Page 62 - Studio International - January 1967

Book reviews

Dollars into art after the war, to the reconversion of his aeroplane too summarily dismissed and its influence under-
companies to what he is pleased to call 'peacetime estimated, probably because the author quite obvi-
The Joys of Collecting, by S. Paul Getty, additional production', ously does not like the period which gave it birth, and
text by Jean Carbonneaux, Julius S. Held, and Pierre Accompanying the illustrations of some of Mr Getty's French Provincial furniture could well have been
Verlet. 167 pages, 116 illustrations, 88 in colour. favourite acquisitions are excellent appreciative given more attention. But the book achieves its
Country Life, London. £3 10s. critiques by: Jean Charbonneaux, Keeper of Anti- declared purpose in other respects, the illustrations
quities in the Louvre; Julius S. Held, Professor of Art being aptly chosen with informative captions. The
'It is my desire', writes Mr Getty in his introduction History at Columbia University; and Pierre Verlet, colour plates might well have been larger and of
to this beautifully illustrated volume, 'to convey to the Chief Keeper of the Department of Furniture and better quality.
reader the romance and zest—the excitement, sus- Objets d'Art in the Louvre. Ella Moody's paper-back is a copiously illustrated
pense, thrills and triumphs—that make art collecting Not that this public-spirited modern Medici, with his survey of the modern scene and fills a notable gap.
one of the most exhilarating and satisfying of all desire to share the beauty of his acquisitions with the She recognizes in her introduction that furniture is
human endeavours.' Reading the book one cannot rest of mankind, has remained uncriticized by others no longer easy to describe as either good or bad,
but be convinced about Mr Getty's triumphs as a in the art world. He reports one critic who sneered and even the author's persuasiveness could not
collector, both of dollars and of art. And, greatly to that 'Paul Getty buys only what he likes.' The effective reconcile me to a good many of the designs, especi-
his credit, this 'Richest American', conceded to be riposte to this, attributed by the author to Sir Alec ally after looking at what Mr Baker and Mr Gloag had
'the wealthiest man anywhere on the face of the Martin of Christie's, was 'I don't hold it against him to offer. Nevertheless, this little book can be recom-
earth' (I quote from the publisher's blurb), has felt the (Mr Getty) that his collections are an expression of the mended to anyone wanting to study modern fashions
unselfish urge to share his collector's triumphs and man.' in furniture design. George Savage
personal satisfactions with as many as can come to It would make an intriguing game to attempt to dis-
Southern California, where the J. Paul Getty Museum cover from the J. Paul Getty collection just what
is 'open to the public and admission is free'. expression it does record of the soul of the owner. It
For those unable to avail themselves of this generous is for that reason that I think that the only mistake in
offer, this volume is a worthwhile and considerably this admirable and eminently worthwhile volume is
less expensive substitute. Although Mr Getty's prose the photograph of Mr Getty at the very beginning. He
is not quite as full of 'excitement, suspense and thrills' seems to be looking towards a door in agonized panic,
as he promises the prospective art collector, it records as though someone who was entering had come to
some extremely interesting events in his own varied take away his collection...or perhaps his soul.
career in the quest for the possession of beauty. Donald Ogden Stewart
'Beauty', writes Mr Getty, 'that one finds in fine art is
one of the pitifully few real and lasting products of all
human endeavour.' His quest for this product began Furniture, ancient and modern
in 1930; his first producing oil well in Oklahoma had
come in in 1916, only three years after a diploma in Furniture in the Ancient World by Hollis S. Baker, 351
economics and political science at Oxford—which pages, 16 colour plates, 474 illustrations in black-and-
speaks quite well for the English educational system. white. The Connoisseur £6 6s.
Fairly early in his efforts he came to the decision to A Social History of Furniture Design by John Gloag,
concentrate on Greek and Roman marbles and 202 pages, 4 colour plates, 340 illustrations in black-
bronzes, Renaissance paintings, sixteenth-century and-white. Cassel £3 3s.
Persian carpets, Savonnerie carpets, and eighteenth- Modern Furniture by Ella Moody, 160 pages. Studio
century French furniture and tapestries. There were, Vista 10s 6d, paper covers.
of course, several marvellous exceptions and digres-
sions from these five categories, including Rubens, Hollis Baker's book covers the period from 3100 to
Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Romney, as well as 475 B.C. and it deserves a place on the shelves of any-
Renoir, Monet, Gauguin, Degas and Bonnard. The one interested in the history of furniture. The historian
author tells amusingly of one 'digression' which who sets out to describe ancient furniture has to How to Make Chicken Tender
occurred at a crowded Christie's on an excessively surmount some very serious difficulties caused by Poulets a devenir tendres
hot sticky day when he found to his amazement that vast gaps in our knowledge. For instance, we know
the auctioneer was pointing to him and saying 'Yours, more about Egyptian furniture at the time of Tutank- 'In order to make chickens immediately edible, take
sir—for one hundred guineas'. Poor Mr Getty had hamun than at any other period, simply because his them out of the hen-run, pursue them into open
merely raised his hand to loosen his perspiration- tomb was so rich in specimens of all kinds. Roman country, and when you have made them run, kill them
drenched collar, but the auctioneer had recognized it and Greek furniture is almost entirely known from with a gun loaded with very small shot.
as an affirmative bid, and so there was added to the vase-painting and sculptured reliefs, with some The meat of the chicken, gripped with fright, will
J. Paul Getty collection 'No. 18A: a watercolour of old assistance from mural painting, stone furniture, and become tender. This method used in the country of
London about 1845'. rare surviving specimens in bronze. Nevertheless the Fangs (Gabon) seems infallible even for the oldest
There are other interesting stories of how he ac- from these sporadic survivals the author has made an and toughest hens.'
quired this or that treasure, including one of how he impressive reconstruction. As a furniture manu- from The Art of Cuisine by Toulouse-Lautrec and
picked up the Raffael Madonna of Loreto for forty facturer he has brought his knowledge of practical Maurice Joyant, Michael Joseph, 70s. The majority
pounds, how he made his peace with the Dutch problems to bear on details of construction which are of the painter's recipes are more probable than this
nation over the loss of their beloved Rembrandt's illustrated by line drawings. one, and the culinary notes added by Barbara Kafka
Portrait of Martin Looten to 'an unnamed American', John Gloag has written a readable and entertaining make it easy for a moderately experienced cook to
and how, between 1941 and 1951, he dropped his survey of furniture, covering a period from 1300 B.C. achieve dishes of great originality and excellence.
interest in art collecting for the 'far more important' to the present day, although the emphasis is decidedly The book is illustrated by Lautrec's drawings and
production of thousands of fighters and bombers and, on the last few centuries. French furniture is, perhaps, lithographs, some of which are little known.
52