Page 45 - Studio International - August 1965

later dissolved. In 1944 Hodin flew in to London from century, writes another poem of nostalgic impression.
Sweden and joined the headquarters of the Czecho­ Professor A. M. Hammacher assesses Rodin's attitude
slovak Government in exile as a lieutenant, then as a and performance in relation to his successors in
writer. He worked with the Norwegian Government European sculpture. Barbara Hepworth allows her
also and spent some time in Oslo. Greek Diary 1954-1964 to be printed for love of
After the war Hodin settled in London, married an Hodin, a genuine gesture of affection that has its
English girl and made many friends and very few intimate truth. Bernard Leach, another Cornwall
enemies while working with the newly formed friend, talks of education and art; Professor Thomas
Institute of Contemporary Arts as Director of Studies. Munro, U.S.A., discusses 'Spiritual Values' in the
The list of works by J. P. Hodin printed as an appendix aesthetics of naturalism and supernaturalism; Gregory
gives some inkling of the range of his interests and the Paulsonn writes on 'The science and culture of art';
amount of words he has caused to be printed through­ Mario Praz takes Art Nouveau as his theme with its
out the world, chiefly about modern art and artists. inevitable reference to the influence of The Studio; Sir
Ragnar Hoppe, first Conservator of the National Herbert Read defends the Modern Art Book against its
Museum, Stockholm, describes the decade spent in too puritanical detractors; Franz Roh appreciates the
Sweden by Hodin. Lief Ostby, first Keeper of the real Problems of Art Criticism and Lancelot Whyte
National Museum, Oslo, similarly treats with Hodin's concludes on 'The Unity of Visual Esperience·.
work and effect in Norway. Nor is the tribute purely textual. Oskar Kokoschka
Having heard about the man from the mouth of the drew no fewer than four portraits of Hodin (three of
horse that follows the cart, let us look at the gifts the them are reproduced here though only one appears in
vehicle contains. Giulio Carlo Argan, Professor of the the book); Emilio Greco is represented by a portrait
History of Art at Rome University and President of the drawing; Li Hutchison has her portrait of Hodin in
International Association of Art Critics, contributes a bronze reproduced; Marino Marini, Giacomo Manzu,
penetrating essay on 'The Russian Avant-Garde' that and Alberto Giacometti have also works included.
aligns aesthetic and political thought in a crucial time To know the man as I do is to see but one aspect; that
for art and politics. Emilio Greco, one of Italy's most he has many facets and admired by all the contributors
universal sculptors, writes a poem for Hodin that evokes to this symposium is to realise that time and space
the spirit he expresses in his sculpture, such as the contribute most to the appreciation of a critic who is.
Bagnante in the Tate. Michael Hamburger, an authority as the title of the book states justly, so truly European
on the German and Austrian literature of the twentieth with all the undertones that this implies. ■
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