Page 49 - Studio International - August 1966

Book reviews

Constable's scenery note that 'it is in some ways uncharacteristic of the tors in calling the work evil, but defended it on
artist's work'. It is, in my view, entirely uncharac- aesthetic and spiritual grounds: 'Here, then, we
Constable Oil Sketches by John Baskett teristic, with its frozen waves towering above a have a sort of abstract spiritual corruption, re-
84 pages, 32 colour plates. Barrie & Rockliff romantically minuscule rowing-boat — as though vealed in beautiful form; sin transfigured by
£5 5s to point the contrast between puny Man and beauty. And here, even if we go no further, is an
majestic Nature. The other work before which one art intensely spiritual, an art in which evil purifies
Mr Baskett's anthology of oil-sketches by Constable hesitates is A Rainbow—(?) View on the Stour (pl. itself by its own intensity, and by the beauty
follows Mr Butlin's survey of Turner water-colours 10), which has about it an inertness which is hard which transfigures itself.'
in what it is to be hoped will be a series of volumes to associate with Constable. Brian Reade organized the magnificent Beardsley
from this publisher. As is usual with this type of These two criticisms apart, the volume should do exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum,
publication, the plates, in this case thirty-two of much to further the popularization of Constable and his scholarly little book is a substitute for a
them, each equipped with up to a page of docu- at his most accessible level. Mr Baskett has pro- catalogue. It is to be hoped that it will not prevent
mentation and explanatory notes, are preceded vided full and informative notes on the plates, and him from writing a longer and more detailed
by a general Introduction, of some six thousand his introduction is just what was required, being study, incorporating the information on the labels
words. freshly written and providing all the requisite beside the exhibits at the V. & A.
If at first sight the quality of these colour-plates information. JONATHAN MAYNE He writes well about the stylistic changes, but
is not so outstandingly good as that of the plates refuses to acknowledge the obvious fact that Beards-
in the Turner volume, this is inherent in the ley was fascinated by Satanism and that sort of
texture of the originals. The surface of a water- Decadent master thing on the curious grounds that our approach to
colour is closer to that of a colour-reproduction such subjects has 'changed beyond recall from a
than that of an oil-sketch, whether painted on Aubrey Beardsley by Arthur Symons point at which Beardsley's name was uttered with
paper, as many of Constable's oil-sketches were, 64 pages, 16 monochrome illustrations. John Baker misgiving.' If we now utter his name without
or not. Given this necessary limitation, the plates 12s 6d misgiving it's surely because we think of his
in Mr Baskett's volume are as good as we have a Aubrey Beardsley by Brian Reade Satanism simply as an ingredient of his erotic
right to expect. They stand confrontation with 72 pages, 58 monochrome illustrations. H.M. imagination, and it is a weakness in Mr Reade's
originals in the Victoria & Albert Museum with Stationery Office 8s 6d account of him that he avoids any discussion of the
credit. In many cases the reproductions have been erotic content of the work. He appears, neverthe-
printed to show the irregular edges of the canvas Arthur Symons, a minor poet of the Decadence, less, to take a covertly moralistic view of the
rather than the symmetrical edges of mount or had an almost devotional concern with Sin. His Salomé drawings. 'Certain drawings for Salomé,' he
frame, which gives a further illusion of actuality. poem Stella Maris, which followed Beardsley's says, 'had to be turned down because of erotic
Twenty-four of the plates are taken from sketches romantic drawing of a street walker in the first details, and it must be admitted that some of the
in the Victoria & Albert Museum, whose authen- number of The Yellow Book, was about a girl with series as finally printed include more details of
ticity is axiomatic, and the remaining eight from whom he once spent a night and of whose flashing this sort than were ever before in an openly pub-
the collection formed in recent years by Mr and eyes he was reminded many years later when lished book in England.' That phrase 'it must be
Mrs Paul Mellon. About two from the latter looking at a lighthouse. admitted' has a starchy look, and it's not altogether
source, both of which were shown at the Royal You come to call me, come to claim surprising to find that he thinks Wilde was right
Academy exhibition of the Mellon Collection a My share of your delicious shame. to be 'irritated' by the drawings. 'They brought
year and a half ago, there would seem to be some His essay on Beardsley appeared shortly after the fame and ill-fame to Beardsley and helped without
grounds for uneasiness. Of the Rough Sea, Wey- artist's death, when he was still a highly contro- doubt to mislead the public into associating Wilde
mouth (plate 12) Mr Baskett himself admits in his versial figure. He agreed with Beardsley's detrac- himself with lubricity.' This can only mean that
Mr Reade considers the Salomé drawings to be, if
my dictionary doesn't err, either 'slippery' or
`lewd' or both. They are neither, and they will
most certainly continue to have greater claims
upon our attention than Wilde's ridiculous and
boring play.
Symons believed that Beardsley would rather
have excelled as a writer than an artist, and he
had a high regard for the fragment of a story and
three sets of verses which he published in The
Savoy. The charming illustration which accom-
panied his Ballad of a Barber is reproduced in both
books, and a comment on the verses would have
been helpful, for they put quite a different com-
plexion on the prettiness of the drawing. No one
who is unfamiliar with the Ballad could be expected
to realize that the barber, excited by the beauty
of his young client, as lyrical and sweet / As one of
Schubert's melodies, is about to break a bottle of
Cologne and cut her throat.
ROBERT MELVILLE

Masterpieces of European painting in the National
Gallery, London
viii and 50 pages, 50 colour plates. Publications
Department, National Gallery. 21s
As the National Gallery's publications manager
points out, this is its 'first popular case-bound
book'. At the price it is cheap. Each full-page plate
is accorded a facing page of text, with notes on both
the painter and the work illustrated. The selection
Landscape 1819 ranges from Orcagna to Monet; the quality of
Oil on canvas, 9 1/2 x 12 3/4 in., one of the illustrations to John Baskett's book on Constable reproduction ranges from reasonable to good.