-
towing to the French; the industrialization Of
the pioneer, the rising parvenu art and native
subject matter and various art colonies in
America. In Frank Lloyd Wright and George
Grey Barnard, products of the pioneer spirit in
architecture and sculpture, and Thomas H.
Benton interpreter of American civilization
through mural painting, he believes we have