Evening star., 1961-03-19
Rare Chinese Paintings Surveyed
By Local Expert in Oriental Art
BY FRANK GETLEIN
Star staff Writer

By FRANK GETLEIN
Star staff Writer
CHINESE PAINTING. BY
James Cahill. (Skira. 212
pages. 11O color plates.
$27.50.)
A young Washington schol-
ar, James Cahill, associate
curator at the Freer Gallery,
is responsible for the first
volume in the new Skira
series, Treasures of Asia"
The senSitivity and intelli-
gence of the text, and the
high quality of the color re-
productions bode well for
forthcoming books in the
series.
To Albert Skira, Swiss edi-
tor and publisher, the posi-
bilities of Asiatic art must
appear rather as news of
North America would have
struck Alexander the Great:
A whole new world to con-
quer. The essential Skira
may be described In the title
of a great Asiatic artist,
Middle aged man crazy
about painting" For years
Skira has published his way
through the centuries of Eu-
ropean painting, reaching
back to the prehistoric work
in the caves of Lascaux and
stopping for moderately COM
prehensive views of such less
well-knoWn schools of paint
ing as the Etruscan, the By
zantine and the Romanesque.
He has devoted several
handsome volumes to the art
of this century, especially to
the School of Paris. For the
less well-heeled reader, Skira
has produced a small-format,
Small-price series called, THE
Taste of Our Time" a title
that seems self-deprecating
when you consider the pres
ence in the series of such
non-20th century artists as
Carpaccio and Piero della
Francesca.
Clearly, the present wide
popularity of art owes a sub
stantial debt to Albert Skira.
Clearly, too, some of the di-
rections that popularity has
taken derive in part from the
Swiss publisher. Like certain
strategically placed museum
directors, Skira shapes the
taste of our time even as he
reports it.
The Varnish Problem
Yet, despite all these
achievements, Skira's presen-
tationS of world art to the art
world have not been greeted
with a universal Hosannah.
occasionally, a text has come
out more cranky than crit
ical, as a scholar has ridden
his hobby horse into the
ground. The Taste of Our
Time" projected as popular
scholarship, has unabashedly
turned out such a pure bon
bon as a book Of views of
romantic Paris portrayed by
her romantic artists.
Still, these have been ex-
ceptions, not the rule, and
may be excused on the
grounds that even Homer
mods and even Skira skids.
Far more serious is the var
nish problem.
1t is alleged, particularly
by other art book publishers,
that Skira loads his printing
inks with varnish. thus get.
ting an unnaturally high
gloss in his color reproduc-
tions. Whatever the Skira
ink formula may be, it is
certain that all of his books
Of European painting do have
a much flasher sheen in the
pictures than those of other
houses. This may be bad.
The high sheen makes any
picture more Immediately,
usually attractive. The op-
position says that things are
seldom what they sheen and
that, with Skira, we see
through a gloss, darkly.
The Varnish Vanquished
A similar problem exists
in the widespread use Of color
slides in home and school.
The image is translucent,
with light coming through
the picture to your eye. In
actual paintings, the image
is seen in reflected light. An
exact reversal has been made,
to the great advantage of the
color slide image. 1t is not
unknown that a young art
appreciation student, exposed
solely to slides, is tremend-
ouSly disappointed when for