Notes and Reviews 
A World’s Fair in the making is more im¬ 
pressive in some respects than a World’s 
Fair completed. So it would have seemed 
to a visitor to St. Louis during the dedica¬ 
tory exercises a few weeks ago. The act of 
rearing so vast a fabric is a rare spectacle : 
it ceases when the gates are thrown open. 
That part of Forest Park which is to be oc¬ 
cupied by the Louisiana Purchase Exposi¬ 
tion is now a confusion of trains, wagons, 
steam-rollers, pile-drivers, statuary waiting— 
feet in air—to be placed on the great build¬ 
ings which loom through clouds of dust raised 
by the wind that makes Missouri famous. 
The stranger knows not what the effect of 
it all will be when completed, but he does 
realize the enormous scale of the work, and 
he comes away with the belief that so much 
energy must indeed attain an impressive end. 
What a contrast to the progressive scene 
awaits him, as he turns to leave the grounds. 
Here are difficulties the solution of which 
has scarcely been attempted. Railroad grade 
crossings are before the gates of the Exposi¬ 
tion. In the city, where visitors next year 
must find shelter and comfort, are narrow, 
ill-paved, uglv and congested streets. St. 
Louis is just awakening to the fact that she 
herself must become, in a measure, equal to 
her Fair. Great sums are now to be spent 
in paving; greater sums must be devoted to 
improving the transportation facilities, the 
hotel accommodations, in perfecting the police 
service—in short the whole civic organism. 
F URTHER than by these ways St. Louis 
might seize her rare opportunity and rise 
to a progressive level of modern civic beauty. 
Dignified avenues, open breathing places in 
the city’s heart, plazas before public build¬ 
ings, refreshing grass and trees, fountains and 
public conveniences—all these a modern city 
should possess. They are of more practi¬ 
cal value during an influx of visitors than at 
any other time. Not merely a sentiment of 
beauty demands them ; public comfort de¬ 
pends upon them. The summer climate of 
St. Louis is trying in many ways, and it 
will be aggravated under the stress of next 
year’s sight-seeing. In the coming twelve 
months much will undoubtedly be done, 
and it is to be hoped it will give St. Louis 
a new aspect befitting her as hostess of the 
country. Should it not do so her guests will 
35 8 
find a sharp contrast between the Model City 
which is to be exhibited in the Fair and the 
Actual City outside. 
“ Representative Art of Our Time 
is a portfolio of superb reproductions of mod¬ 
ern art as it has expressed itself in oil, water- 
color, pastel, wood-engraving, lithographs, in 
copper and in colored chalk. Of the eight 
parts which will complete the work five 
have been issued. Not only is the pictorial 
art of to-day set forth, but the future of its 
different forms is foretold by prefatory es¬ 
says. Mr. Charles Hiatt writes of “The 
Modern Aspect of Wood Engraving;” 
Mr. Pennell of “ Artistic Lithography,” 
and Mr. Percy Bate of “ The Future De¬ 
velopment of Oil Painting.” The work 
thus far represented is chiefly that of Eng¬ 
lish, Dutch and German artists and the re¬ 
productions are large and exquisite plates 
produced by the best commercial processes, 
half-tone color work being largely employed. 
“A Discussion of Composition as Ap¬ 
plied to Art” ’ must be regarded as a par¬ 
ticularly timely affirmation of the functional 
character of the arts. The much mis¬ 
understood cry of “art for art’s sake,” after 
having long encouraged the flippancy of the 
student and the irresponsibility of the 
worker, seems to have expended its force, 
and we believe that Prof. Van Pelt’s book 
is one of the signs of a general return to a 
sense of conscience in art-motive, and that 
it will be itself a powerful stimulus in this 
direction. The author has invariably worked 
out his laws in connection with simple and 
familiar examples, and the student cannot at 
any time be at a loss as to their pertinence, 
for he is given practical hints which are val¬ 
uable in themselves and doubly valuable as 
part of a concrete logical scheme. 
'“Representative Art of Our Time,” edited by Charles Holme. 
Portfolio of plates and text. London, office of “ The Studio,” 1903. 
New York, John Lane. Complete in eight parts. Price, $1.00 
per part net. 
2 _“ A Discussion of Composition as Applied to Art,” by John 
Vredenburgh Van Pelt, 275 pp., octavo, illustrated. New York and 
London, Macmillans, 1902. Price, $1.00 net. 
Books Received. 
“ The Architecture of Greece and Rome,” a sketch of its his¬ 
toric development by the late William J. Anderson and R. Phene 
Spiers, F. S. A. 300 pp., octavo, with 179 ills. London, B. T. 
Batsford, 1903. Imported by Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. 
Price, $7. 50 net. 
“The Tramp’s Handbook,” by Harry Roberts. 175 pp., i6mo., 
illustrated. John Lane, London and New York, 1903. Price, $1.00 net. 
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