PAINTING 243 



of art is not only to express, but to communicate emotion, and the mathematical 

 science of cubism cannot possibly communicate any emotion. 



The Italian Futurist movement, at the head of which are the painters Boccioni 

 and Severini, is an outcome of Post-Impressionism and Cubism, although the Futur- 

 ists themselves profess to regard even Cubism as antiquated and academic. 

 ists. " " r ~ An exhibition held by the Futurists in London in the Spring of 1912 achieved 

 a succes de scandale and evoked an outburst of derision and indignation, 

 the public refusing to take these artists seriously. Like Cubism, Futurism fails be- 

 cause it is too scientific, and in addition too literary, to have any close connection .with 

 pictorial art, the appeal of which must depend upon visual evidence. 



Post-Impressionism, leaving aside its more extravagant recent offshoots, is really 

 an attempt to approach the art ideal of the Far East, with its contempt for literal 

 representation, its insistence on rhythm and on the spiritual significance that underlie 

 the outward appearance of nature. But the refinements of a calligraphic style of ex- 

 pression are essential for the attainment of this end; and Post-Impressionism was 

 bound to fail, because it had adopted the coarse technical language of Impressionism. 

 It is for this reason that the real importance of Post-Impressionism lies not in its actual 

 achievement but in its stimulating effect upon all recent art. In England, where the 

 Grafton Gallery exhibition followed close upon an exhibition of Early Chinese painting 

 at the British Museum in 1910, this effect was far-reaching and wholesome. Evidences 

 of new vitality, of a more lively emphasis of structure, design and colour, imme- 

 diately appeared at all exhibitions, and even at that stronghold of tradition, the Royal 

 Academy. Artists like Augustus John, a masterly draughtsman and a painter gifted 

 with a rare sense of decorative and expressive design, and Prof. C. J. Holmes, remark- 

 able for the structural emphasis of his mountain landscapes, had already independ- 

 ently moved in the same direction as the French Post-Impressionists, without falling 

 into their glaring faults. But in the last few years Post-Impressionism has taken 

 firm root among British artists, the most notable group being the painters and illus- 

 trators connected with the magazine Rhythm (Peploe, Fergusson, Anne Estelle Rice, 

 etc.), and the so-called " Camden Town group," to whom, under the guidance of Mr. 

 Roger Fry, is due the decoration of the London Borough Polytechnic. 



Whilst modern art has been feverishly searching for new channels of expression, 

 the attention of the wealthy picture-buyers has been more than ever centred in the 

 Old Masters master pi eces f the great dead. During 1911 and 1912 scarcely a month 

 * was allowed to pass without bringing news of the further depletion of Eng- 

 land's artistic heritage to swell the collections of American museums and financiers. 

 The passing of Rembrandt's masterpiece " The Mill " from Lord Lansdowne's collec- 

 tion to that of Mr. Widener, in Philadelphia, was deplored in England as a national 

 loss, for which the acquisition by the National Gallery of the Castle Howard Mabuse, 

 " The Adoration of the Magi," was scarcely sufficient compensation. Still, Mabuse's 

 famous picture is a work of eminent importance, since it marks in brilliant fashion 

 the close of the great period of Flemish art which was so gloriously initiated by the 

 brothers Van Eyck's " Adoration of the Lamb " at St. Bavon, in Ghent. 



A feeling of consternation, akin only to that which was experienced by the whole 

 civilised world on the occasion of the collapse of the Venice Campanile, was caused 

 by the news, in August 1911, that Leonardo da Vinci's portrait of Mona 

 Lisa, known as " La Gioconda," had been stolen from the Salon Carre 

 at the Louvre. The whole world shares the loss of this unique master- 

 piece, of the recovery of which there is but little hope. 



On the occasion of the International Exhibition at Rome in 1911, British art, both 



ancient and modern, scored a distinct triumph, the British section meeting with general 



approval and admiration. This section was arranged by the newly created 



Exhlbhha. Exhibition Department of the Board of Trade. The building, the design 



for which is an adaptation of the facade of St. Paul's by Mr. Lutyens, is 



to be used as the permanent headquarters of the proposed British School in Rome. 



