BOTTICELLI AND FRENCH IMPRESSIONISM

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 124, 19 February 1938, Page 7 (Supplement)

BOTTICELLI AND FRENCH IMPRESSIONISM

“Botticelli”: "The Impressionists,” the Great Century of French Art (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd.). These magnificent volumes, published in England by Allen and Unwin, come from the Phaidon They are a triumph of production, .produced at an amazingly low cost. The Botticelli contains an appreciation of the work of Sandro Botticelli, by Lionello Venturi, and 101 plates, showing Botticelli’s most representative work. Many plates are included which show in photogravure the detail in one or other of the large paintings which are reproduced in colour and are mounted in loose-leaf. It is safe to say that all who give this volume the attention it deserves will find themselves with a new understanding of the work of Botticelli. "The Impressionists” includes 11S splendid reproductions from French masters of last century—Manet, Pissaro, Sisley, .Monet, Renoir, Gaugin. Degas and Lavlouse-Lautree. As one would expect, Manet and Monet are reproduced most often. The book affords a valuable opportunity to compare the styles of the masters.

Wilhelm Uhde contributes a foreword, giving details of the lives of the painters represented in this collection, together with characteristics of their work. The whole forms a most valuable addition to any library of art.

A SPORTSMAN’S BOOK "The Sportsman’s Bedside Book,” by 8.8. (London; Eyre and Spottiswoode). This is a pleasantly-contrived book written in the form of a diary and intended for casual reading. There is much interesting reading in it, but it will probably make its greatest appeal to a class' of people seemingly more prevalent in England than in New Zealand—those who see nothing inconsistent in slaughtering wholesale all animals and birds bred as game and in studying with delight and admiration the life habits of all other species. The book is well illustrated by reproductions of seven etchings and a number of woodcut tailpieces by D. J. WatkinsPitchford and five drawings by G. D. Armour.